Daily Food Diary Template *Free *Printable

I know a lot of people use online food trackers to stick with a healthy diet plan these days. Apps or websites with calorie and exercise trackers are pretty popular. Do you use one?

Or are you like me – you used one for 2 days and got fed up with how long you were spending inputting things? Finding the right foods, and amounts, and then repeating again the next day when you had the exact same breakfast… And do we really need or want to be that obsessive about calorie counting?

Intuitive eating is about getting more in touch with how you feel and what your body needs, and calorie counting works against that idea.

Here’s a simple and retro solution for you–download my easy-to-use daily food diary template, print it and write things in during your day.

Using this food journal template is not only important for keeping track of what you eat but for keeping track of how you feel. It can show you how the foods you eat affect your energy and mood – which foods help you feel better and which ones make you feel worse.

Using This Food Journal Template

My daily food diary template has spots for meals & snacks, along with spots to track your water intake and exercise for the day, and rate the quality of your digestion, energy, mood and sleep.

Your diet, exercise and water intake all affect the quality of your life. Knowing how certain foods affect your mood, or how exercise can affect your energy levels, is so valuable in your journey to better health.

For people who tend to snack a lot, keeping a food diary can be really eye-opening and can actually help in resisting temptation. If you have to write down everything you eat and drink – on paper especially – it makes you think twice about giving in to the munchies.

If you want to be organized but just don’t have the time, don’t worry! I’ve done the meal planning, nutritional balance, and grocery list for you, with a 3-day taster vegan meal plan:

What To Do Next?

After recording 3 days in this food log template, here are some key next steps:

1. Grocery List: One of the most important aspects of keeping yourself on track with a healthy eating plan is to make sure you keep your kitchen stocked with lots of nutritious foods – and keep the junk out. If you struggle with decisions at the grocery store, you’ll want to check out my healthy food list.
2. Recipes: If you want some fresh ideas on what to make for your meals, head to my other site where I have tons of healthy recipes ready for you!
3. Meal Plan: If you want help with all the planning, portion sizing and calorie counting, this online vegan meal plan is perfect for you. I took care of all the work to set up a nutritionally-balanced set of meals, along with a grocery list, so all you need to do is get started!

How Long Should You Use The Food Diary Template?

I don’t consider keeping a food diary a life-long project. In fact, it seems kind of obsessive to track all of this information forever. Healthy eating is about enjoying foods to give you energy and health, not about being restrictive and obsessive.

Start with 3 days, which is plenty of time to learn about your habits and see what you really eat in a day. Or, if you want to figure things out in more depth print off 4 copies of this daily food diary template, and do them over 4 weeks to track and learn how your body reacts to what you’re eating. You can input your food and drinks into an online calorie tracker if you’re concerned about calories or the ratio of carbohydrates to fat to protein. Then, you can compare how much you ate to your actual daily calorie needs.

Once you get an idea of where you are in relation to your goals, and of what way of eating gives you energy, you can focus on creating healthy habits for yourself. Then you can try tracking yourself again after a few months to see how you’ve progressed, and whether you’ve improved the quality of your health and energy.