The Benefits Of Keeping A Food Diary With Reema Pillai
Nutrionists and Dietitians say that keeping a food diary can improve your diet. We thought that learning what you are eating and ones’ eating habits could be instrumental in having a better diet and so we spoke to Reema Pallai a Registered Dietitian and member of the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) & the British Dietetic Association (BDA). She has worked as a private Dietitian for over 4 years with Dietitian Fit and she loves to work with people to help better their relationship with food, as well as providing support and guidance around different areas of their health and wellbeing.
We were keen to find out the benefits of keeping a food diary and this is what Reema had to say…
REEMA PILLAI
“Using a food diary can be helpful to understand more about your eating patterns and habits with food choices. It is a tool that allows you to record your food choices, and helps identify the balance of what you eat in a certain time frame. It also is important to look at certain reasons why we eat, exploring our relationship with food in more detail.
Recording a food diary can help you work towards a certain goal, such as weight loss, or perhaps identifying triggers in the diet that may be causing digestive and stomach upset.
Keeping a food diary may help you to change your eating behaviour, once you can see patterns and habits overtime that would ideally need to be changed, to help towards your goal.
Noting detail in the food diary is important. For example, write down the specific food (or beverage) consumed, the time consume, how it’s prepared or cooked, and anything else you had with it, such as dressings or toppings. Detail the quantities and portions, in measurements that are easy for you to maintain. Weighing foods is optimal, but using spoons or cups can also work. Noting the time consumed will also help you identify if you have issues with erratic meal timings or late night eating.
Write down where you eat – is it at a table, in front of the tv, or on the go? This can influence food choices and portions. Are you eating whilst distracted, or can you pay full attention to the meal and savour it? And it would be good to note your mood and how you feel whilst eating, as that often has a role to play in our food choices.”
We thought her direction was life-changing and will be employing all she has shared. We now know all the mistakes we have been making concerning our diet.
Reema Pillai is Dietitian for Dietitian Fit and her specialities are weight management, emotional eating (CBT And NLP trained), plant-based diets, chronic diseases (diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure), PCOS, FODMAP / IBS, chronic kidney disease and menopause.
Find Dietitian Fit here.