Food diary

You claim that you eat very little, almost like a bird, but the arrow on the scales insidiously climbstoo high every time you weigh? You think you do not eat unhealthy foods, but the waistline treacherously disappears before your eyes? Maybe you do not notice how you seize up bad mood or stress;you are used to chewingsomething in front of TV. You do not control how you eat that amount of food while watching your favorite show or you do not take it seriously when you eat a bar of chocolate while writing your report and a cake in the company of your colleagues.

How can you control yourself?
No one will look after you whenever your hand reaches the excess piece of cake or a bag of chips. Only you can make a difference. Keeping a food diary can help you. But that does not mean you have to count every calorie, and at the end of the day feel guilty for a slice of pizza or ice cream.Just try to record every week what you have eaten per day. At the end of the week, ask yourself a few questions:

• You eat 3-5 times a day in small portions?
• Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day?
• Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day?
• Ate enough fish / meat / beans / eggs (at least 2 times per week)?
• Daily consume diary products (low-fat)?
• Try not to have more than 1-2 daily servings of cereals / bread / pasta?
• Try to limit sweets, fast food?

If for most of the questions your answer is yes, then you are on your way to good nutrition.

You can also record your emotional state at the momenton your food diaryto know whether you really feel hungry or you eat because of emotions. After analyzing these records, you will be able to stop seizing issues.
In addition, the diary will help you move to the proper nutrition during the transition period, until you secure new eating habits, learn to choose healthy foods and be able to stop the temptation to eat unhealthy foods.

By keeping a diary, just try to write down what you eat, even if it was a handful of nuts or one cookie. Do not rely on memory; you can skip the “imperceptible” snacks, calories of which during summation will surprise you. An alternative to this form of diary can be a diet plan. Try to make a plan of what you are going to eat before night or in the morning because if you are not on vacation or a business trip, then you eat normally in the same places. You can think of your breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and even snacks in advance, count calories, and the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. You will have a clear plan and already completed food diary in your head. Just a couple of weeks of this plan - and you will select the desired food, will subconsciously choose more fruits and vegetables, less - flour and sweet, and include new and useful products in your diet. Organize a food diary, based on the sample below, you can supplement and improve it according to your wishes

To assist, table below shows some of the products with calorie content per 100 g of product.

Here are a few simple rules of good nutrition:

1. Ignoring breakfast leads to an increase in body mass index. Products number one in this category - cereals, porridge. Fruit, bread, yogurt and nuts perfectly suits for second breakfast or snack.
2. Follow the diet and the principle of its fraction (4-5 times a day). Most optimal is the four – five meals in which food enter in frequent and small portions.
3. The last meal should be no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime.
4. Reduce caloric intake by limiting animal fats, rich in saturated fatty acids, margarine rich in trans-fatty acids, easily digestible carbohydrates (sugar, sweets, confectionery).
5. Limit or eliminate from your diet sodas. Researchers have found that regular consumption of soda causes weight gain. Replace soft drinks with natural juices, drinking water, and green tea.
6. Limit your intake of dietary salt to 2-3 grams (half a teaspoon) a day. Excess of salt retains liquid food in the body.
7. Eat more (not less than 400 grams per day) and more frequently (at least 4-5 times a day) of raw fruits and vegetables.
8. Limit your intake of white bread; replace it with rye (black), bran breads.
9. Limit your consumption of alcoholic beverages (they are very high in calories).
10. Eliminate from your diet spices, herbs, savory snacks that stimulate appetite.
11. Every day, give moderate or intense physical activity at least 30 minutes.
12. Lose weight should be slow. Safe rate of reduction in body weight is 0.5 kg per week, to achieve this goal.
13. Unauthorized use of weight loss drugs without a prescription is not safe. For right choice of the method of weight loss, consult your doctor, who will take into account your individual characteristics and possible underlying disease.