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Healthy Holiday Eating: Keep a Food Journal

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:00:22 -0800

If the thought of decadent holiday food is stressing you out already, take control and try keeping track of your holiday eating with a food journal. It seems simple, but by writing down what you're eating throughout the day, you'll develop a real awareness of what you're putting in your body. A treat here and there, if you're not keeping track, can feel like it's no big deal, but writing it down will give you a real record of what you've eaten and make it easier to judge if you really do want dessert.

As a trial, test out how food journaling works for you over Thanksgiving, and if it seems to boost your healthy eating habits, keep it going through Christmas and the New Year. Plus, you can make it even easier to keep track by using your phone to journal, or if you decide to get into it, pick up one of these inconspicuous little journals or try an iPhone app. You might just find that this is a health trick you want to stick with.

Feel the DailyBurn

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:00:43 -0700

I'm becoming a big fan of DailyBurn - a website that lets its users track workout, diet, and health goals in easy-to-read charts and graphs. There's a ton of great health and fitness information on the site and it has a social side that lets users interact with other members.

If you're not very tech savvy, don't be afraid. The site is easy to use and is laid out in a friendly and intuitive way. There are three main areas to DailyBurn - nutrition, exercise, and social networking. To find out how they work, read more.

Nutrition: This is basically an online food journal on steroids. Its food database contains the details of close to 200,000 foods, which makes it easy to track your diet and calorie intake and get a complete nutritional breakdown of what you're eating. There's also a pretty good database of healthy recipes, too.

Exercise: In this area you can design a fitness program for yourself or use one of the 80,000+ existing programs already on the site. If you don't understand an exercise, it's OK, because DailyBurn has tons of videos detailing the exercises. The exercise tracking tool is awesome - you can track your stats for weight loss, muscle gain, strength, and endurance. If you need better improvement in a certain area, it's really easy to adjust your fitness program.

Social Networking: This is where DailyBurn really sets itself apart from other sites. Use this section to find online workout partners and confidants who end up being your biggest cheering section while you reach your goals. And if you like a little healthy competition, you can go up against one another in fitness challenges much like The Biggest Loser. There are also groups members can join depending on their interest.

The basic tools on DailyBurn are free but paid members get access to advanced options like meal planning. The site is a great tool for burning fat and gaining muscle, as well as helping make smarter food choices. I like that I don't need to spend a lot of time inputting information onto DailyBurn because everything I need is already in its databases and navigation tools.

Tiny, Inconspicuous Food Journal

FitSugar — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:00:00 -0800

One weight loss tool that is known to work is food journaling. Keeping track of what you eat is a surefire way not to overdo it at meals or snack time. I just found a tiny, inconspicuous food journal by PicoPad ($3.99) that will fit into any wallet. This means dudes can use it too.

Sized like a credit card, the food journal comes with two two-week inserts and a tiny pen, so no matter where you are, you can keep track of your food intake. It also comes with a handy checklist for water as well as fruit and veggie consumption. You can use the journal to keep track of your exercise too. Since it has two columns, one for calories in and one for calories out, you can tally your total consumption at the end of the day. I tried it for a week and found it really helpful. I learned that I was seriously slacking on eating at least five fruits and veggies a day.

You can buy a three-pack for this tiny, inconspicuous food journal Amazon for $10; that's 12 weeks worth of food journaling. Or you can always download mine for free.

To see inside the food journal, read more.

Healthy Eating Tip: Remember What You Last Ate

FitSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0700

We all know that keeping a food journal is one of the best ways to keep calories at bay on a daily basis. But for those of use who just aren't the journaling type, you may want to try a similar trick that requires a bit less effort.

Just write down the last thing you ate on a Post-it and stick it somewhere you'll see it the next time you reach for food (fridge, desk drawer, etc.). I tried this the other day and when I started to feel the need for a snack I saw my note that outlined my lunch, complete with the piece of butterscotch pie a Sugar staffer recently left in the kitchen. The sticky note was just enough to remind me that I am trying to be healthy and while it did not stop me from snacking, I did opt to eat an orange rather than another piece of pie. My need to snack was satisfied and so was I. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.

If you enjoy this, then you many want to move into full-on food journaling. I've got a free one you can download to get started today.

Source

Have You Ever Kept a Food Journal?

FitSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:30:00 -0700

I'm one of those detail-oriented people who loves making lists. I like to keep track of my mileage, X my calendar after a workout, write down how many reps I do at the gym, and even keep a food journal. It's amazing how your memory of what you ate and what you actually ate differ. Writing down what you eat every day has been proven to help people lose weight. It can also help you figure out if you're missing out on certain vitamins, nutrients, or food groups. So I'm wondering . . .

Source

Food Journaling Works

FitSugar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:30:00 -0700

I have always thought that keeping a food journal was a great way to lose weight. Yes, it might seem a bit obsessive to write down everything you consume, but it sure will make you accountable for the calories you consume.

A new study by Kaiser Permanente backs up my theory. They found that participants who kept food journals lost more weight than those who did not. The dieters who wrote down everything they ate or drank six days a week (even food journaling demands a day off) lost twice as much weight as the dieters who only tracked their food only one day a week.

It you are trying to lose weight, try my printable food journal. Just download the PDF, print it out and start tracking.

Keep On Track With My Food and Fitness Journals

FitSugar — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:30:00 -0800

A lot of us have resolved to get healthy in 2008, this includes eating healthy, drinking more water, and exercising more. One of the best proven ways to stay on track with healthy choices is by keeping a food and fitness journal because it allows you to examine and to be accountable for your lifestyle choices.

I am not sure if you've heard yet, but I've got free downloadable food and fitness journals right here on FitSugar - they're simple, easy, and cute! All you have to do is download them, print them out, and start keeping track to be well on your way to keep on track for a very healthy and happy 2008.

Download them now:

Fitness Journal in color.
Fitness Journal in black and white.
Food Journal in color.
Food Journal in black and white.

Introducing Fit's Downloadable Fitness and Food Journals

FitSugar — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:00:00 -0800

Have you been looking for a printable fitness journal? Do you want to keep track of all those healthy veggies you are eating? Well, I have some very helpful journals for you. Our fabulous designer has created a fitness journal and food journal, just in time to help you stick to your healthy New Year's Resolutions.

There are both color and black and white versions of both journals. Just download and print these PDF files and fill in the details of your day!

To see the journals just read more

The fitness journal includes space for 3 cardio workouts and 2 strength training session per week. This schedule follows the new exercise guidelines issued this year by the American College of Sports Medicine in partnership with the American Heart Association. Personally, I like to plan my week of workouts using the journal. I pencil in my plan and after I write it all down, I want to live up to my original plan; it is really motivating.

Keep track of your daily food intake with the food journal. If you are counting calories it is really beneficial to track what you are consuming. More important, you can make sure you are eating at least five to seven servings of fruits and veggies, and you can track your water consumption too.

Hope you enjoy these new tools!

Yummy Links: From Choco Tacos to Food Journals

partysugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:50:46 -0800

Learn how to make a homemade Choco Taco.- Serious Eats
Twenty tools and technologies that have changed the way we cook. - Gourmet
Would you eat the McGangBang burger - a grotesque creation that involves a McChicken Sandwich inside a double cheeseburger? - Eat Me Daily
Here are 10 quick and easy meatless mains to help you get through Lent. - The Epi-Log
This St. Patrick's Day, try your hand at making corned beef. - Chow
Do you keep a food journal? - The Kitchn

Is McDonald's Launching a Dollar Breakfast Menu?

YumSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:56 -0800

In this economy, even the savviest of fast food diners have a hard time stretching their dollar. But if the rumors are true, value-seekers may soon find it a lot easier to fill up for a buck early in the day. According to the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal, McDonald's plans to reveal a nationwide breakfast dollar menu.

Based on internal documents obtained by the two publications, the McDonald's breakfast dollar menu will begin a national advertising run in January 2010. Although McDonald's has declined to comment, the burger giant tested a breakfast menu with $1 items in August in its Chicago stores, offering items such as a sausage McMuffin, breakfast burritos, and hash browns.

The chain, which is also rolling out the Mac Snack Wrap nationwide in January, will face some stiff competition.

Burger King recently added the quarter-pound Double Cheeseburger to its menu through March, and Dunkin' Donuts just rolled out a temporary $0.99 menu in Chicago. If two leading newspapers are publishing stories on it, the alleged menu can't be too far from the truth. What would you hope to see on a $1 breakfast bonanza?