Food diary

[To The Lighthouse]

I have an appointment with a dietician next week (which took forever to get) and I need to keep a food diary for the week before. So today I tried but found it incredibly triggering, leading to episodes of binging and purging and restricting. Has anyone got any advice on how to keep a food diary without freaking out?

[alibly]

The only thing I can really think of would be if you were to get through the whole day, then right it just before you go to bed...? Though it could mess up your next day. Or maybe ask a family member to write it? Though that could have its own problems too.. Sorry im not much help :/

[To The Lighthouse]

I've come up with a plan, I'm going to give the diary to a friend to look after then when I need to write in it they'll give it to me to write in then take it back after. I hope it works.

[alibly]

Ah hah! That's a very smart idea! Good luck with it, and try not to think about the foods as a whole, but as separate entities :)

[prospektsmarch]

Perhaps you could get a mini notebook, the sort that has tons of small pages, and write down one meal or food per page. You would go through notebooks pretty quickly that way and your dietitian or whomever has to read it may not appreciate it! But a couple of my friends hated seeing a page that was full of food. Looking at a page and seeing just one or two things at a time can possibly be a little less triggering than seeing a long list at the end of the day.

[raspberry_swirl]

I find them triggering as well. The writing it down at the end of the day and hiding the diary so you don't keep reading it and obsessing about it are good ideas. I put mine in a drawer so it was out of sight and I didn't think about it all of the time and just did it in a few mins before I went to bed. Good luck.