I’ve had enough.  My weight keeps creeping in the wrong direction and my body is full of aches and pains.  I decided it was time to do something about it this summer.  I started with a food sensitivity test which told me I shouldn’t be eating flaxseed, blue dye #5, and dairy.  I can handle the first two but dairy?  That’s a big category of food.  I’ve always known dairy wasn’t something I should consume (most of us shouldn’t) but I love cheese, sour cream, ice cream, etc.  It’s actually been easier than I anticipated but it’s still hard.  I’ve found substitutes for some things and just avoided the rest.  I also have a list of about a dozen items I should limit in my diet.

While I work on these aspects, I decided it would be good to keep track of my food as well.  I know from past experience this makes a world of difference in having success.  Keeping track of the food you eat can have a profound impact on your overall health and wellness. It is a great way to keep a record of the food you eat on a daily basis and see where small changes can be made in order to improve your diet and lifestyle.

One of the easiest ways to start tracking what you eat is to use a food nutrition calculator. There are a variety of websites you can use to start tracking your food and they all have different features.

A few great websites you can use to begin tracking your food intake are as follows:

• MyFitnessPal: MyFitnessPal is a great online food tracking tool that has been used by millions of people to track their daily food intake and lose weight. It has a tremendous database of foods that makes it easy for you to track everything you eat. The site also has a food nutrition calculator that allows you to see where adding or subtracting some ingredients may make your recipes healthier. It’s free to use this site and its app, but there is a paid version for $49.99/year that has even more features and is ad free.
• Very Well Fit: This website has an online recipe nutrition calculator that will also allow you to see the nutritional value of recipes you make. The site also has a BMI Calculator and other features that are helpful.
• Cronometer:  This is another great site that will allow you to take a deeper look at the nutritional value of your daily food intake. It has a large database of foods, including store bought meals and snacks. With Cronometer, you can track many of the daily vitamins and nutrients a person needs to maintain optimal health. You can also enter your custom recipes to take a closer look at their nutritional value. This site and its app are also free, but there is an upgraded version that has more features and is ad-free.  This is the one I use.  I also tried the MyFitnessPal but found there were a few things that were important to me it didn’t track (magnesium and vitamin D).  I purchased the upgrade because I really prefer ad-free apps.

Tracking your food is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes you may think a particular food is healthy for you, but it may be lacking in certain vitamins or be too high in fat. This is especially helpful for those that are looking to lose weight. Using a food nutrition calculator just makes the process much easier and more convenient.  It’s been so helpful for me to see where I’m sitting with my nutrition, water intake, activity, AND food.

I’m excited to share that I’ve lost a few pounds but more importantly, my inflamation is going down and my joints are less and less achy.  This is a huge win for me.  Do you track your food? If so, what do you use?