Besides answering the what, when, where, who, and how, reflection can add a valuable component to food journalling.
First a poem:
Record and Write,
With a Keen eye,
Reflecting on,
The gift inside,
The details,
That are left behind,
And,
With Love and kindness make,
Any observations that fate,
You into old patterns
That make behave,
Into that big break.
Food Journalling
When you know you are overeating, want to get more in tune with yourself, or want to lose weight, a food journal is a great place to start. Doing a food journal alone helps people be successful with weight goals. It brings awareness. You don’t need an expert to tell you that you that you ate a snack without hunger or overate at dinner with someone because you were uncomfortable. Most of the time we know that we need to include more balanced meals with more vegetables.
Recording when you ate, what you ate, how hungry you were, how full were you when you stopped, why you ate and how can give you valuable details. I would also pay attention to how full you felt 20 minutes later because that is when fullness kicks in.
You can still benefit from doing this even if you miss some meals. Chances are you are going to notice some patterns around eating. Food journalling allows you the reflection time with yourself to observe what areas you could improve on. Perhaps it is a pattern to come home very hungry and eat dinner and beyond afterwards. This might be a combination of being overly hungry and feeling stress.
While you are noticing these things, the real strategy for success is to observe without it being wrong. So, a reflection on a food journal might include ‘feeling real hunger and had a portion of food’. After finishing the portion, thinking that it tasted very good and validating that there is enough hunger to have another one. Twenty minutes later, feeling overly stuffed because the second portion was, in fact, overdoing it.
You have to go through it to catch it next time. The key is that in the moment, it was justified, you made it so. You have to go through it to know how that feels, with awareness. That is the gift in the learning that can help you move from a negative judgement for yourself to a more neutral point. You can make a plan for next time. Maybe you make the plan to wait a few minutes and if hunger is still there ‘give self permission to have the second portion.’ (If it is important to you not to have that overly stuffed feeling.)
Observe with keen curiosity. What were you feeling if it wasn’t hunger? Once you identify that, you can meet the real need. Observing with curiosity allows a less harsh judgement on the self, that is probably not helping anyway. What were the circumstances? Healthy food was available when hunger hit versus a high calorie meal being available when hunger hit. Noticing these things that help your wins and otherwise, will give you the roadmap to build an environment for your success.
Simply tracking in a food journal can benefit you. Many of us will automatically want to record healthier choices. If you are able to reflect those in the moment choices, you may be better able to see the excuses and reasons that you are choosing something. Knowing your reason can help you to be successful in finding the solution.
Cheers to reflecting with keen curiosity. ❤️
Reflect For Success!
Resource on Food Diary:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-keep-a-food-diary-2019013115855