dear diaryA conversation with my mother on Christmas day (which involved the common phrases of “I don’t know how I am adding all this weight”) led to the evaluation of a common day in the life of my dear mum through which we discovered a weakness for bread. A typical day in the life of mum started with eight slices of white bread all topped with cheese (full fat), so already she has had around 744kcal (see below) and add on the 4 slices of cheddar slices at 100kcal per slice brings breakfast total to 744 + 400= 1,1400kcal just for breakfast alone.

Does this sound familiar?? The most common method people add to their daily calorific intake is through snacks and drinks, including fizzy drinks and even speciality hot drinks (yes drop that caramel macchiato!)

There is often an outstanding reason why you’re not losing weight. Items in your diet may very well be stopping you from shifting that extra bulge. As new year resolutions are made, there is no doubt that there will be plenty of us committing to losing weight in the New Year and keeping it off in time for that summer body.dear diary1

One of the many actions you can take this year to help aid a successful weight loss goal could be through taking a food diary, a common method in which dieticians use to determine deficiencies and excess components in patients diets.

A food diary allows you can stand back and evaluate what you really eat throughout the week (this requires complete honesty!). It could be that cheeky chocolate bar accompanying your daily paper or that lunch time sub that prevents progress.

People tend to eat healthier during the days of keeping a food diary (e.g. exaggerating the healthy foods) however this is not what you want; keeping complete honesty throughout the duration will ensure you identify your weaknesses.

With plenty of nutrition databases such as apps like MyNetDiary, obtaining nutritional and calorific content of foods that do not come with calorific information should not be too difficult.

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Author: Elizabeth Uwiduhaye

Elizabeth is a self-proclaimed nutrition fanatic who went on to study it at the University of Reading. She shared her childhood in both Rwanda and England, setting the basis to her globalised view of diets and lifestyles. Elizabeth’s love of food was developed through working in various different restaurants and her mother’s home cooked African meals. She hopes to combine her passion for cooking and knowledge of science in each recipe that is posted..

“Having had troubles with my weight, I feel compelled to help others through effective weight management with a healthy diet. I believe a heavily plant based diet is best, there is no doubt that fruits and vegetables carry significant life improving factors when combined with lean meats, fish and whole grains. The topic of nutrition is always changing and this is what I love most about it, we all eat but what we eat is different so why should we follow the same advice?
My goal is to inspire people to try new ways of discovering food through different lifestyles which encourage variety and enjoyment of food.”

tmblr: my-foodesse | blog: foodesse.blogspot.co.uk