Hello everyone -

Today I want to share with you what I am using to help me count my calories for my food journal.

I found a handy small book that that I can carry with me in my backpack so it is pretty much everywhere I go. I am talking about the CalorieKing 2008 Calorie, Fat & Carb Pocketbook.  This book list pretty everything I have needed to look up. It has all the calorie counts for resturants, name brand foods and general foods. They list the serving size and how much it is going to cost me to eat that item. Say you are heading out with some friends and need to know the best thing to eat while at McDonalds or Wendy’s - They have all the calorie counts for all their foods listed in the easy to use book. Or did you head out to the local farmers market and want to check how many calories different foods have? You have a Handy reference with you. I highly recommend getting a copy to keep with you.

I carry a few index cards with it tucked in the back just in case I don’t have my food journal with me. This allows me to jot down what I ate and how many calories it will take from my daily intake. I am using this to help me make judgements on wheither it would be a good item to eat or will it take too many calories from my daily intake. I use this to help me adjust what I can and can not eat. Do you really want that cookie that someone brought to work - Look it up and see that only 3 Oreo Cookies 1.2oz Serving is 160 Calories and 7 grams of fat - and the Reduced Fat Version is not that much less. Hmm You can have 3 small apples for the same amount of calories.

So as you can see - since I am new at looking up the foods I eat - This helps me put in prespective the foods I like and the foods I can have. I know how many calories I can have in a given day and really don’t want to go over them.

Merlin