Key Questions to Reveal Hidden Patterns in Your Eating Habits Using a Food Diary

Amelia Freer, a renowned nutritional therapist, empowers clients to transform their lifestyles. One of her most effective strategies for gaining clarity on your eating patterns? Maintaining a detailed food diary. Here are practical insights drawn from her book Food. Love. Shine.

Gain deeper insights into your eating habits? Track everything in a food diary for two weeks. This simple tool reveals the 'one key change' needed—whether it's something to eliminate from your diet. As a professional, I've seen it pinpoint issues for clients time and again, fostering real self-awareness. Consider asking yourself:

• Does your sugar-laden breakfast (like cruesli), fat-free option (just fruit), or carb-heavy meal (bread alone) leave you craving snacks before lunch?
• Do you frequently turn to convenience or pre-packaged foods?
• Are you caught in the low-fat, high-sugar trap, reminiscent of '80s dieting fads?
• Does nightly wine add hidden sugars and ramp up your appetite the next day?
• Do you restrict calories all day or week, only to binge in the evening or on weekends from sheer hunger and exhaustion?
• Do you default to carbs because they seem quickest and easiest?
• Are you an evening snacker, reaching for chocolate or sweets after dinner and before bed?
• Do sweets generally leave you feeling low or sluggish?

Review your diary closely: Use colored highlighters for food groups and jot down how you feel before and after meals. Patterns will emerge, highlighting sensitivities to ingredients and behavioral triggers. This naturally guides your first dietary adjustment.

Excerpt and image from Amelia Freer's Food. Love. Shine.

Curious about the book?
Food. Love. Shine. by Amelia Freer is available for €22.95 at retailers like AKO or Bol.com. Watch our site—from Sunday, we'll be giving away copies of Eten. Liefde. Stralen.