How to Food Journal Series – Part 1: The Goal of a Food Journal

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If you’ve ever been to my little piece of the internet you’ll know how much I value food journals. I try to mention it in every post it remotely applies to. Journals can be a very powerful tool. By keeping track of the food you’re eating it can help you to figure out what foods do and do not agree with you. I wanted to create a short three four part series on the subject of how to food journal. (Yes, I think it’s that important) This series will cover a few things:

1. Introduction & The Goal of a Food Journal
2. What to Track & How to Track It
3. How to Track It
4. Food Journal Tips & Tricks

Whenever I hear the word “journal” I imagine something beautiful and elegant. If you’re a doodler (I am) you may imagine art journals. You may begin to feel like your food journal will make you feel inspired and empowered. Which can be true espeically when you first start out. In the beginning you may think writing in your Food Journal feels something like this – 

via GIPHY

After all you’re taking control of your life! You’re going to kick that elimination diets butt and crush all symptoms in their tracks! But as the months… I’ll say it again…months go on you may start to feel more like this – 

via GIPHY

Writing down every little thing can be a drain. Please don’t be discouraged! Hold on to that first image! Or maybe a nice mixture of the first and second image. Writing in your Food journal is easy when you don’t feel your best. It’s a motivator to figure out what is happening. It’s harder to keep track of as your symptoms start to get better. I’m guilty of this. You may think you don’t need this tool anymore. Try to stick with it as long as you can. Especially through your elimination and reintroduction phases. 

What is the Goal of a Food Journal?

A food journal details all food, supplements, and symptoms for each day of your elimination diet (including reintroduction). This journal helps you identify any culprit foods that might be hiding in your current diet. When I first started elimination I’ll be honest with you all I didn’t keep a journal. I figured I could remember what I had eaten the past four days no big deal but it’s not just about remembering the past four days. It’s about remembering what you ate last month when your symptoms reared their ugly head and seeing if anything stands out as a common trend. Don’t rely on memory or even an IgG test to dictate what you can and cannot eat. Here’s a perfect example of how a food journal can help you: with my food journal I realized that every time I ate pork it would send me into a spiral of symptoms. On my IgG test pork was given the okay but it turns out I don’t tolerate it very well. If I hadn’t been able to look back months into my food journal I would have never spotted the trend.  

All in all the goal of a food journal is very simple. The goal is to piece together possible commonalities in symptoms by tracking foods, supplements, and symptoms everyday. 

We will explore more about what to track and how to track it in part 2 of this series. Coming soon! Interested in elimination diets? Come join our new Facebook Group for support from your fellow eliminators HERE! As always don’t forget to subscribe below to stay up to date with all OCD Kitchen happenings.