One of the best weight loss tips is to keep a Food Diary! A Food Diary can come in very handy not only for your weight loss plan, but also for finding causes for various health related issues.
When establishing your Food Diary it is best to be as detailed as possible in your record keeping.
The information in your Food Diary should contain at least these items: Time, food eaten, portion size, calories, protein, carbohydrates, sodium and cholesterol.
By logging this information you will identify eating patterns, as well as gain insight into how much sodium, dietary cholesterol, fat, etc.
you actually consume on a given day.
Another good weight loss tip is learning to understand food labels.
Understanding food labelling goes a long way in keeping an accurate Food Diary.
The greatest benefit of a Food Diary is that you can not only identify, but also quickly eliminate unhealthy foods from your diet.
You can adjust your daily intake of calories, sodium, and so forth.
When establishing your Food Diary, you could use many different approaches, as far as the medium to hold your records is concerned.
You could use a traditional diary or notebook, even a word-processing program.
However, I have found a spreadsheet program to be most beneficial, as you can easily copy repeated items and also have the spreadsheet calculate all your categories depending on the number of portions or weight for each food item.
This all seems to be a little work intensive and time consuming.
You will find, however, that once you have most of your common food items listed, the process of keeping a Food Diary is very manageable.
You can simply cut and paste items.
You can also find nutritional information for food items on the web and then build a little database of foods you regularly consume.
The time spent on your Food Diary is well worth it, as the benefits you gain for your weight loss plan are tremendous.
One thing to remember is to be diligent in your record keeping, as well as honest.
Record everything that enters your body, and record it every day.
After a couple of weeks you will have a great picture in front of you and you can begin to adjust your diet.
You will be surprised to find a lot of "hidden" culprits for excess sodium, cholesterol and the likes, which then can be easily eliminated from your diet.
Your Food Diary can also be a great tool when consulting with your doctor regarding health issues.
With all the benefits of this weight loss tip, there is no reason not to start logging today!
When establishing your Food Diary it is best to be as detailed as possible in your record keeping.
The information in your Food Diary should contain at least these items: Time, food eaten, portion size, calories, protein, carbohydrates, sodium and cholesterol.
By logging this information you will identify eating patterns, as well as gain insight into how much sodium, dietary cholesterol, fat, etc.
you actually consume on a given day.
Another good weight loss tip is learning to understand food labels.
Understanding food labelling goes a long way in keeping an accurate Food Diary.
The greatest benefit of a Food Diary is that you can not only identify, but also quickly eliminate unhealthy foods from your diet.
You can adjust your daily intake of calories, sodium, and so forth.
When establishing your Food Diary, you could use many different approaches, as far as the medium to hold your records is concerned.
You could use a traditional diary or notebook, even a word-processing program.
However, I have found a spreadsheet program to be most beneficial, as you can easily copy repeated items and also have the spreadsheet calculate all your categories depending on the number of portions or weight for each food item.
This all seems to be a little work intensive and time consuming.
You will find, however, that once you have most of your common food items listed, the process of keeping a Food Diary is very manageable.
You can simply cut and paste items.
You can also find nutritional information for food items on the web and then build a little database of foods you regularly consume.
The time spent on your Food Diary is well worth it, as the benefits you gain for your weight loss plan are tremendous.
One thing to remember is to be diligent in your record keeping, as well as honest.
Record everything that enters your body, and record it every day.
After a couple of weeks you will have a great picture in front of you and you can begin to adjust your diet.
You will be surprised to find a lot of "hidden" culprits for excess sodium, cholesterol and the likes, which then can be easily eliminated from your diet.
Your Food Diary can also be a great tool when consulting with your doctor regarding health issues.
With all the benefits of this weight loss tip, there is no reason not to start logging today!