One of the most effective tools in ensuring a balanced diet and proper nutrition is a food diary.
It helps you calculate the calories that will be given on x number of food to be consumed.
Thus, it also helps you determine the type of food you will eat.
Understanding the loop holes in your diet is made easy with a food diary.
Comparing weekly or even daily intake based on your chart will help you identify which food to take off the list and which to keep.
Too much of anything, so as they say, will not do you good.
Same goes with calories, too much calories or too less of it will give a negative effect to your nutrition.
Your objective in tracking your calorie consumption is mainly focused on the measurement of the nutrients taken from the food you eat.
One healthy secret is to stick to this objective.
One of the benefits of keeping a food diary is making a list of the already known healthy foods which in anyway do not give a negative effect to your health and fitness.
You can come up with a list of the food that is always included on your meal like fresh green leafy vegetables, fruits, whole grain and cereals plus proteins.
By keeping a daily record, you will be able to balance your carbohydrates, fat, protein ratios in proportion to a healthy diet.
Suggested Food Diary What I have is a three-ring notebook binder, a paper puncher, and to make everything easy, a printer.
You can design the pages of your diary with columns that will list the things you will track: food type, quantity, calories gained, carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Next to your tracker is to have a permanent measuring tool: measuring cups and spoons, a kitchen scale which is available at supermarkets.
The most important of all, is to have a nutrition database.
Most of the food that you will purchase would have nutrition fact labels.
Make sure to understand how to read such label so will get better information of the content; its weight, volume, and calorie count.
One of the nutrition databases available is the USDA Nutrient Database which you can find available on the internet.
Either you download the program pack or you can bookmark the web pages.
So far, everything is ready.
You now have the tools to prepare your food diary.
In the process of tracking your food intake and calorie consumption, you will learn different styles of dieting.
What's important is to find out the sources of healthy food and its nutrients then make a list of the ones you can afford and should include on your diet plan.
You should be able to make a list of your daily food nutrient plan.
Before taking this route, you should have the determination to accept changes of your diet.
It is important because there are some foods that you will find unnecessary for your diet and is even inappropriate for your fitness plans.
Once your personal diet program commences, your attention will be focused on two things only: one is the type of food you will eat including its nutrient and calorie values while the other one is the weight you are getting from these foods.
Don't forget discipline on your daily routine then you are on your way to a successful nutrition habits.