food journaling

This week marks the first full week of the Sugar Pretox Challenge.

As part of the challenge, I’m asking participants to keep a food journal and record everything they eat and drink (with the exception of pure water) for five days.

Why start here?

Because I believe we all underestimate the amount of fat, calories, processed foods, and sugar we actually are putting into our bodies. The only way to be sure if our perceptions match with our food reality is if we take the time to record what we eat – every meal, every snack, every little tiny nibble.

According to this article in The Huffington Post, it’s also important to record items like how you were feeling, portion sizes, time of day and even location, especially if your goal is to lose weight. For the Sugar Pretox Challenge, I’m modifying that list slightly since the focus is on creating awareness around the amount of sugary items we eat.

You can see a sample of the food journal page we’ll be using. If you’d like to take on this challenge yourself – either keeping a 5-day food journal or the free Sugar Pretox Challenge – please, go to this post to submit your contact information so I can add you to our group and provide access to the food journal pages.

And if you’ve had experience keeping a food journal, I would love to hear about your findings…did it help? What surprised you most? How did it help you modify your diet?