Any tips for recording food values quickly?

I have been given a fairly comprehensive 'diet diary' by my diabetes nurse to complete for a month running up to my next consult with the diabetes doc. Obviously, i list EVERYTHING i eat and at what time, and i also have columns for BS readings before meals and 2 hours after. Ok so far.

HOWEVER I have just spent the best part of 2 hours adding up the values of what I ate yesterday and filling in the form! Is there a simple and quick way to do this? The 'Calorie, carb and fat bible' lists almost every item available but its cumbersome and long winded and looking up each item on google is very time consuming and requires a degree in mathematics. I dont use any processed foods at all so i dont need anything with branded products in it.

May i add that i am not very tech-savvy and cant download anything onto my phone, although might be able to get my son to help me get something useful onto my ipad-touch-screen-thingy. Any tips?

Bluetit1802 said:

What exactly do you have to record? Do you have to include the number of grams of every carb you eat? That would be cumbersome. Can you just list the different foods, with perhaps some portion sizes such as "1 slice", 1 tablespoon", "half a dozen" etc.

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They appear to want a total of how many g of carbs, fat calories etc i have eaten.at each meal and what my BS readings are 2 hours after eating. (they are still VERY hung up on calories and fat content over here) I am hoping to prove from the chart that if i eat the amount of carbs that they suggest from their 'recommended healthy diet sheet' it sends my BS levels soaring.

Yesterday, i listed, for example for lunch (which is usually my main meal)
1 poached egg, 2 rashers grilled streaky bacon, 1/2 tin plum tomatoes, 60g grilled mushrooms. To get an accurate count i have to weigh the bacon, look up its value for 100g, work out the ratio for each little column etc etc, then same for mushrooms, tomatoes... I actually feel that it would be SIMPLER to eat a processed meal, at least i could just copy from the packet - but that does not make it right does it? Why is this so difficult?

Boo1979 said:

I use my fitnesspal free app to do the hard work when it comes to working out nutrient breakdown / calories of what I eat. I use it on my Ipad although it can also be used on a phone or computer and will synch across all formats
You need to input things yourself the first time - you can do a simple barcode scan or do database search ( just make sure you enter your country into the search as the way nutrients arre shown differ according to the system used) You can enter recipes too.
Its then really easy to click a button to enter the item into an electronic food diary that gives you a breakdown by item / meal and day which you could the write into your manual diary

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Thanks, i think i understand what you are saying, but i dont have a fitnesspal app and i dont buy anything with a barcode as i dont use processed or packaged food at all. some of the stuff i cook at home, (for example my curry sauce or beef chilli) has about 20 elements to it. I just look at the list of ingredients and the information required and want to scream!