Keeping a food diary without letting it take over

A few words a day is enough to see patterns. Detailed logging is optional.

Routine · By the Appetite Journal team · 1 min read · Friday 4 September 2026

A food diary can be a line a day: what you ate, roughly when, and how hungry you were. That's often enough to notice which meals get skipped.

Paper works as well as an app, and some people find it easier to keep up because there's nothing to open. Leave it by the kettle.

If writing it down starts to feel like a chore or a worry, stop for a week. The diary is there to help you notice things, and it can go back in the drawer.