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Have You Ever Kept a Food Diary?
What you consume can have an impact on your PH. Doctors will often inquire about dietary habits and suggest changes based on weight, blood work and other health concerns. Patients often deal with too much weight gain or water retention and others the loss of too much weight. Some people have vitamin deficiencies or need to cut back on sodium, sugars are acidic foods. One common factor among most is the importance of monitoring water consumption.
Keeping a food diary can help both you and your doctor monitor your eating habits and pin point areas that need adjusting. It’s also beneficial to log physical and emotional symptoms triggered by foods.
Have you ever kept a food diary and if so, did you find it helpful? Have you ever used an app to help log your dietary intake? Share you tips and experience with us.
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6 Replies
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I have kept a food diary when I was put on a strictly soft food diet. They wanted to see what my oral intake was when figuring out exactly how much I needed to be tube fed. My dietitian actually has an app called “Healthie” and she uses it with me and her other clients. It is HIPAA compatible an is a good way to also share messages with her and not only do you track the meals but you reflect on how your body feels after eating the meal. I used a similar style app when I was recovering from an eating disorder at age 18. At the time tracking got a little obsessive for me, so I had to stop. Now I am eating disorder brain free pretty much, I actually would LOVE to be able to gain back some weight, it’s a struggle when the body weight is too low because then it puts you at high risk for more health problems and complications because the body is simply not strong enough.
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Brittany, I had a feeling you would have some good suggestions on this topic. I’m going to look into “Healthie”. That sounds like a great app and my son’s dietitian might be interested. Me, Cullen and my husband use an app called “Lose It”. If anything it’s helped us become more aware of calorie intake.
You have mentioned your eating disorder before and I was wondering if you have written about it in a column yet? I understand it might be too painful and personal to share but if there comes a time that you feel ready, I bet it would touch the lives of many.
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I have talked about it in a few of my columns that address weight gain and weight loss with PH. I would love to write about the reasons why I developed it in the first place . It was a way that I thought I was more in “control” of my health
I was borderline overweight for my height at one point even though I was all muscle. My health really started to take a turn for the worse BEFORE developing an eating disorder and I thought I could reverse it by diet and exercise and it became an obession to control what I knew I ultimately didn’t have control over (my physical health). That’s why I always work towards acceptance over the things I go through now because I don’t want that control mindset to control my life. -
Brittany, I think that would be a valuable angle to write about. I’m willing to be it would help many!
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Any diet is an individual approach to everyone. We are all different, even if we are completely healthy. That’s why we need a nutritionist who will prepare your diet based on your tests and adjust it after a while.
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@daniel-j a nutritionist or dietitian is an important part of the health care team! I have had one for awhile now and recently started seeing one again after getting my feeding tube in last January. I still see her and have check ins. Do you see one too? How have they helped you with your nutrition and well being? Do they communicate with your medical team too?
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