I often talk about my work from home life and the issues that come with it on my FinixPost blog. One of those is overeating, eating unhealthy and sometimes, not eating at all. Eating becomes an often neglected chore when you’re working long hours on the things you’re passionate about. In the end, when your tummy makes noise, you shut it up with junk. That life is dangerous. To make things better, I started keeping a Food Journal.
The idea wasn’t weird to me. I have been keeping a usual journal and I love the idea of it. It’s, of course, easier said than done. Getting into the habit of doing it and then facing the consequences can seem to be a tough job but I still have been doing it and here are some things that happened when I started keeping a food journal.
You Know What You’re Actually Eating
Most of us have false perceptions about our own routines. We think we’re working a lot even when our actually work time is less than two hours. It happens, honestly.
Same is with food. We may think we’re eating healthy or eating too much junk but things could be totally different.
Moreover, people often confuse eating healthy with eating homemade food. Everything homemade isn’t healthy or wholesome. So, how do we know what we’re actually eating?
Obviously, by keeping a food journal.
You begin with just logging whatever you eat and just sit on it until a month or so, just to ensure you get into the habit of keeping a food journal.
2. You Start Making Healthier Choices
Just when you know you are now used to keeping the food journal, you start analysing your food choices. Are you getting enough vitamins and minerals in your diet? Is your protein content good? Is your food diversified enough? If not, you need a chance.
This also makes you morally responsible. When you see you ate all junk last week, you feel guilty. You naturally want to try and eat healthier this week. Even if you fail 9 out of 10 times, you still ate healthy food once. It wouldn’t have happened if this newly found conscience wasn’t there.
3. You Stop binge Eating
When you keep logging what you eat right away, you know that you just ate an hour ago. Your hunger pangs are mostly you feeling dehydrated. You pick a glass of water instead of a snack, saving yourself from excessive calorie intake and making yourself healthier.
4. You Start Knowing More About Food
Human mind is curious, in general. Once you know what you’re eating, you’ll naturally feel curious about what exactly it is. Is bread a carb source or protein source? How do you get the potassium? How do you get the calcium?
All this curiosity will lead you to read more about food and nutrition, and once you’re more aware about food, you will make even better food choices.
5. You Become A Food Blogger, maybe
If you’re anything like me, you’ll instantly want to share your newly found knowledge with your friends. What’s better to do this than start a food blog. It’s a great way to share and even document your food journal. Try it!
Those are the five awesome things that happen when you keep a Food Journal. It’s not that tough, you know. I still keep a track of it in the default notes app on my phone. That’s a good start. Do it. Be responsible to yourself for yourself. Be healthy and live long!
