Food diaries proven to double weight loss

According to a US study undertaken at the Kaiser Permanente Centre for Health Research in Oregon, keeping a food diary is a highly effective way of losing weight. Azmina Govindji, consultant nutrionist, explains the food diary phenomenon sweeping the dieting nation, and reasons its undisputed success in helping people lose weight.

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Tracking the progress of 1700 volunteers who attempted to lose weight over the course of six months, the Oregon study found that those who kept a daily diary of what they consumed dropped on average twice as many pounds as those who didn’t.  Dr Jack Hollis, who led the research, stated that “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost.”  In keeping with the advice, a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association supported the “usefulness” of self-monitoring, recommending food diaries to anyone looking to lose weight.

Reasoning the success of the food diary, Azmina Govindji, author of The Hot Body Plan, explains that “some eating habits are situational - for example, having tea and a chocolate biscuit while watching your favourite television program. We do it on autopilot.” As such, the success of self-monitoring is attributable to the fact that “it gives a split-second pause for thought.” Whether for personal ends or for sharing with a dietician, the fact of having to record habitual cravings causes them to be suppressed because of an unwillingness to record them. As Azmina says, it prompts the question: “Do I really want to write this down?” 

Private food diaries often constitute a more useful exercise as opposed to those which are shared, as when experts are involved the tracking of one’s eating habits for the purposes of attaining self-knowledge is invaded by the need to be seen in a good light by a qualified outsider, “But if you’re just doing this at home for yourself, what would be the point of lying? You’re setting up a dialogue with yourself…It can just be for your eyes only,” Azmina states. If the temptation to fib, however, proves impossible to resist, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US have come up with a solution for the more dishonest dieter: the photo diary; which has proven to be even more of a weight-loss inducing success. One volunteer told the researchers: “I had to think more carefully about what I was going to eat because I had to take a picture of it.”

The food diary trend is one currently sweeping both the UK and the States; any ‘food diary’ search generates a plethora of websites which allow users to log their food and beverage consumption, many of which incorporate the counting of calories and tracking of moods and behavioural patterns; an understanding of the latter being pivotal to fully decoding one’s dietary habits.

As Azmina stresses, “Through the use of a food journal, we often become aware of patterns that are self-destructive…we start asking the question ‘What’s eating me?’ instead of ‘What can I eat?’”  She argues that most people, even those considering themselves to be resolutely healthy, might get a shock when they see everything written down, from “Mothers who eat the last few chips on a child’s plate” to “the single woman who reaches for the Häagen-Dazs when she’s feeling lonely in front of the TV.” Emotional triggers can often come as the biggest surprise, yet, as Azmina stresses, “Once someone spots a pattern, then they can do something to change it.”

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