Writing a Food Journal

I really can't believe that I've been writing down everything I eat. Well almost. There have been a few spoon lickings and dish tasting that haven't made it, but I think I'm doing pretty well. And eating my fruit too!

I have often heard that it's a good idea to keep a food journal but I doubt that I'll be interested in writing amounts down. If you eat soup are you suppose to dig out each vegetable and tally them all? What if the soup is puréed? I thought that I'd google around and see what tips I could find.

1) Write it down immediately. You might forget something otherwise.
- I've been trying to write before I eat.
2) You can see if you've been treating yourself during the day or if you haven't, then at the end of the day you can decide if you want a treat.
3) Over time you can see how far you've come.
4) It isn't enough to keep a record, what you do with the information is also important.
5) Note both starting and finishing times, to see how long it takes you to eat.
6) At the end of the day look back at how you have done.

Most sites recommend writing down your mood but one site suggested keeping tract of how you feel afterwards. Chances are that you may want to avoid anything which does not satisfy you or bothers you and instead eat the foods which seemed to satisfy you the most. I hadn't thought of that before. Do I reach for certain foods for different reasons?