5 Your food diary
Now you have an opportunity to analyse what you eat and drink, why you eat and where you are when you eat. Create a food diary and record a typical day’s intake of food and drink.
- Make sure that you write the diary while you eat the food or have the drink.
- Note down even when you drink water.
- Use household measures, e.g. two slices of medium sliced bread, five egg-sized potatoes, hand-sized meal portion.
The British Dietetic Association fact sheet [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] about portion sizes may also be useful.
You might want to create your diary using a table. Here are some suggested headings:
- time
- food/drink
- amount (household measure)
- where eaten
- eaten with?
- hungry/thirsty?
- time taken to eat
- your mood before, during and after eating.