Should You Keep Your Feelings Out Of Your Food Journal?
So your nutritionist told you to start keeping a food journal. You’re supposed to dutifully record everything you eat in this $22 Moleskin that seems too pretty to lie in. But while you’re rounding half a container of gelato down to “2 tablespoons,” you might be wondering, should I slip a few feelings in there?
The answer, experts say, is no.
“That’s a different kind of journal,” says Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, during a break in action on the battlefield. “You should just buy a second journal for your feelings and keep that separate. The point of a food journal is really to see what you’re eating.”
Dr. Alec Folkenflack agrees. If your food journal looks like this:
1 apple
1/2 teaspoon ice-cream
4 Powerbars
BRIAN IS AN AWFUL, EVIL, TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING
1/2 teaspoon gelato
1/4 cup popcorn chips
1/2 teaspoon gelato
SERIOUSLY FUCK BRIAN!!! I DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHY I AGREED TO GO OUT WITH HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE. I SWORE I WOULD NEVER DATE A COWORKER, AND THEN HE WAS ALL LIKE, “NO, BUT WE HAVE AN ACTUAL CONNECTION, AND THE ONLY DANGER IS THAT THINGS COULD END BADLY, BUT WITH US THAT’S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE!” OH YEAH?!?!
1/2 tablespoon deluxe cheeseburger
7 ounces sweet potato fries
1/2 teaspoon ketchup
I WILL FUCKING MURDER HIM. But also I’m kind of scared I’ll never find love again. What if I can’t find someone who also loves both The Global Public Square with Fareed Zakaria and Atlanta? Who else is going to think that the fact that my celebrity cheat is Ruth Bader Ginsberg is adorable and not kind of weird? How will I open my heart to a new person when a dumb stupid lame guy from accounting took my love and put it on a PATH train to Hoboken? Is that even a good analogy? I feel like that’s a terrible analogy.
Folkenflack says you’re in danger of getting distracted.
“Although it’s good to see what thoughts are triggering bad eating choices, you also want to be able to glance at a page and see what you’ve eaten for the day,” he says. “Also, some of those measurements seem way off. What’s 1/2 a tablespoon of a deluxe cheeseburger?”
