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Food Diaries

SockFiddler

SockFiddler

Well-Known Member
Messages
623
Location
Bristol
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Many of us keep them, even swear by them, and we frequently recommend them to others, but what does yours mean to you? How do you use it? What information do you record?

Here's a photo of mine - complete with long-hand maths and blood stains!

Foodiary_zpsn4ebpjyu.jpg

As you can see, mine is just a normal notebook (I'm thinking of graduating to something more specifically designed for this, but that's more about my love of notebooks than my need for complication). I record what I eat and when (and how much), as well as BG levels, and carbs, calories and protein.

Over its six-week life-span, it's allowed me to track how my carb intake as reduced and brought my BG and appetite down with it, and to see that my last packet of crisps (a serious former weakness of mine) was on 23rd June! I can also look back on meals I've particuarly enjoyed and repeat / tweak them as required, and see what impact snacks and treats have had (want to see what the last Magnum I ate did to me?).

I've considered recording other things, like mood, what the weather was like, how much sleep I got, but I don't want to be in a state of constantly reducing my life to numbers. For now, this is a balance I'm comfortable with. I'm sure it will evolve over time as I learn more about my body and from others on this forum.

I know some people keep spreadsheets, use apps, download specific .pdfs - I'm super-curious to see what works for others.

Thanks!

Sock :)
 
I use a page to a day diary. Track carbs, levels, insulin dose, time and have a space for mites which can include exercise, illness etch. Sometimes I even fill it in...
 
I began using spread sheets but that was when I tested a great deal and was learning. Next I found that Abbott co-pilot was enough and although you can record meals etc. I was now at the stage where I wanted readings and reports. I needed data less and less with time since I now knew what to buy and cook but when I got the Libre I was interested in the reports it could produce.

So that's it now. No spreadsheets. All readings are in the memories of my BGM and Libre and if I want detail I plug them into the computer.
 
I'm old fashioned. I use an ordinary paper ring binder notebook and I record what and when I eat, my bg metre readings, my fluid intake by the glass, my pain levels and the quality of sleep I've had.
From this I've learned that the berries I eat need to be in smaller quantities or eaten as a pud after my evening meal just as an example. At the back of the book I've written passages from the books I've read and my weight and HbA1c results. I intend to keep a note of any new recipes I read about here on the forum but I think I'm going to need a separate notebook for that.
 
I have only kept a food diary to keep my diabetes nurse happy.
Most of the time, I keep track in my head with a little assistance from Diasend.

My temporary food diary was supposed to be on paper because that was what the nurse requested. However, I work on computer, travel a lot and found searching for a pen whilst I was working and eating lunch on the train was a pain. Therefore, I resorted to a memo on my phone which I transposed to paper when I went to see the nurse.
 
Old fashioned notebook didn't work for me because I tend to eat at work or in cafeterias and even an A5 notepad is cumbersome. I'm using an app (MyFitnessPal) on the mobile, and even then sometimes I miss to enter the data. Big advantage: i get calories and nutrition facts automatically.
 
I'm a data freak and record everything on a spread sheet on my PC but that is easy when you use a PC and are at home a lot. Everything goes on it. Food, BS levels, blood test results (all of them), blood pressure from my home monitor, weight, and Libre stuff. The file is very large after over 3 years of this!
 
I'm a spreadsheeter and have about 6 pages on mine.. Blood sugars, food diary, what I ate yesterday and my weight this morning, FBG graph and weekly weigh in as well as all the results from my tests that I get online.. oh yes and a record of daily exercise.
Does that make me a little obsessive... hmm
 
FullSizeRender.jpg Spreadsheet fan here! Excel on my iPad and iPhone! Here's this week so far (week starts on Saturday because I got my meter on a Saturday!). Loads of abreviations that I understand, carbs in black, total carbs for the day in blue, blood sugars in red, average daily sugar in purple!
I also use the app Glucose companion, it produces lots of visually pleasing graphs to help track blood sugar readings and weight.
 
I've never kept a food diary before, I'm thinking about it now after seeing that spreadsheet @Rachox. I have a low carb diet but at the moment I have no idea how low.
 
SockFiddler said:
Here's a photo of mine
Click to expand...

And mine.

WBD.jpg
I use "Weight by date" on my desktop PC, it has it's own American database of foods, but you can add your own like my slow cooker stew which I've added the recipe with all the constituent foods making the total on that line. The co-op cheddar with caremelised onion comes off the packet and I just add it once to my personal food database.

As you can see, only 32 gms carb, even low on fat, and although there's only a total of 1256 calories, you can see how easy it is to pile on the calories, cheese and even the chicken both amounting to 218 and 344 calories respectively. It can be a pain to keep updating the database, but very useful, especially when confronted by a doctor or nurse who thinks all fat people eat too much of the wrong things.

Excessive protein which I've now corrected.
 
Very rarely keep a diary that includes the individual components of a meal. I was never ever good at keeping a bg diary, thank goodness for the software nowadays where you can download all the info from bg meters and pumps, presently use DIABASS.
 
I started off using a notebook but have now moved to a spreadsheet for blood glucose tracking (I use a cable to download from my meter) and recently started using an app called Lose It, which records diet (full nutrition breakdown), exercise, weight and blood glucose. It was a bit of a faff to set up as it's US based and the carb counts were all 'wrong' from a UK perspective. It's proving very interesting to see the nutritional breakdown - I'm not much of a weigher and measurer - and shows that my instincts about carb levels were pretty good.
 
Notebook.
I'm into number twelve!

It can be an obsession, just like what you eat!

Mine has pre meal, hour or half hour, I swap from week to week. Two hour, what I ate, and when!

Since I started intermittent fasting, the number of times I now test has dropped by half!

Think I am going to need a bookcase in a couple of years!


My first readings, were due to a ham salad!
Pre meal. 7.1
1 hrs. 6.7
2hrs. 7.3.

My last ham salad reading

Pre meal. 4.2
Half hrs. 5.3
2hr. 4.6.

Bit of a difference there!

Don't forget, the first test, i was at least five stone heavier, didn't have good control, my insulin resistance was still there and I hadn't got my insulin levels down!
And I was supposed to be diabetic!
 
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