Do You Keep a Food Journal?

I like accountability. It keeps me focused on my goals and by tracking what I am doing, I can see where I am and where I am going.
My fitness logs are set and in place. I keep a paper and electronic log of my daily runs and yoga. The notes I keep are not overly detailed as I don't really have time for that. And when I had a trial run with a nutritionist over a year ago she suggested I track what I am eating. Oh my! That seemed big!
But I did it for the weeks I was with her and kept notes on my phone's notepad. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't new to tracking food and I had used fitbook in the past. But sometimes having another book, another journal, just doesn't work. Don't get me wrong. I love fitbook. You can read a previous review HERE. I still wish they had a runner's edition that had more space devoted to running versus the space devoted to strength but the book is good. And I have turned back to it again.
Why?
Well that is easy. I can answer that in one word. Accountability.
I train hard to achieve my goals and I can not forget nutrition. Yes, I feel I eat pretty good but I can make bad choices. And by bad I mean choices that leave me feeling less than 100%. My stomach may feel bloated or I am just run down or the headaches are more prevalent. Tracking what I ate and how I felt afterwards helped me to determine dairy is not my friend. I have been dairy free over a year and I would have never made that connection without journaling what I was eating. Thank you nutritionist! We may not have gone as far as investigate an elimination diet together but she got me on the path of keeping track. For the dairy free investigation I turned to this journal.
What are my nutrition goals right now? I want to make sure I am eating well and getting enough protein in addition to a full days worth of freggies. I have adjusted my lunchtime routine a bit a couple of weeks ago and I have been tracking it almost a week now in my new fitbook. Yes, I turned to fitbook again. Those online journals just seemed to cumbersome and since I am not focused on tracking calories, etc. I am fine with fitbook. It is easier to say I ate my oats with berries, banana, and peanut butter and color in my servings size bubbles than to find all those ingredients on an online log. I have tried. It sucks. At least for me it does.
One trend I see coming to light is that I am not drinking as much water as I was at the end of the year. My hydration is falling short and I really think that is contributing to my headaches. I will continue to focus on that. I am also finding that some of the snacks I grab in an attempt to just get some crunch don't make my body feel happy. I need to find something else to fill that craving. Perhaps some nuts on my salad?
My goals aren't to lose weight or be a certain size. My goals are to feel good and truly shed some light on how I fuel my body impacts how I feel, train, and sleep. Yes, sleep. I have noticed that when I am aligned with how my body likes to move and fuel I sleep so much better. And that is a good thing!
Do you keep a food journal? What do you use?
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for useful fitness and nutrition tools.
Daily Affirmation: I am on the path to a well-fueled happy body.