Diet Study - Keeping A Health Journal
Our Diet Study portion for today concerns the topic of keeping a daily journal. It's amazing how many people keep records of things like maintenance on their car and are very careful to always put the correct type of fuel in their car . . but when it comes time to maintaining their own body they could really care less. They eat whatever suits them without any concern for any positive or negative nutritional value. The only criteria is whether it tastes good. And as far as keeping any record of what they've eaten . . forget it, that's just too much bother! Obviously they care more for the health of their cars than their own body. And it shows. The body doesn't lie. It's a walking record of the care or lack of care of its owner.
Today in America obesity is rampant among adults and now among children, as well. Obesity is defined as being between 20-49% above your ideal body weight. For example, if your ideal body weight should be around 125 lbs. you would be obese above 150 lbs. More than half of all adult Americans today fall into that category. Just walk into any Wal-Mart and it often looks like an obesity convention.
The bad news is that its getting worse. But the good news is that it doesn't have to be that way. Its really not difficult to lose excess body fat. The problem is that most people either don't care or really don't know how. It can really be confusing, too. Just look at all the diet books that so often seem to contradict each other. It a person really wants help, what are they supposed to do?
I have a diet and exercise book that should be coming out soon that will give people a practical program of both diet and exercise to re-design their bodies. Diet alone or exercise alone is not the answer. We really need to combine the two for any meaningful weight loss results. That's why most diet books just don't work. Unless they also provide you with an exercise program that is geared to that specific diet . . in most cases you're not going to get much results.
Physically we are what we eat and what we do. What we eat is our diet. How we exercise is part of what we do. The two must be combined into one cohesive unit. And the good news is that its almost never too late to make improvements.
Here is the tip for today . . keep a daily journal of your diet and your exercise program.
Here's how I do it. I go to Office Depot and buy a one-subject notebook, 100 pages, that costs less than $2.00. I bring it home, open it up, and set it next to my desk. On one page at the top I write - DIET - and on the other page I write - EXERCISE. I write the date in the corner of each page and I keep a daily journal of exerything I eat and the time I ate it on one side along with my exercise program for that day on the other side. At the end of the day, I turn the page and repeat the process for the next day.
When I first began, I recorded the nutritional composition of everything I ate. I made columns for Protein, Carbs, Fat, Calories, then another column for total calories that I kept a running total for. At the end of the day I knew exactly just how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat I had eaten for each meal and the day along with my calorie totals for each meal and the day. This is absolutely essential when getting started because unless we know what we are really eating, we can't get a handle on making necessary adjustments. After a couple of months, when I'd reached my goals, I no longer kept the data for the grams and calories. But I still write down everything I eat and the time.
Obviously this makes eating out at restaurants a little difficult. So for two months, I ate all my meals at home. But the other thing is that I was training for a body-building competition on a certain date. So I was focused on getting into my best possible physical condition by a set time and having that to work toward. Having some sort of goal like that is also very helpful in keeping focused on your program.
If you want to do something about your body and your health, I suggest you start keeping a daily journal of what you eat and your exercise program. It's really not difficult once you get used to it. I still do it every day. In future studies I'll have more on how to structure your diet for losing body fat and/or gaining muscle along with a good exercise program to follow.
Today in America obesity is rampant among adults and now among children, as well. Obesity is defined as being between 20-49% above your ideal body weight. For example, if your ideal body weight should be around 125 lbs. you would be obese above 150 lbs. More than half of all adult Americans today fall into that category. Just walk into any Wal-Mart and it often looks like an obesity convention.
The bad news is that its getting worse. But the good news is that it doesn't have to be that way. Its really not difficult to lose excess body fat. The problem is that most people either don't care or really don't know how. It can really be confusing, too. Just look at all the diet books that so often seem to contradict each other. It a person really wants help, what are they supposed to do?
I have a diet and exercise book that should be coming out soon that will give people a practical program of both diet and exercise to re-design their bodies. Diet alone or exercise alone is not the answer. We really need to combine the two for any meaningful weight loss results. That's why most diet books just don't work. Unless they also provide you with an exercise program that is geared to that specific diet . . in most cases you're not going to get much results.
Physically we are what we eat and what we do. What we eat is our diet. How we exercise is part of what we do. The two must be combined into one cohesive unit. And the good news is that its almost never too late to make improvements.
Here is the tip for today . . keep a daily journal of your diet and your exercise program.
Here's how I do it. I go to Office Depot and buy a one-subject notebook, 100 pages, that costs less than $2.00. I bring it home, open it up, and set it next to my desk. On one page at the top I write - DIET - and on the other page I write - EXERCISE. I write the date in the corner of each page and I keep a daily journal of exerything I eat and the time I ate it on one side along with my exercise program for that day on the other side. At the end of the day, I turn the page and repeat the process for the next day.
When I first began, I recorded the nutritional composition of everything I ate. I made columns for Protein, Carbs, Fat, Calories, then another column for total calories that I kept a running total for. At the end of the day I knew exactly just how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat I had eaten for each meal and the day along with my calorie totals for each meal and the day. This is absolutely essential when getting started because unless we know what we are really eating, we can't get a handle on making necessary adjustments. After a couple of months, when I'd reached my goals, I no longer kept the data for the grams and calories. But I still write down everything I eat and the time.
Obviously this makes eating out at restaurants a little difficult. So for two months, I ate all my meals at home. But the other thing is that I was training for a body-building competition on a certain date. So I was focused on getting into my best possible physical condition by a set time and having that to work toward. Having some sort of goal like that is also very helpful in keeping focused on your program.
If you want to do something about your body and your health, I suggest you start keeping a daily journal of what you eat and your exercise program. It's really not difficult once you get used to it. I still do it every day. In future studies I'll have more on how to structure your diet for losing body fat and/or gaining muscle along with a good exercise program to follow.
Hey, that was interesting,
Keep up the good work,
Thanks for writing about it
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