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To lose weight and get healthier, it is very important to keep track of levels of sodium, carbohydrates or sugar to keep blood pressures low, and for this you must keep track of what you eat. It is essential for people with diabetes to not eat too much sugar and likewise your whole diet plan will be in mess if you don't eat the proper foods.

Our brains are made in a way so we don't have to remember things that we do daily. For example you are breathing right now but you don't before you breathe, you can control your breathing if you want but you don't most of the times. This means that your brain is trained to do that. Try remembering your clothes for the whole month that you wore, and you won't be able to because our brains are not trained to memorize daily routine information.

This means that it is almost impossible to remember all the food you eat every week or everyday even unless you don't eat much. According to most diets you are suppose to eat small meals 6-7 times a day with some snacking times so it is very difficult to remember all those foods and the calories and nutrition that went with them.

So how exactly do you keep track of the food you eat? Here are some ways of tracking the food you eat:

* Fixed Meals: If you want to memorize then you need to have a daily diet plan. If you eat 6 meals everyday and they are always similar food groups , then it is very easy for you to memorize what you eat everyday, but this is not an option for most people and it is not a very healthy one either because you might miss out on some vitamins and other nutritional value that you get from other types of foods. Fixed routine is a good way to keep track, but allow deviation to occur on some days.

* Keep a list: This is the most common way of tracking the food you eat. Every time you eat something, just put the name of the item on the list. It only takes a few seconds and you will also get to see any loop holes in your diet plan. After the end of the day you will be able to see where and when you ate the most and the reasons behind it. For women it is easy to keep a diary in the purse and men can keep a small piece of paper and pen in their pocket to add to the list.

* Don't forget to add the number of calories of the item that you eat. This way it is easy for you to calculate your calories.

* Categorize Food Groups: It is easier to remember if you make a category in your brain. For example fattening foods, healthy foods and in between. Then just add numbers into each column. For example if you ate ice cream then that is one fattening item on your list. It is a lot easier this way to remember all the food. This is a good way if you go to parties and get together because you don't want to be taking your list out in front of your friends.

* It is a lot easier to remember larger food groups such as fruits, snacks, vegetables, etc. Instead of naming them on the list, you can simply remember by memorizing categories of food.

* Another way to keep track of what you eat is to use Nutrition Value charts offered on many products. This will tell you the amount of calories, grams of fat, and vitams and nutrients in the product. Then keep adding them on a list and total them at the end of the day to see how many calories you ate and how many came from fat.

These are some tips to keep track of food that you eat everyday. Avoid eating foods that have high amounts of fats and if you do then put them on the list, and see how you might be able to reduce the amount of fat in the product.

Learn more about this author, Arjun Wadhwa.
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