Seeking good form for food diary
Val
good form in PDF, Excel or Word 97 format for keeping track of her diet. Do
any of you have a good form, or know a place online to download one?
TIA for your help!
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bogus address
> My wife is currently being tested for food allergies and was looking
> for a good form in PDF, Excel or Word 97 format for keeping track of
> her diet. Do any of you have a good form, or know a place online to
> download one?
Just get a small notebook containing lined paper, no larger than A6 or
postcard size, so it will fit in any pocket or handbag. Every time she
eats something, she writes the time, date and quantity. Optional
refinement: use the facing page to note symptoms/emotions/events (but
it doesn't make much difference if they're mixed in together).
Accuracy, completeness and immediate recording matter. Format doesn't.
People who deal with these things are used to having them in everything
from wordprocessor files to pencil on recycled paper bags. Sometimes
the paper bag might be a better record.
The one thing that really DOES matter is that the patient's FULL name is
on every separate piece of the document, whether it be physical or elect-
ronic. "Claire's Food Diary" on a Post-It is unfortunately typical - how
many Claires do you think your therapist has on their books and what do
you think your therapist's desk looks like?
My pet hate is A4 hardback notebooks where the patient has only used
the first five pages. These thunk through the letterbox regularly.
I'm not sure if people who do that think they're doing a school project
or have shares in filing-cabinet manufacturers.
Larry? I guess you have preferences for this sort of thing.
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Larry Preuss
<bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > My wife is currently being tested for food allergies and was looking
> > for a good form in PDF, Excel or Word 97 format for keeping track of
> > her diet. Do any of you have a good form, or know a place online to
> > download one?
>
> Just get a small notebook containing lined paper, no larger than A6 or
> postcard size, so it will fit in any pocket or handbag. Every time she
> eats something, she writes the time, date and quantity. Optional
> refinement: use the facing page to note symptoms/emotions/events (but
> it doesn't make much difference if they're mixed in together).
>
> Accuracy, completeness and immediate recording matter. Format doesn't.
> People who deal with these things are used to having them in everything
> from wordprocessor files to pencil on recycled paper bags. Sometimes
> the paper bag might be a better record.
>
> The one thing that really DOES matter is that the patient's FULL name is
> on every separate piece of the document, whether it be physical or elect-
> ronic. "Claire's Food Diary" on a Post-It is unfortunately typical - how
> many Claires do you think your therapist has on their books and what do
> you think your therapist's desk looks like?
>
> My pet hate is A4 hardback notebooks where the patient has only used
> the first five pages. These thunk through the letterbox regularly.
> I'm not sure if people who do that think they're doing a school project
> or have shares in filing-cabinet manufacturers.
>
> Larry? I guess you have preferences for this sort of thing.
I agree completely. I do find, though, that there are two different
food allergy situations (though of course never so clear-cut), calling
for two different types of record keeping. When symptomatic episodes
come at intervals, with asymptomatic periods in between, it is vaulable
to immediately sit down with the diary and enter all oral intake, as
well as activities, weather, emotions and anything else the patient can
think of to diarize about. If symptoms are almost constant, and a
constant diary is kept, I have always found myself confused trying to
sort things out. In this latter case I like to begin with the limited
diet of low allergy potential foods, hoping for symptom clearing. Then,
on food additions, a detailed day to day, or hour to hour, diary can be
revealing as symptoms occur. As you say, it is important that the
notebook be small and perfectly portable; the big book left at home
gathers no information. The handsfull (handfulls?) of post-it notes
also confuse the therapist. An ordered mind producing ordered notes is
most likely to be able to help the therapist help it realize answers in
the investigation of food allergy.
Larry
Max and Fran (big pond)
not know for how long you intend to keep it (I set out 21 months ago to keep
one for a few months - and am still going). You need something open-ended and
flexible. Over time, you may realise that symptoms you thought were relevant
don't seem to be, and those that you didn't consider relevant become a useful
tool for deciding if a food is going to be a problem.
So I find that using a table in Word with appropriate columns (for instance:
date, food eaten, bowel motions, eczema, sleeping problems, behaviour,
additional comments) printed double sided and kept in a plastic A4 sleeve is
very handy. You can fold it; it's protected from damp and dirt; and when the
sheet is full, you can pop it into an A4 folder if you wish. You can even keep
the pen in the sleeve with the diary. When a symptom turns out to be a red
herring, or you decide to log yet another problem (such as breathing, when your
child unexpectedly develops asthma), you just use the comments column until
that page is complete and then change the headings next time you print a sheet.
Frances.