How to Take a Diet History?

Taking a diet history is a method generally used by dietitians to understand the lifestyle of their clients who are going to plan a new diet, and to estimate their metabolic rates more accurately by comparing them with other measurements.

 There are a few important points to consider when taking a dietary history. First of all, it should be ensured that the person whose diet history will be taken gives the correct information. On the other hand, the person gives correct information, but may not be aware of the importance of very important issues. For example, when he says he ate a bowl of soup, the size of this bowl should also be questioned. Likewise, when he says he drank a glass of milk, it is important whether the glass is a glass of water or a glass of tea. Another important point is to question the type of oil used in cooking and the content of the dishes. Not everyone cooks the same way. While the person taking the diet history thinks that there is only vegetables and oil in the content of the meal, which is specified as a vegetable meal, the person who consumes it may have added foods such as meat, flour or rice that change the nutritional value of the meal while preparing the meal.

 If it is to be taken in writing, a table can be prepared and given to the person and the table may be asked to be filled. In the table, the meal times as morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night should be included in the sections where the amount is required so that it is not forgotten to indicate how much is consumed. There are two methods commonly used to take a dietary history. One of these is a 24-hour retrospective reminder method, and the second is a 3-day diet history.

Taking a Diet History with a 24-Hour Reminder Method

 With this method, what the person ate in the last 24 hours is questioned in detail. To remind, the person should be helped to give a more accurate diet history by asking questions such as did you eat bread, add sugar to your tea, eat soup. If the person whose diet history is taken is a child or elderly, help should be sought from their relatives because they may give wrong information or forget it.

 3-Day Diet History Taking Method

 While taking a diet history with this method, the person is asked to record everything they eat for 3 days, 2 days on weekdays and one day on weekends. Nutrients that are thought to be skipped should be emphasized and said beforehand. The often skipped nutrient is bread. The person writes down the meals he ate, but if asked how much bread he ate, he would say it. Precautions should be taken in order to encounter such problems.