THE POWER OF A FOOD-MOOD JOURNAL

A FOOD JOURNAL is one of the most-used diet tools. Whether you’re using a pen and paper, a document on your computer, or an app, tracking what you eat and drink can provide useful insight into your eating habits and help you spot patterns and potential gaps you need to address. The “what” we put in our mouths is only part of the picture, though. I encourage all my clients to keep a food-mood journal to help them dig into the “why” behind their choices.

What Is a Food-Mood Journal?

A food-mood journal is basically what it sounds like. You log what you eat, but also write down how you felt emotionally before, during, and/or after that eating occasion. You may find it helpful to also note things like what the environment or situation was like and whom you were with. The overall purpose of this journal is to help you identify links between your emotions and your eating habits.

Why Does It Work?

Often, even though we’re aware of what we’re eating, we may be overlooking the emotional or psychological factors that cause us to make choices that don’t support our goals. Sometimes you know if you’re an emotional overeater (or under-eater, which is also a thing). But not infrequently, I see people who are completely convinced that their eating isn’t tied to their emotions come to realize that how they’re feeling actually plays a huge role.

Honestly, I think that on some level we all experience a degree of this in our life. Learning to see the connections between our emotions and our eating patterns can help us identify the changes we can make. For example, you may notice you always want to stop for ice cream after your dinners with that friend who triggers your compar-itis, or that you have a hard time resisting donuts at your Thursday morning team meetings. Maybe you’ve found that when you’re feeling triggered by current events or under pressure to meet a work deadline, you’re too nauseous to eat and wind up with energy crashes and hanger-induced meltdowns.

Knowing these things about yourself can lead you to make changes, such as going to the movies instead of coffee chats with that friend, or bringing your breakfast to that meeting so you won’t be tempted by the donuts. Finding ways to deal with stressors that kill your appetite, such as talking to a therapist or coming up with a system to make projects less overwhelming, can make a big difference.

How to Keep a Food-Mood Journal

There are many ways to keep a food-mood journal. Whether you’re keeping a hard or electronic copy, you can be as loose or as thorough as you find helpful. For someone who’s just getting into a groove with this, I recommend being a little more detailed and consistent than someone who’s been practicing this for a long time and has a pretty good handle on what sets them off and how to reroute when they need to.

Here’s a basic format to get you started:

• Write down the time

• What the meal or snack was (breakfast, morning snack, etc.)

• What the meal or snack consisted of

• Where you were eating

• Anyone else you were eating with

• Emotions before eating (this can include thoughts, feelings, stress level, etc.)

• Emotions during the meal

• Emotions after the meal

• If desired, any physical sensations before, during, or after the meal

If this sounds like a lot, I promise it becomes much more automatic over time. For many people, they get to a place where they don’t feel a need to keep a daily log but keep the food-mood journal in their back pocket as a useful tool for when they feel like they’re going through a stressful time and prone to getting off track.