Food Journal

Oct 17

I've tried many times to start a Food Journal through my ten years with Crohn’s disease. When I lived with my mom and her family, I was experiencing a lot of stress that caused internal bleeding. The doctors couldn’t figure it out and suggested I be gentle and remove stress. This was a significant time when starting a Food Journal healed me.

In this post, I outline how the foods you eat, the people you eat with, and the addition of professional assistance can help heal stomach issues and start a stronger, better, and happier relationship with food.

Toxic People & Stressors

I wanted to start with this topic because I found that removing toxic people and stressors has been the most beneficial change in my physical, emotional, and mental health to heal my digestive system.

A couple of years ago, a few of my family members were treating me poorly and bullying me. In my vlog below, I explain how my Food Journal showed proof that removing these toxic people's influences, energy, and attempts at hurting me, was the biggest change that stopped the bleeding.

The people you eat around play a big part in your digestive system. If I’m around toxic people, I’m ingesting their energy along with my food. I protect myself by respecting every aspect of my meals.

Stomach Problems

There are all kinds of stomach and digestive problems, some small and temporary, some serious and life-changing. Lately, I hear friends and family share that they’re experiencing stomach problems, they’ve talked to their doctors and they might need a colonoscopy to see what's going on. I’m sharing my story to show the importance of removing toxic people and the benefits of starting a Food Journal. These are the two things that I took upon myself to heal when the doctors and medicine couldn’t.

Food Specialists

Food Specialists like Dieticians, Nutritionists, and Food Therapists are trained professionals to monitor a healthy diet. Over the past ten years, I tried three different Food Specialists, each of which I only needed about 3-4 appointments to help me learn about my diet and understand what my body needs.

This was important to do because it helped to have someone supervise the decisions I was making for myself and make sure I had all basic nutrition areas covered. Food Specialists consider your body type, preferences, mico and macronutrients, medications, and lifestyle.

Some food specialists have scared me into not eating because they were so strict with brands, ingredients, and recipes. If that happens, just try a new one. I found a trustworthy Food Specialist through the UCLA Nutrition for Inflammatory Health Program. This department researches the brain-gut connection and their Food Specialists are trained in digestive diseases and counseling. This Food Specialist was way more mindful of my food preferences and was considerate of my food anxieties and traumas. They recognized the distressing impact that emotional eating, pain after eating, or a digestive disease can cause.

If you’re new to stomach issues, make an appointment with a Food Specialist in a couple of weeks and start journaling your normal diet. Coming into an appointment with that information is so beneficial to getting some answers and directions right away.

Food Journal

A Food Journal is more than just tracking food. It’s a snapshot of the entire health because food is the intake of energy and that plays a part in sleep, energy levels, appetite, and cravings, which paints a picture of mood, energy, and mental health.

I tracked everything relevant to my health: my meals, snacks, sleep, supplements, medicine, and bowel movements. It was helpful for me to see my average times for eating to plan ahead and it was helpful to see how certain foods cause stomach pain, upsets, or uncomfortable bowel movements and gas.

There are many ways to use a Food Journal to figure out the cause of stomach aches. One is eliminating harsh foods one at a time and seeing if it makes a difference. Another is starting from a bland diet and building on it. For this, start with a smoothie and see if it gives you a stomach ache. Then add new foods one at a time. Make it easy for yourself to know if it caused any upset, start with small, simple, and whole foods. For each new food, wait two days for any reactions before adding the next one.

Some common foods that can cause upset are fried food, greasy food, red meats, processed foods, gluten, dairy, sugar, and uncooked vegetables like carrots and broccoli stems. For some people, restricting foods can be stressful because they’re used to eating certain foods, indulging in their cravings, and having the freedom to eat whatever they want.

It is common to mindlessly eat and not pay attention to nutrition levels. It took me a really long time to build a relationship with food, notice the foods I was craving, and be more mindful and present to how my body reacts to the foods I put into it.

Alternate Food Journals

Alternative Food Journals could be apps, digital notes on the phone, or a doc. I used to take pictures of everything I ate, even snacks, so all the information was there if I ever needed it.

A Food Journal gets us closer to figuring out what is wrong and designing a plan that will help us feel better. Take ownership of yourself, and know that the food you put in your body is in your power, and its ability to help and heal us is definitely in your power.