Two-Day Food Diaries as Tools for Assessment of Disordered Eating Behavior in Candidates for Bariatric Surgery

Patients seeking obesity surgery frequently present with disordered eating behavior, including binge eating, night eating syndrome, grazing, preferences for sugar or high-fat foods, specific food addictions, compulsive eating, emotional eating, or lack of restraint with regard to portion size. We present data from two-day food diaries provided by bariatric surgery candidates and discuss what can be learned about disordered eating that can be used to counsel patients prior to surgery. The strengths and limitations of two-day food diaries as a diagnostic tool and the therapeutic use of food diaries are discussed. Currently defined psychiatric diagnostic categories for eating disorders are not sufficient to capture the disordered eating behavior frequently found among patients who suffer from clinically severe obesity.