IBS · Free to print

IBS food and symptom diary

A page a day to print: what you ate and drank, any symptoms and how bad they were, your stools and anything else going on. The NHS suggests keeping a diary of what you eat and any symptoms you get.¹

The stool diary

How to fill it in

Write things down as you go, with the time. It's hard to remember later what you ate on Tuesday.
Under symptoms, note things like bloating, cramps, wind, or needing to rush. For how bad, circle M (mild), Mo (moderate) or S (severe).
For stools, write the type from the Bristol stool chart.
Alcohol, caffeine, spicy or fatty food, and stress and anxiety are among the things the NHS says can trigger flare-ups, so they're worth writing down too.²
Bring it to your GP. Diets that cut out foods, such as low FODMAP, should only be advised by a healthcare professional with expertise in diet.³

Each day prints on its own page. Print as many as you need.

Day 1 · Date: ________________
Time	Food and drink	Symptoms	How bad	Stool (Bristol type)	Stress, sleep, period, medicines
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S

Day 2 · Date: ________________
Time	Food and drink	Symptoms	How bad	Stool (Bristol type)	Stress, sleep, period, medicines
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S
			M · Mo · S

Free diary from stoollog.com.

Or keep it on your iPhone

Stool Log logs food, drinks, symptoms and stools in a few taps, and after a couple of weeks shows possible links between foods and your stools, for you and your doctor to look at.

Get Stool Log on the App Store

Sources

NHS. Diet, lifestyle and medicines for IBS, 2025.
NHS. Symptoms of IBS, 2025.
NICE. Irritable bowel syndrome in adults: diagnosis and management (CG61), recommendations, 2017.

This diary is general information, not medical advice. Reviewed 2026-11-05.