How to Reach Your Health Goals Using a Free Food Diary Template

If your goal is to get healthy ASAP, have more energy, or lose weight, I have to recommend a diet diary as my number 1 simple health tool. You’ll also be able to download your own food diary template! And it does not in any way involve weird diets, calorie counting or food restrictions.

Thank goodness!

Why I Recommend a Food Diary or Food Journal as Your New Best Health Tool

A food diary or food journal is so often overlooked as a useful tool in our weight loss and health goals.

But the premise is so simple: you use a food diary template to record every morsel of food or every sip of liquid that goes in your mouth. That’s it! Really.

There’s no judgment, no restriction, just a simple recording of what you’re eating. If you choose, you can also write down how you’re feeling.

You don’t have to worry that someone’s going to judge you on that extra piece of chocolate cake you ate. You won’t be ashamed to write down the extra-large bowl of ice cream you gobbled down in less than a minute (guilty as charged!). You won’t even be blamed when all you had for dinner was a bowl of cereal.

No one but you will see your completed food diary template.

How a Food Diary or Food Journal Can Support Our Health

Using a food diary or food journal can help us reach our health goals in so many ways. For example:

• Help us become more aware of what we are eating and drinking. Simply writing a food journal or food diary helps us become much more mindful and conscious of what we actually ate. We might also note how we actually felt after eating it.
• Provide valuable insights about how certain foods make us feel. As long as we also track how we are feeling when we eat or drink them.
• Offer an accurate and honest snapshot of our weekly food intake. We can keep this record for our own records or share it with our health practitioner or health provider. This is useful because many of us say “we eat healthy”. However, many of us have trouble remembering specific meals, or describing food quality or quantity.

A food journal or food diary helps us recognize our own patterns, and might indicate when we have some food-related issues.

Food journals and food diaries can also identify issues related to emotional eating. For example, we might eat more of, or the wrong kinds of, foods when we’re stressed, anxious, tired or angry. And if this is an issue for you, I highly recommend my article on tips for Intuitive Eating.

The best part about a food diary or food journal is that you don’t have to do anything with the information.

You can simply keep it for your own knowledge. Or, if you’re receiving professional support, share it with your nutritionist, dietitian, or other health care professional.

They can then use this information to provide customized meal plans or food recommendations. Both of which can help you reach your personal health goals.

Your info is safe with me. I will guard it with my life and promise no spam, ever. I genuinely hate it as much as you do!

Common Challenges with Food Journalling (and How to Overcome Them)

While food journalling is simple in theory, it’s not uncommon to face challenges.

Here are some common issues and how to overcome them:

• Forgetting to log meals or snacks. To build the habit, set reminders on your phone or keep your journal in the kitchen or dining area.
• Feeling overwhelmed by the process. Start small by recording just one meal or snack per day. Gradually increase your entries as you get more comfortable.
• Judging yourself for your choices. Remember, the purpose of a food diary is awareness, not judgment. Celebrate your progress rather than fixating on perceived “mistakes.”

How to Record Your Information in Your Food Diary Template

Although there is no right or wrong way to record your food/drink intake, here are two helpful tips:

• be honest. Remember no one is likely going to read this!
• do it right away. If you wait until the end of the day, you’ll forget some foods or drinks along the way. As much as possible, try to write things down soon after eating.
• you might also like to add this information to a food log app so you can grab extra data like calories or nutrients (if this is important to you).

Tips for Making Food Journalling a Fun, Engaging Habit

• Use colourful pens or stickers. Adding a creative touch to your food diary can make the task more fun and consistent.
• Combine it with meal planning. Use your food diary insights to plan meals that match your health goals. I recommend my articles, Must-Try Healthy Meal Planning Tips: How to Save Time & Money, and Make Planning Weekly Meals Easier with these Free Meal Plan Templates.
• Set small goals. For example, aim to track your food intake for one full week. Afterward, reward yourself with a non-food treat, like a new journal or self-care item.

Grab Your Free Food Journal Templates

To help you, I’ve created two free food diary templates. One is a basic food diary template and one is a more detailed food journal template that includes a question about how your felt after your meal.

This is an easy way to record your emotional and physical symptoms. So, you can start thinking about how specific foods might be helping or hindering you from reaching your goals for better health.

You can grab your free food diary templates here (including a free Weekly Food Journal and a free Weekly Mood & Food Journal).

Now… Have you ever used a food journal template?

Did you find it helped you track your progress toward achieving your health goals?

Want more tips for weight loss without counting calories?

I would love to hear about your experience below.

Life is a plate… Eat up!

Ashleigh