Measuring Food Intake 249Seven day food diary
instructions
- Please use this booklet to write down everything you eat or drink
for the following seven days.
As you will see, each day is marked into sections, beginning with
first thing in the morning and ending with bedtime. For each part
of the day write down everything that you eat or drink, how much
you eat or drink, and a description if necessary. If you do not
eat or drink anything during that part of the day, draw a line
through the section.
- You have been provided with: a scale to weigh food,
a measuring jug to measure liquids, and a set of measuring spoons
to measure small amounts of foods and liquids. - Write down everything at the time you eat or drink it. Do not try
to remember what you have eaten at the end of the day. - Before eating or drinking, the prepared food or drink must be
weighed or measured and written in the record book. If you do not
consume all the food or drink, what is left must also be weighed
or measured and recorded in the book. - Please prepare foods and drinks as you always do. Also eat and
drink in the same way as normal: eat the foods and drink in the
amounts and at the times that you always eat and drink. Try not
to change the way you eat and drink at all. - We need to know ALL the food and drink you take during these 7 days.
So if you eat away from home (e.g., at work, with friends, at a cafe
or restaurant) please take your measuring equipment with you so
you can still measure your food. Also do not forget to measure
food bought at take-aways. - Please write down the recipes of homemade dishes such as stews,
soups, cakes, biscuits, or puddings. Also say how many people can
eat from them or how many biscuits or cakes you get from the
recipe. - On the next page is a list of popular foods and drinks. Next to
each item is the sort of thing we need to know so that we can tell
how it is made and how much you had. This list does not contain
all foods, so if a food that you have eaten is missing, try to
find a food that is similar to it. Please tell us as much about
the food as you can. - Please tell us the amount and type of oil or fat that you use for
cooking, frying, or baking.
Figure 10.3 Extract of instructions and record sheets from a 7 day weighed food record (MacIntyre, 1998)