The Benefits of a Food Journal

When my stomach manifested strange symptoms like gassy pain, discomfort, bloating, burping, and loss of appetite after gorging on bread rolls with butter at a retreat, my doctor sister who is into functional medicine, encouraged me to keep a food journal. It was one of the best tips to “heal” my gutt. 

Photographing everything I ate for about a week made me intentional and conscious about my intake. Except for a few exemptions, I stuck to relatively healthy meals and I felt significant improvement in my overall well-being afterwards. Plus, there was the added bonus of a flatter tummy! Here’s what my week-long intake looked like…

Day 1:

Breakfast – mixed Berry Shake 

Lunch – corn, coconut water 

Snack – half a subway sandwich (tuna), four sampaloc

Dinner – Vietnamese salad, pho soup, fresh spring rolls

Day 2:

Breakfast

Lunch –

An organic gummy (just one!) 

Dinner –

Day 3:

Breakfast –

Lunch – 

Dinner – 

Day 4:

Breakfast –

Lunch –  (I only ate one!) 

Dinner – 

Day 5 – 

Breakfast 

Lunch – this was a cheat one! 

Dinner 
Day 6:

Breakfast 

Dinner – 

Day 7 onwards…(I tried to maintain healthy eating habits by avoiding sugar, rice, and wheat as much as possible, and going for more natural foods, fruits and vegetables. 

I don’t believe in dieting because I need and love to eat. But I do think that the stomach can be trained to prefer better food! 

“But I discipline my body and make it my slave…” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭9:27‬ ‭