tools of the trade: food journals

It's official. I have failed miserably. Up until Christmas eve, I was doing great with sticking to my "primal as possible" eating plan. I even cooked a gangload of veggies to bring to the family parties. However, if you put me near some homemade lumpia, I'm a goner. Then there was the red velvet cake, lo mai fan, pancit, and shrimp patties. Bleh. Thank heaven the challenge doesn't officially start until after January. There's time to beg for forgiveness.

With respect to the Look Better Naked Challenge, a crucial tool for weight loss is keeping a food journal. I can attest to this because during the very brief time I did keep a food journal consistently, it made me think twice about my food choices. There's even research about the importance of keeping a food journal. Check it out here.

I've ranted and raved about Color Code Mode products here, here, and here. Big apologies because I usually encourage people to give them out as gifts. With the holidays over, it kind of defeats the purpose of talking about their products. But here it goes anyway.... Besides, you can always give out or buy yourself a New Year's gift or an on-time, late, or early birthday gift. You can also give an "I care about you" gift!

It's no secret that my favorite of the bunch is the monthly calendar. I've been using them since 2006 when I bought it on clearance at Lucy. It was the best clearance item I had ever invested in. Since then I've been a devoted fan of the monthly calendar. I find that it's easy to use and the visual progress is just amazing! They have a weekly planner as well. I'm not a big fan of it, but I can see how other people would totally dig it.

The other item I'm totally in love with but wished I put it to better use is the Lean Mode Color Code — Not Your Usual Food Diary. I bought it last year and I kept up with it for about two months and it was great. Thing is, I made it more complicated than it needed to be by using way too many colors and codes. Also, I didn't like how bulky it was and wished that it was spiral bound like the calendar.

Well lo and behold.... there is a spiral bound version available exclusively on the Color Code Mode website. DAMN! I wish I noticed that detail because I would have added it to my monthly calendar order. Note: You can get this food journal at a better price on amazon. Please know that this is NOT SPIRAL BOUND! Trust me. You want the spiral bound!

For the Look Better Naked Challenge, I'm going to use this as my food journal. Unlike last year, I'm keeping it simple. Below is a sample page from their site. I like this journal because they have daily pages and then they're broken up with a weekly goal page. You can use it to track your food and exercise and other things you wish. It can be as simple or detailed as you like. Because you color in your progress, it's also fun! Check out the Color Code Mode site for more info.

Money saving tips: If you plan on purchasing from Color Code Mode, I recommend that you buy them in pairs because it's cheaper that way. Also, if you sign up for their email list, it will knock off $2 from your order. Please let them know that I sent you! (No, I do not get any perks. But in my annual order Jennifer Luhrs, who owns the company with her daughter Alexis always sends a nice note. I like supporting good businesses like this!) Finally, these products are WORTH EVERY PENNY!