Nutrition Logging Mistakes

Nutrition recording is a must unless you want to eat the same thing everyday, which you don't-a variety of foods mean a variety of microbiome in your gut. Which is very helpful in overall health. Intuitive eating is a great idea but with the level of education we are given on nutrition from the start in school or from the average parent is not sufficient enough. So if I have not convinced you that you need to record......good luck and you can skip out on this one.

Here is a list of common mistakes that I've found my clients have made often and at different stages of learning. Some of these can be treated independently but most seem to mesh or work together.

-Not actually measuring with a scale

-Not accounting for everything caloric

-Not deconstructing out to eat meals

-Picking the first item they see in the application

-Not changing the unit to make it beneficial and easy for the user

-Just recording the good days

-Not adding oil or butter to out-to-eat items

-Skip recording(JUST ONCE)

-Not asking for help

-Timing matters

-Worry just about hitting numbers and not looking at actual ingredients or timing

-Focusing on the wrong things like spices and herbs

1. Measuring with a scale is very important to perform right away. If someone can start with doing it the precise way its much easier than doing it later. I always measure to the gram when I can. Most nutrition tracking applications have grams as a unit. If not, I'll elaborate further in the making changes to the unit section of this article. Get a kitchen scale!

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Escali-Primo-Black-Digital-Food-Scale-P115CH/203879716

2. Account for everything that has calories. I'm not as strict with experienced clients with gum, coffee, and anything with minimal(<10 calories) per serving but when first starting I need to know if someone is having a pack of gum (75 calories) and 8 cups of coffee (25 calories). Not only is that an extra 100 calories per day but we need to figure out why they're having those 15 pieces of gum and 15 cups of coffee. Maybe we can recognize a pattern to help change bad habits in to healthier habits.

3 & 4. Not breaking down foods that are not in the database of whatever application you're using is a huge mistake. Not only will you be inaccurate(up to 500-800 cal. difference) on just picking something with a similar title but missing out on the education of what each item is in certain entries. Understanding what certain entrees or items are actually made of will keep ingredients whole and low and also expand your education of what you are actually consuming.

5. Most good nutrition applications have an option to change units. For example on most food scales you'll have an ounce, gram,

milliliter, and more options. Same for the units on the application. Utilize these items to your benefit! Most food labels come with how many grams per serving next to the serving size at the top of the label. Check out the picture to the left. Per 3 pieces the food product has 90 calories. So if you have 2 that's 60g and you can change the unit and enter it in that manor. You don't have to eat 3 no matter what. Some entries only come in fractions and that can be handled easily as well. In the same case about you'd enter 2/3 or .6666 of a serving.

6. So many clients in the past I've had just think I want the "good days" of nutrition. Much like anything someone is trying to get better at we learn less on the good days than the "bad days". If you just record the good days how are we supposed to improve on the situation you have found yourself in anyway? Record it everyday and no matter what! Along with this concept comes the furtherment of being accurate with your labels. Put lunch under the lunch and put dinner under dinner. Nutritionist and dietitians can notice very important patterns by showing them this accurately. It can also help with exercise performance, nutrient timing, and sleep!

7. Food that is not prepared by yourself, especially at a restaurant you can assume there are some added calories thrown in to enhance flavor. I have most of my clients just assume a tablespoon or two of oil or butter is added to almost every dish they order unless they specify when ordering. Throw it in your deconstructed recording.

These steps can be overwhelming at first if tackled all at once. Just keep in mind that when recoding individuals underestimate their consumption as much as 100%. Become an expert in doing this. The only way to do that is practice and ask your professional for help. I enjoy teaching people skills like this to be able to control and improve their health daily. When my clients send their daily food log and I review it in the morning we deconstruct meals all the time. We don't mind. I would rather be accurate in recording instead of not understanding why we're hitting all our numbers consistently but not seeing results.