A food diary is an important and potentially very useful tool to help you become more conscious of what you are eating, get to know your body and its responses, and spot patterns that can be very revealing for your health. Here is all you need to know to get started: what to include, how to track, and how to analyse it all.

Receiving a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis can feel very overwhelming. Written from a patient’s point of view, this is some of what I wish I had been told when I was diagnosed with IBD 20 years ago, and what anyone who has been recently diagnosed should know now.