It can be frustrating trying to get into shape.
At times you feel like you are eating and exercising well, but not getting to where you want and need to be.
This is where starting a food journal comes into play!
A very good food journal can help yogis keep track of everything you drink and eat, how you feel, and sometimes even what exercises you are doing.
So why is this important?
If you track this information it can help you figure out which food mistakes you’re making. Also, a study from 2008 found that individuals who kept food journals lose twice as much weight as people who do not keep food journals.
If this sounds like something that you need, the following are my top 3 choices for the best food journals for yogis (sorted by price range):
All of these journals can be found on Amazon.
What Makes an Outstanding Food Journal?
One nutritional study published in 2012 showed that women who kept a food journal lose 13% of their total body weight, while non-journalers lost only 8% (source).
A food journal can be really good for both women and men!
A food journal helps keep you accountable. At times we “forget” to even think about the amount of food that we consumed that day.
At times we might not count calories as often as we should. However, being aware of your eating habits and your health will improve if you keep a food journal.
(There are plenty of apps that do that, but if you are anything like me, then you will do a lot better with something that is real and tangible that can be held in your hands.)
So when you are searching for the very best food journal that meets all of your health needs, the following factors are important ones to consider:
Entry Space: It’s important to be able to follow your fitness and food goals. A food journal without plenty of space that can make it difficult to accurately track what your intake is. You want to get a journal that has lots of pages with plenty of writing space.
Size: At times it can be hard to remember your food intake. Depending on what size your food journal is, you might be able to take it with you. If you carry it with you that will make it a lot easier to track everything that you are eating.
Material: You want to have a journal that is as strong as you! Purchasing a food journal that is made out of high-quality material will not all apart.
Useful Guidance: This food journal should assist you in achieving your fitness and food goals. There are some quality food journals for yogis that offer tracking tips, food tips, and some even provide you with exercise suggestions.
So let’s look at some of the best choices available in the market that meet our criteria:
Life & Apples Food Journal and Fitness Diary: Best High-End Food Journal
Overview: This daily wellness planner has been designed for achieving healthier living. The Life & Apples Food Journal is designed for both women and men.
The journal provides 240 pages to do your tracking and is high quality.
This wellness planner and food journal offer best practices that are based on research on psychology, diet, and health.
Weight: 13.8 ounces
Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
Why We Like This Journal: This journal combines all of your wellness and tracking needs in one.
The journal offers a daily gratitude section (learn more about gratitude meditation with detailed scripts for beginners), habit trackers, weekly progress reviews, workout schedules, a meal planner, and a food journal. Mental health plays an important role in physical health.
So it’s great that it is being addressed by Life & Apples. The various sections make a journalist have to really think about the choices they are making.
This is a guided journal, which is excellent for both veteran journalers and new journalers alike. It can help you stay on track. It also is very good for noting bad fitness and eating habits and teach you how to correct them.
With every journal, Life & Apples also offers a complete meal planning guide, recipes, weekly meal planner, and five free ebooks.
Life and Apples is a sustainable company as well, which is fantastic.
Their food journal is made out of eco-friendly and vegan materials. Their commitment to a healthier and happier life which extends to the way their products are made as well.
Potential Drawbacks: This journal does offer the most pages, but it tracks just three months of information.
Some individuals might find the extra wellness information useful, but those how just want to track fitness and food, so that paying for extra superfluous pages might seem unnecessary.
Also, it isn’t clear how durable the journal is. We do appreciate that they are using eco-friendly materials. But we aren’t sure if it will hold up just as well as the other options that are available.
Read the recent reviews of the Life & Apples Food Journal and check current pricing on Amazon.
Fitlosophy Fitspiration Journal (Runner-up)
Overview: This cool “goal getter” journal is combined with motivational tips and health advice by the Fitlosophy.
The journal provides a daily gratitude section and strives to empower you mentally and physically. It provides 114 entries, which is enough for tracking about 16 weeks progress. There are three separate covers offered by Fitspiration Journal that you can choose from.
Weight: 14.4 ounces
Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Why We Like This Journal: Both body and mind wellness is focused on by The Fitspiration Journal. People sometimes forget that what is going on inside their heads may influences what you eat.
This journal makes yogis address food intake, in addition to mental health, and opens people up to changing their entire lives!
The fitspiration journal helps to empower people through providing areas for reflection, daily inspirational quotes, and health tips. If you’re interested in a comprehensive yoga diet plan, read this article on the best diet to following while doing yoga.
This journal includes many spaces for tracking water and food intake, exercises and more. It is great for letting you expand basic information. It also can help to show people how their eating might be affected by moods and other factors.
In the long run, that can be very helpful.
One of the benefits of tracking things, such as factors like your mood, can show individuals concrete reasons why they actually do some things that they do. It offers a roadmap for change.
The journal includes 16 weeks worth of tracking provided by Fitspiration Journal, which lets individuals start to see patterns within their habits.
Potential Drawbacks: Some reviewers have reports that Fitspiration Journal does not have very high quality. Although it has crisp and clean inner pages, there are some cosmetic issues with the bookbinding and cover.
This book also might focus more on the mental aspect of eating and fitness instead of the physical. If you’re into meditation (in addition to yoga) this might be perfect for you. Otherwise, it’s worth considering the Life & Apples food journal.
It provides a lot of areas for reflection and tracking, but those areas for mental health and mental reflection might provide space for food tracking. This may not be ideal for people who are specifically wanting help with their food intake.
Read the recent reviews of the Fitlosophy Fitspiration Journal and check current pricing on Amazon.
Daily Food Journal (Top Budget Food Journal)
Overview: This compact and discreet Daily Food Journal offers easy-to-use pages for jotting down your food and beverage intake. Your activity and calories can be tracked. There are 192 pages in this durable journal.
Weight: 7.7 ounces
Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.5 x 6 inches
Why We Like This Journal: It is an easy-to-use and affordable journal; we believe the Daily Food Journal is an excellent choice.
It provides introductory tips for how to use a food journal. It can be daunting when you are trying to start and keep a food journal. The guided notebook begins with eight tips to get you started on your new journey.
So do you think you are a professional already? Even experienced journalist could use some handy tips at times!
The Daily Food Journal is quite compact, so it is one you can carry with you anywhere you go.
It fits easily in a purse and is easy to carry around. If you are struggling with trying to remember what you have eaten, it can be a big help if you can carry your journal around with you. The small black book also looks elegant and sleek.
Take the “Daily Food Journal” sign off of the cover and no one will know you are even tracking your beverage and food intake!
The affordable journal also provides you with enough pages for tracking 3 months worth of food.
The journal’s 192 pages offer areas for tracking daily exercise, water intake, calories, and meals. The Daily Food Journal also can help by giving a long-term view of what you are drinking and eating.
Potential Drawbacks: The journal’s pages are pretty straightforward. There is a sufficient amount of room for tracking names of exercises, calories counts, and names of foods. However, there isn’t a lot of expansion space.
Experienced journalers or people who want to track other information such as portion size or mood might find it difficult. The Daily Food Jornal is compact which also means it is not that sturdy.
The binding isn’t strong, and some reviewers have noted that pages tend to fall out. The bookmark that is provided can also get lost if it gets separated from your journal. That could lead to you losing valuable information or losing progress.
Read the recent reviews of the Daily Food Journal and check current pricing on Amazon.
A Few Final Considerations
It can be very helpful for your health goals to keep a food journal. Fortunately, there are many choices that are available depending on what your needs are.
In my opinion, the best food journal is Life & Apples Food Journal and Fitness Diary. It is a bit more expensive than the budget option, but it does provide you with help for both physical and mental health.
The food journal provides space to track exercise, intake, moods, and more. It provides journalers with the ability for creating goals and following them, so you won’t ever forget what you are trying to achieve. The additional supplies and ebooks are great valuable add-ons.
