TRY THE EASIEST-TO-USE FOOD TRACKER OUT THERE
Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN
Last week I attended a 2-day Nutrition & Behavior Change Summit at the Idea World Convention in Anaheim. I listened to some 10 nutrition professionals from across North American speaking on topics ranging from mobile health devices to the pre-diabetes epidemic to training the brain to create healthier habits.
One of the most interesting sessions was given by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN on Bridging the Gap Between Good Intentions and Meaningful Nutrition Change. Known as the “Nutrition Diva,” Reinagel provided some practical tools and strategies that can result in positive and sustainable changes to our nutrition and eating habits.
I especially appreciated Reinagel sharing her Nutrition GPA®, a concept that she developed as an app. It’s a self-help tool for those wanting to monitor and improve their eating habits without getting all caught up with numbers or goals. The app involves a simple yes & no quiz that will generate a grade (A to F) to score your day and will also give you a cumulative grade over time. This food tracker doesn’t capture every aspect of your diet, but tries to get the best picture with the fewest possible questions.
Here are the questions:
Q1. Did you have 5 or more servings of vegetables, not counting potatoes and corn?
Q2. Did you have at least 3 DIFFERENT vegetables?
Q3. Did you have 1 or more servings of fish, flax, chia, or hemp?
Q4. Did you eat 1 or more serving of legumes?
Q5. Did you eat 1 or more servings of nuts or avocado?
Q6. Did you have more than 1 alcoholic drink?
Q7. Did you have more than one sweetened food or beverage?
Q8. Did you eat foods made with refined flour?
Q9. Did you eat charred or processed meat?
Q10. Did you eat any fried foods?
Bonus Extra Credit! Did you eat any cultured or fermented foods?
How does scoring work?
Every day, you start out with 70 points. For questions 1-5, each Y is worth 5 points. For questions 6-10, each Y costs you 5 points. Extra credit is worth 5 points.
What’s a “good” score?
Monica Reinagel says, “You can feel proud of a GPA of B or higher, especially if you can sustain it over time. Improvement is also worth celebrating, regardless of the number! Good nutrition isn’t about perfection; it’s about finding a balance between healthy habits and things you might eat simply for pleasure. It’s also about consistency. It’s not your best or your worst day but how your choices average out that counts.”
You can get more details about each of the above questions and how the food tracker works by downloading the free app on your iOS or Android device by simply going to www.nutritiongpa.com
HAPPY FOURTH!!