I’ve talked about the importance of keeping a food diary before. Now I have even more evidence of the benefits. The results of a new study funded by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research underscores the importance of keeping track of the food you eat when dieting. Study participants who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more than those individuals who did not keep records.

Image via WikipediaThe study participants were asked to follow the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). This healthy diet was originally designed to lower blood pressure but has since been found to decrease the risk for heart disease and stroke as well. It is a low fat and low sodium diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat or non-fat dairy. (The 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans that I provide on this site are modeled after the DASH diet.)

Almost 1,700 participants agreed to adopt the healthier diet and exercise. About two-thirds of the individuals lost nine pounds or more over a period of six months. However, those who kept a food diary lost as much as 20 pounds, more than twice as much as the others.

So why do food diaries work? They work because you can learn so much about your food habits and eating patterns. First of all, you see where the extra calories are coming from. And you get a better sense of how your calorie intake is influenced by portion size. For many people the primary issue is portion size.

Another benefit of keeping a food diary is the knowledge you gain about when you eat out of boredom or stress. So there are a number of different ways in which food diaries increase your awareness and keep you accountable for your choices.

Some people struggle with keeping food diaries. It isn’t easy. It takes time, although that may be a good thing. Some of the participants noted that they thought twice about having a cookie or piece of cake because they didn’t want to have to write it down or see it in their diary.

The good news is that most people tend to be creatures of habit eating a relatively small number of foods. Your regular diet may include a base of no more than about 30 to 40 different foods. So in a short period of time it may become easier to keep track of your calorie intake.

I like the convenience of the service provided by MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of calories and nutrients. (See Food Diary Review: MyFoodDiary.com for my review) My husband and I enjoy eating a wide variety of foods. Although neither of us enjoys cooking every day, we do like to try new recipes and healthy food products from the supermarket when time permits. So I appreciate the convenience of having a place to record and store an ongoing record of all my food choices.

The foods I eat as well as the recommendations I make with the sample menus provided on this website are all based on foods I “add to my refrigerator” on the My Food Diary website. My digital refrigerator is full of healthy foods. This makes it a lot easier to keep track of my own diet and to also come up with new ideas for sample menus.

There are other sites that provide a similar service. Some are free and others have a small fee. My review of the available nutrition calculators and food diary sites online may help you choose a service that will work best for you. (Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online) Or you might want to just keep track of your food choices with a pen and paper.

If you haven’t given food diaries a try or you have in the past without success, you may want to take a new look. Keeping a food diary takes time. But I can guarantee you it will be worth it. You will learn things about your food choices and habits that you were not aware of before. What you learn could be just what you need to know to get healthier, reduce your calorie intake, and reach your weight loss goal.

Give a try!

Breakfast matters. Dozens of research studies have confirmed what health professionals have been teaching for decades. From having a higher intake of essential vitamins and minerals, to feeling better both physically and mentally, and possibly living longer, breakfast eaters seem to have an edge over those who skip. That’s good news but there’s more. Did you know that breakfast eaters tend to weigh less? Or that choosing certain healthy breakfast foods over others could make weight loss or maintenance easier?

Ideally a healthy breakfast includes a variety of foods, fruits and/or vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy, and a good source of low calorie protein. However, meeting nutrient needs for the whole day is a challenge when on a low calorie diet (This is one of the reasons nutritionists advise women to not go below 1200 calories when dieting. Read 1200 Calorie Diet: Getting Started to learn more.) It is much more difficult and often not possible to achieve nutritional balance for a single meal, especially breakfast.

So what are your best choices for breakfast? Let’s take a look at how to meet your nutritional needs while at the same time increase your chances for weight loss success. In addition, let’s keep in mind the need for breakfast to be quick, easy, and appealing!

To begin, breakfast may be very important but it is only one meal. Try to spread out your meals and snacks over the day to keep your metabolism running smoothly and help you feel your best. To do this, breakfast will provide about 1/4 to 1/3 of your total daily calories. That’s only 300 to 350 calories on a 1200 calorie diet (or 375 to 450 calories on a 1500 calorie diet).

Lots of low calorie eat and run healthy breakfasts are high in carbohydrates. (Think breakfast cereals, toast, muffins, and fruit whether fresh or dried, and fruit juice.) That can be good if you pick carbs with plenty of fiber and other nutrients.

Eating high-fiber foods can fill you up and keep you satisfied longer than many other foods. (See Dietary Fiber: Can it Help You with Weight Loss) But you can improve on this choice by understanding the value of having enough protein with your breakfast. Protein can blunt your hunger for longer than any other nutrient. Avoiding hunger and the desire to eat any food in sight can be a struggle on a low calorie diet! Give this tip a try for nourishment and to see if it helps you feel less hungry.

Image via WikipediaHow much protein is enough and what foods can you pick to keep the calorie count down? The daily recommendation for protein in a healthy diet ranges from 10 to 35 percent. This assumes you are eating ENOUGH calories for YOU. If you haven’t done so already, please read 1200 Calorie Diet: Getting Started. This article will help you assess your minimum safe calorie intake.

Ten percent may not be enough protein to meet your needs on a 1200 calorie diet. Your protein needs are independent of your calorie intake. You have a need for a certain amount of protein whether you are on a reduced calorie diet or not (To calculate YOUR precise protein needs read How Much Protein Do You Need?)

Thirty-five percent protein is probably more than what is needed by the average woman. (People who need very high levels of protein are athletes and those recovering from surgery and certain illnesses.) Approximately, 15 to 25% protein will hopefully meet your daily protein needs and will not be too difficult to obtain with a healthy diet. So let’s go with 20% as an average. Twenty percent of 1200 calories would be 240 calories or 60 grams of protein for the day.

[An easy way to determine how much 20% of 1200 calories would be is to start with 10%. Ten percent is 120 calories so twice that would be 240 calories or 20% of 1200. Each gram of protein has an energy equivalent of about 4 calories per gram. So 240 divided by 4 equals 60 grams. You can use this same sequence of calculations to figure your suggested protein needs on a 1500 calorie diet.]

O.K., I’ve walked you through more details then you probably wanted to know! What I would like for you to remember is the number 60 grams of protein. (Approximately what you need on a 1200 calorie diet). Knowing this number, you now have an idea of how to determine the suggested amount of protein you need for breakfast. Ideally this would be about 15 to 20 grams of protein (60 to 80 calories) because a healthy breakfast will provide about 1/4 to 1/3 of what you need for the day. But that gets tricky when you are eating only 300-350 calories and you’re striving for nutritional balance.

In part 2 of this article, I will give you some breakfast sample menus to show you what kind of choices you might make to meet both your fiber and protein needs for breakfast as well as other nutrients as best you can. This will give you a better idea of what you can do to fill up and stay satisfied for longer on a low calorie diet. Feeling satisfied and not hungry is half the battle with weight loss. Don’t you think?