The Needle Eye Notes Food Journal
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A 13-Week Food and Nutrition Tracker.
Nutrition is complicated. Keeping track of it shouldn’t be.
The Needle Eye Notes Food Journal is a flexible 13-week journal designed to help you record what you eat, notice patterns, and keep track of things that matter to you. No prescribing a specific rigid diet, no sacrificing foods you enjoy, and no defining what a “good day” should look like.
Across 91 daily logs, you’ll find space to record meals and snacks, serving sizes, calories and macronutrients, water, sleep, mood, and physical activity. In the beginning, you can set any personal goals and decide what you want to gain from this experience. After every seven days, a weekly reflection provides a space to take a step back and consider anything you’ve noticed, adjust goals as needed, and, most importantly, find things to be proud of.
In total, the journal includes:
91 daily food and activity logs
Starting goals and a 13 week review
Weekly check-ins
Helpful reference tables for food measurements, conversion guides, and macronutrient information
9 approachable meal recipes
Food facts for every day (sources and more info below)
Additionally, every copy sold will include a $1 donation to Feeding America.
Fact References
Fun Fact 1. It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
https://nationalpeanutboard.org/articles/fun-facts/
Fun Fact 2. Bees collect nectar in their “crop” which is like a second stomach, and regurgitate it into the hives.
https://www.honeybeesuite.com/lickety-spit-how-bees-use-trophallaxis-to-easily-communicate/
Fun Fact 3. French fries weren’t invented in France. They’re actually from Belgium.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/are-french-fries-truly-french
Fun Fact 4. Americans eat about 20 billion hot dogs each year.
https://www.hot-dog.org/culture/hot-dog-fast-facts
Fun Fact 5. Ketchup was once used as medicine.
https://www.popsci.com/science/ketchup-history-medicine/
Fun Fact 6. Most ears of corn have 16 rows of kernels but always an even number.
https://mnagmag.org/commodities/corn/
Fun Fact 7. The stickers on fruit are edible.
https://brunswick.ces.ncsu.edu/news/stickers-on-produce/
Fun Fact 8. White chocolate does not contain any chocolate.
Fun Fact 9. Ripe cranberries bounce like rubber balls.
https://cdn.agclassroom.org/nj/lessons/njagbox/cranberry1.pdf
Fun Fact 10. Carrots were originally purple, not orange.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=404907
Fun Fact 11. People gave pineapples their name because they thought the fruit looked like pinecones.
https://fwni.org/2026/06/02/natural-history-mystery-49/
Fun Fact 12. Crushed beetles are the main ingredient in most red food dyes.
https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/the-crazy-sources-of-red-food-dye-6a7eddbcd03b
Fun Fact 13. Peanuts are an ingredient in dynamite.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Glycerin%20Petition%20to%20remove%20TR%202013.pdf
Fun Fact 14. Even though they are different colors, all Fruit Loops are the same flavor.
https://www.kelloggs.com/me/en-sa/products/froot-loops/froot-loops-cereal.html
Fun Fact 15. Pretzels were once considered a symbol of love and often made at weddings.
https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/western-pennsylvania-history-pretzels-and-prohibition/
Fun Fact 16. It can take over 400 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
https://tootsie.com/scientific-studies/
Fun Fact 17. Yubari King cantaloupes can cost as much as $27,000.
Fun Fact 18. If you eat too many carrots, your skin can turn orange.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/carotenemia
Fun Fact 19. Astronauts planted potatoes in outer space during a trip in 2005.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/the-martian-becomes-real-life-meet-spudnik-the-space-potato
Fun Fact 20. “Dorito” is a Spanish word that means “little golden things.”
Fun Fact 21. Honey Nut Cheerios don’t include any nuts.
https://www.cheerios.com/products/honey-nut-cheerios
Fun Fact 22. Pumpkin pie dates back to the year 1623, making it about 400 years old.
https://www.amrevmuseum.org/read-the-revolution/a-sweet-taste-of-history
Fun Fact 23. Thousands of years ago, Chinese, Arab, and Egyptian people made the first lollipops.
https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcandy.html
Fun Fact 24. Some fireworks contain corn.
Fun Fact 25. Blueberries used to have the name “star berries” because of the star shape on one end.
https://www.sandhills.edu/horticultural-gardens/america-250/blueberries.html
Fun Fact 26. The earliest ice cream, from the fifth century B.C., is thousands of years old.
https://www.idfa.org/news-views/media-kits/ice-cream/the-history-of-ice-cream
Fun Fact 27. There are almost always 10 segments in an orange slice.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040604204203/http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/
Fun Fact 28. Thomas Jefferson introduced mac and cheese to America.
https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/macaroni
Fun Fact 29. People have been eating pasta for thousands of years.
https://ilovepasta.org/history/
Fun Fact 30. Honey has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs - and was still fresh!
Fun Fact 31. Raw lima beans contain deadly cyanide. Cooking them makes them safe to eat.
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/ask-extension/featured/there-cyanide-lima-beans
Fun Fact 32. Cashews are not nuts. They are actually seeds.
https://cashewcoast.com/cashew-nuts-anacardium-occidentale-species-guide
Fun Fact 33. There are more than 3000 varieties of pears.
Fun Fact 34. If you have a latex allergy, you are also likely allergic to papaya.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1392054/
Fun Fact 35. An authentic pound cake contains a pound of each ingredient.
https://www.tastinghistory.com/recipes/civilwarpoundcake
Fun Fact 36. The largest tomato ever grown weighed over 16 pounds.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-tomato
Fun Fact 37. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
https://www.wordsmyth.net/?rid=57775&as_level=3
Fun Fact 38. Hot chocolate was invented in ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0697-x
Fun Fact 39. The first food eaten in outer space was non-descript meat paste with chocolate sauce.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/first-food-in-space-toothpaste-tubes-of-applesauce-and-beef-41335
Fun Fact 40. Sweet potatoes and white potatoes are not closely related.
https://carnegiemnh.org/potatoes-sweet-potatoes-yams-whats-difference/
Fun Fact 41. Mountain Dew contains concentrated orange juice.
Fun Fact 42. Watermelons are popular gifts in China.
https://globalproducesales.com/the-cultural-significance-of-watermelons-around-the-world/
Fun Fact 43. Americans eats an average of about 26 pounds of bananas per person each year.
https://www.chiquita.com/blog/11-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-bananas/
Fun Fact 44. America makes about one billion gallons of ice cream every year.
https://peabodyhistorical.org/2021/06/the-history-of-americas-favorite-treat/
Fun Fact 45. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were popular foods for soldiers during World War II.
https://www.army.mil/article/262565/minute_of_history_the_pbj_and_us_military
Fun Fact 46. Raspberries are members of the rose family.
https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/rubus/idaeus/
Fun Fact 47. Rhubarb grows so quickly that you can hear it.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/forced-rhubarb-makes-sound
Fun Fact 48. Bananas are actually berries while strawberries are not.
https://web.archive.org/web/20111120221956/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/fruitid1.htm
Fun Fact 49. Lemons float, but limes sink.
https://medium.com/readers-club/lemons-float-but-limes-sink-8dac5077c516
Fun Fact 50. Ancient civilizations used chocolate as money.
https://www.science.org/content/article/maya-civilization-used-chocolate-money
Fun Fact 51. The quinine in tonic water makes it glow in the dark.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/shining-science-explore-glow-in-the-dark-water/
Fun Fact 52. The most expensive pizza in the world costs $12,000.
Fun Fact 53. Wild salmon are pink because of all the shrimp they eat.
https://wildalaskancompany.com/blog/heres-why-salmon-are-pink-orange-or-red
Fun Fact 54. Cheese is the most stolen food in the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2012/jan/10/cheese-most-shoplifted-food-item
Fun Fact 55. One in four hazelnuts ends up in Nutella.
https://www.mashed.com/419191/this-is-how-much-of-the-worlds-hazelnut-supply-nutella-uses/
Fun Fact 56. McDonald’s sells 2.5 billion hamburgers every year.
https://www.foodrepublic.com/1769851/how-many-burgers-mcdonalds-sells-daily/
Fun Fact 57. In ancient Egypt, radishes were sometimes used as currency to pay employees.
https://kosmossociety.org/herodotus-in-egypt/
Fun Fact 58. Bird saliva is a delicacy in China.
https://chinafoodingredients.com/2017/08/21/birds-nest-from-delicacy-to-health-beverage/
Fun Fact 59. Food tastes different on an airplane than it does on the ground.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird
Fun Fact 60. About half of all adults in America eat at least one sandwich per day.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589471/
Fun Fact 61. Pule cheese made from donkey milk can cost up to $1000 a pound.
Fun Fact 62. It's believed that Taco Bell invented free soda refills.
Fun Fact 63. Fruit is a main ingredient in jam while fruit juice is a main ingredient in jelly.
Fun Fact 64. A tangelo is a cross between a grapefruit, an orange, and a tangerine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170820202546/http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/FCS/FlaFoodFare/Tangelo.pdf
Fun Fact 65. Fortune cookies are from San Francisco, not China.
https://www.history.com/articles/fortune-cookies-invented-chinese-japanese
Fun Fact 66. Pepper is the world’s top-selling spice.
https://www.worldstopexports.com/top-exported-spices-by-sales-weight-and-unit-value/
Fun Fact 67. Lunchables were originally designed to sell more bologna to adults.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/lunchables-30-years-invented-history/576025/
Fun Fact 68. The pits of cherries, peaches, plums, and nectarines contain deadly cyanide.
https://www.poison.org/articles/i-swallowed-a-cherry-pit-184
Fun Fact 69. Each year, Americans eat 700 million pounds of peanut butter. Nice.
https://www.npr.org/2009/03/01/101278949/recalling-americas-love-of-peanut-butter
Fun Fact 70. Organic shower loofahs grow inside gourds.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/luffa-aegyptiaca/
Fun Fact 71. Pineapple fruits take two to three years to grow.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ananas-comosus/
Fun Fact 72. Green gummy bears are strawberry flavored, not apple flavored.
https://www.haribo.com/en-us/products/goldbears
Fun Fact 73. Broccoli, per calorie, is more protein dense than steak.
Fun Fact 74. Corn Flake cereal was originally designed as part of an "intimacy" suppressant diet.
Fun Fact 75. The crumb filling in Kit Kats partially consists of broken Kit Kat bars.
https://www.today.com/food/kit-kat-bars-are-made-ground-kit-kats-t106777
Fun Fact 76. A dentist invented cotton candy.
https://hudsonvalley.org/article/cotton-candy-the-toothy-history-of-a-classic-circus-treat/
Fun Fact 77. There are more than 600 shapes of pasta.
https://trattoriailpanino.com/the-glossary-of-pasta-types/
Fun Fact 78. Corn tortillas were invented before flour tortillas.
https://food52.com/story/21752-flour-tortillas-history
Fun Fact 79. A fast-food burger can have meat from up to 100 different cows.
https://www.foodrepublic.com/1459051/burger-actually-isnt-made-from-single-cow/
Fun Fact 80. Apples can stay fresh for up to one year.
https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-store-apples-11822852
Fun Fact 81. Gum was invented 9000 years ago.
https://www.gethistories.com/p/a-history-of-chewing-gum
Fun Fact 82. Pepperoni is the most common pizza topping.
https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/45715-americans-favorite-pizza-topping-pepperoni-poll
Fun Fact 83. It is impossible for honey to spoil because it contains so much sugar.
https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/08/21/chemistryofhoney/
Fun Fact 84. If cows eat too many carrots, it makes their milk turn orange.
https://agronomy.emu.ee/vol134/13_4_2_B5.pdf
Fun Fact 85. Since the summer sun shines for up to 20 hours a day, Alaska grows the largest vegetables.
https://www.andnowuknow.com/quick-dish/story-behind-giant-veggies-alaska/jordan-okumura/42628
Fun Fact 86. Grapes explode when you heat them in the microwave.
https://www.science.org/content/article/why-sparks-fly-when-you-microwave-grapes
Fun Fact 87. It would take eating a different kind of apple each day for 27 years to taste all the different varieties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apple_cultivars
Fun Fact 88. During the Middle Ages, people used pepper to pay their taxes.
https://www.ipcnet.org/history-of-pepper/
Fun Fact 89. Kiwis were often called Chinese Gooseberries when Europeans originally discovered them.
https://www.zespri.com/en-AU/blogdetail/whats-in-a-name-the-chinese-gooseberry
Fun Fact 90. It can take over 150 saffron flowers to produce a single gram of saffron.
Fun Fact 91. Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada and Ceasar salad was invented in Mexico.
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hawaiian-pizza