A food journal (also known as a lie detector) is one of the best tools for staying mindful and honest about how you’re actually eating. After you eat something, write it down right away; at the end of a busy day, trying to remember what you had at what time (and how much of it) is asking for inaccuracy and denial.
You should record every single thing that goes in your mouth besides water. If you bite it, you write it!
Research shows that dieters who keep a food journal lose more weight than those who try to improve their eating without one.
People tend to think they eat better than they actually do. When you record a few days of consumption, you may find that you’re woefully short on vegetables or that you regularly eat way too many calories before bed.
One bonus to keeping a food journal is that it makes you think more about what you choose and how much you eat. People generally report that keeping a food journal automatically improves their eating just by virtue of the fact that they have to think about it and write it down.