Free template
The reflux tracking template I actually use
This is the same three-tab sheet behind every analysis on this site, the one that produced 179 days, 564 meals, and 95 symptom events. Every field is there so the log can be counted at the end.
Free, no signup. The copy lands in your own Drive and stays private.
01 — Why a template at all
Most reflux diaries are written as prose: a paragraph a day about what you ate and how you felt. That is fine for showing a doctor and useless for analysis. You cannot count a paragraph. By the time you have three months of them, the only way to find a pattern is to reread everything and trust your memory, which is exactly the thing that was unreliable to begin with.
The fix is boring. One row per event, consistent columns, and values from a short fixed list rather than free text. Do that and a question like are my bad days the high-stress days? becomes something you can compute instead of something you have a feeling about.
02 — What's in it
Three tabs, linked by date. Nothing else to set up.
One row per meal or drink. The ingredient list is the important column. It is what lets you test food categories later instead of guessing at them.
- meal/drink ID
- date
- time
- description (main ingredients)
- meal type
- portion size
One row per symptom, written down only when something actually happens. Days with no symptoms stay empty, and that absence is itself data.
- symptom ID
- date
- time
- severity
- type
- duration_min
One row per day. Wake and bed times give you sleep length for free, so there's nothing extra to compute.
- date
- woke up
- bedtime
- stress level
- workout
- daily position
- smoking
There is no "trigger food" column. Deciding up front which foods are suspects is the assumption the tracking is meant to test. You log real ingredients and group them afterwards.
03 — How to use it
- 01Make your own copy
The “Make a copy” button opens Google's copy dialog. You get a private sheet in your own Drive. I can't see it, and nothing is sent anywhere.
- 02Delete the example rows
Each tab has one row marked EXAMPLE so you can see the intended format. Clear it and start on the next line. The ID columns are already filled in.
- 03Log events as they happen, not on a schedule
A symptom gets a row when you feel it. Catching up from memory a few hours later is fine, as long as you are consistent about it.
- 04Don't chase precision you won't sustain
Portion size and stress level are deliberately judged by feel. A rough scale you keep for six months beats a precise one you abandon in three weeks.
- 05Give it at least eight weeks
Symptoms are noisy. Below roughly two months there usually isn't enough contrast between good and bad days to see anything real.
My own reasoning behind each field, including the parts that are deliberately subjective, is written up in the methodology. If you want to see what six months of this data actually produced, start with was it the food, or the day?
This template is a tool for observing your own patterns. It is not a diagnostic instrument and nothing here is medical advice. Reflux symptoms can overlap with conditions that need proper investigation — if yours are persistent, severe, or changing, see a doctor. Tracking works well alongside that, not instead of it.
04 — Questions
- Is the template really free?
- Yes. It's a Google Sheet you copy into your own Drive. There's no signup, no email required, and no paid tier.
- Can you see what I log?
- No. Making a copy creates a private file owned by your Google account. I have no access to it and receive nothing unless you email me a copy yourself.
- Can I use it in Excel instead of Google Sheets?
- Yes. From the copied sheet choose File, then Download, then Microsoft Excel. The dropdown lists survive the export; the date pickers do not, so you would type dates by hand.
- How long do I need to track before the data says anything?
- Plan for at least eight weeks. Reflux symptoms vary a lot day to day, and with fewer than roughly fifty logged days there usually isn't enough contrast between good and bad days to separate a real pattern from noise.
- What if I miss a day?
- Leave it blank rather than guessing. A missing day is honest and easy to exclude later. A day filled in from vague memory looks like real data and quietly corrupts the analysis.
- Why is there no column for trigger foods?
- Because deciding in advance what counts as a trigger is what the tracking is supposed to test. You log the actual ingredients, then group them into categories at analysis time. In my own data the food categories showed no significant effect, which I would have missed had I only logged suspected triggers.
05 — If you get stuck
If you've collected a few months and aren't sure what to do with it, or you want a second pair of eyes on what you're seeing, email me. I'm genuinely interested in how other people's data compares to mine, and I'll help where I can.