What a Food Tracker Can Tell You about Your Eating Habits

Create Awareness With a Daily Food Log

Maintaining a healthy eating routine when you’re busy can be difficult. You grab a snack on the go or quickly eat a piece of cake or pastry when you have a moment to catch up with a friend. When you’re not thinking about the food you eat, you can easily fall into unhealthy patterns without realizing it. Once you start tracking your food intake, however, you create awareness of your eating habits.

A Food Tracker App Gives You Insight Into Your Eating Behavior

People make some common, normal mistakes when they’re eating and not paying attention to their food choices. A food tracker can make you more aware of your eating habits. A few mistakes people make when they’re not tracking the foods they eat include the following:

• You eat more than you think you do. When you’re not tracking your food, eating mindlessly is easier than you may think. You often don’t realize you’re eating when you’re distracted. If you’re munching on snacks while watching TV, checking email, or chatting with a friend, you’re likely eating more food. However, the act of recording what you eat makes you more aware of the foods you eat.
• You eat when you’re not hungry. Keeping track of everything you eat in a day gives you key insights into what factors cause you to eat and overeat. When you’re not tracking your food, you may be eating when bored or when you’re worried, stressed, or sad. Perhaps you mindlessly snack on potato chips or candy while you’re doing (or avoiding) work. A food tracker lets you identify your habits so that you can mindfully work to change these habits when necessary.
• Your eating partners are bad influences. Sometimes who you eat with can have an effect on how you eat. Maybe you eat more when you’re out with friends than when you’re alone, or vice versa. Realizing habits like this one is the key to making mindful adjustments. If you have one friend who always nudges you to indulge in too much pasta or cake rather than foods to lose weight, a food tracker app can show you that pattern. You don’t need to stop seeing that friend to make a change — knowing you need to pay attention to your food choices can put you on the right path to controlling your eating habits.

Tracking your food empowers you to make healthy choices each day. Instead of mindlessly eating, you’ll learn your good and bad habits so that you can adjust your eating behaviors in a healthy way. Learning to be mindful about your food choices can set you on the path to better health.