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18 Feb, 2010
“I’ve just eaten a ... ”
So, do food-tracking tools like Tweet What You Eat actually work? Zoe Bingley-Pullin, nutritionist and author of Eat Taste Nourish (New Holland, $29.95), believes there are some benefits.
“It’s been proven that keeping a food diary not only helps you lose weight, but also increases your overall awareness of how you eat,” Bingley-Pullin says. “I think having the accountability of being on a Twitter site is a good idea. You want to do the best thing by yourself, but you also want to impress whoever might be reading it on Twitter.”
Plus, being that TWYE is a social network, Bingley-Pullin says it’s a great opportunity for others to offer tips and advice. “People see results faster when they’re in a group environment,” she says.
However, success isn’t guaranteed.
To take full advantage of the tool, honesty is integral. The fact that everyone in the TWYE network is able to see exactly what you’re eating can cause some people to falsify their entries.
“Research on food-tracking diets has found that there’s usually a big difference in what people write down in the diary and what they actually ate,” says Queensland GP Dr Rod Parnian. “Diaries can be effective, but it’s really dependent on how accurate they are.”
Tweeting healthier
Typing out every single thing that passes your lips may make you think twice about what you’re eating, but it can also cause you to become obsessive about your diet. Bingley-Pullin says it’s a bit of a catch 22, the downside being that you start to think about food too much and, as a result, might end up consuming more.
“You need to find that healthy balance,” she says. “Particularly young girls; if they’re becoming highly obsessive with the way they eat, it’s not such a great thing to have your food analysed constantly,” which is TWYE’s premise.
If you’re someone who needs a little motivation or encouragement to control your food consumption, an online tool like Tweet What You Eat might work for you. But, in reality, following a permanent healthy eating plan will be more effective than a web fad you’re likely to eventually lose interest in.
Bingley-Pullin agrees, “Having a routine of healthy eating habits can be a lot more successful, in the long-term, than always keeping a food diary.”
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