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While dietary assessment has its origins as a research tool, evidence shows that the process of monitoring itself can help people to eat better. But we know that accurate dietary monitoring can sometimes feel like a mammoth task (and that’s where digital nutritional analysis tools like myfood24 can help to save time), for both patients and healthcare professionals. So, can diet tracking actually make a difference?

In this blog, we explain how dietary self-monitoring can lead to improved eating habits through behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and how digital diet-tracking tools can help you to support your patients.

Are you looking to use a food diary to monitor a patient’s food intake, or conduct a research study analysing nutrient intake? Or perhaps you’ve been asked to keep your own food diary and want to know why you should use it? 

Previously, we wrote an article to help you decide which dietary assessment method to use. You can also download a free cheat sheet on Dietary Assessment Methods covering all you need to know about food diaries, FFQs and 24hr recalls.

In this article we’ll walk you through what a food diary is, why they are a useful method of recording diet, plus their strengths and limitations in comparison to other dietary assessment methods.

In 2021, more people than ever before signed up for Veganuary. With this there has been a huge rise in the availability of vegan products across supermarkets, fast food outlets and restaurants. McDonalds introduced the Mcplant, an all-new vegan burger Kettle chips released a Sheese and Red Onion flavour and even Burger King have jumped on board with a zero-chicken burger. But is it possible to still have a nutritionally balanced diet whilst being vegan?

Read on to find out about some of the most important nutrients to be aware of whilst on a vegan diet and ways you can ensure you’re getting enough:

Poor diet increases the risk of a range of diseases, making the prevention and management of conditions related to poor nutrition as crucial as ever – but sometimes, providing routine provision of basic nutrition can be complicated. With the lack of time to give practical nutrition advice and appropriately assess patient diets, we break down how myfood24 healthcare can help improve nutritional care provision for patients.

With the growing need to accurately collect and analyse nutrient and dietary data, innovative technologies become a staple solution to solve the common dilemmas with intake assessments - cue myfood24.

A recent study assessed whether myfood24 could be useful tool to support weight loss through dietary self-monitoring.

Dietary self-management plays an important role in managing weight and has consistently been associated with weight loss. Self-monitoring involves an individual to observe and record their own behaviour which increases their awareness of that behaviour, this can present the opportunity to adjust their behaviour, in this case dietary ones, in order to achieve their weight goal. An important aspect of dietary self-monitoring is the duration and frequency of monitoring. A recent small-scale study aimed to assess whether self-monitoring dietary intake using myfood24 was suitable for individuals wishing to lose weight.

Are you struggling to decide on the best method to use to assess food and nutrient intake?

Well look no further, below we summarise the strengths and weaknesses of different methods to help make the decision that's right for you and your needs. You can also download a free cheat sheet on Dietary Assessment Methods covering all you need to know about food diaries, FFQs and 24hr recalls.