Food, new introductions and symptoms are easier to compare when you have the day’s details together. My Daily Insights: A GAPS Journal, by Amy Mihaly, gives those notes a ready-made place and a repeatable daily check-in. I recommend it if you want a paper journal with the page already organized, rather than setting up a new record every day.[1]
This journal is part of the original GAPS coaching kit I use. My own beginning with symptom tracking was much less organized: I mostly winged it. I found it hard at first to tell die-off from food sensitivity or another reaction. One of my children reacted to raw apples and fresh apple juice, while homemade applesauce did not bring the same response. A note that only said “apple” would have lost an important detail.
That is the practical reason I value a record you can return to. This review looks at the journal’s daily-page design, the way Amy suggests using it and the work it still asks of you. For the wider task of deciding what to record on GAPS, my food and symptom journal guide gives you a fuller starting point.
What the Daily Page Keeps Together
The annotated example in the book shows more than a blank space for meals. It brings several kinds of information onto one page: daily habits, a brief reflection, food intake, new foods and reactions, stools, symptoms and personal ratings. Those parts have different jobs.[1]
The food lines help you reconstruct the day. The separate new-food and reaction line makes a change easier to find later. Keeping stool and symptom notes nearby means you do not have to search a different notebook to see what else was happening.
I particularly like that separation between the ordinary food record and a new introduction. If you have been eating several familiar meals, one small change can disappear into a page of writing. Giving it a distinct place makes the record easier to look back through. It does not require turning every meal into a long account.
The example also shows a checklist for habits and products. Use that as a record of the things in your own plan. A printed box is not a reason to add something you have not been using. The useful question is whether you can see what you actually did that day.
A Small Check-In You Can Repeat
Amy’s instructions suggest five to ten minutes for the daily check-in. She describes using the journal in the morning and evening, with the option of keeping it nearby to note meals and check off habits as they happen.[1] That is a sensible design for a record you need to maintain alongside cooking, work and the rest of life.
You can choose the approach that gives you the most accurate notes. If waiting until bedtime means forgetting lunch, make the food entry earlier. If stopping after every meal is impractical, keep a short note you can transfer when you sit down. The journal supplies the arrangement; you still need a convenient time and place to use it.
Its undated format is useful here. You fill in your own dates, so you can begin when you are ready. Amy also explicitly encourages continuing after missed days.[1][2] You can leave a gap and continue with today’s notes. There is no need to fill it with details you cannot remember.
As a working, homeschooling mother of six, I understand why a simple task can still be hard to fit into a full day. A journal needs to be easy to return to. The strongest part of this approach is having a familiar place for each kind of note, so you can spend your attention on the information rather than inventing the layout.
The Weekly Look Back
The instructions add a weekly “Week-At-A-Glance” summary, with about ten to fifteen minutes set aside to review the previous week. Amy describes it as a one-page summary for you or your practitioner, even when the daily record has gaps.[1]
That gives the two parts of the journal different purposes. Daily entries preserve details while they are reasonably fresh. A weekly review lets you gather the main observations and questions without having to explain a whole week from memory.
For example, you might notice that you recorded the same concern several times but never wrote down when it started. That becomes something to include in the next entry. Or you may have a clear question you want to bring to an appointment. Keep the original daily notes behind that summary so the useful detail is still available.
My guide to choosing a GAPS practitioner and preparing for an appointment explains the wider preparation. The journal gives you a place to collect the observations you want to discuss.
Where the Format Helps and Where It Needs More
A prepared page is helpful if an open notebook leaves you unsure where to begin. The short food lines and checklists encourage concise entries, and the separate areas make it easier to find a particular kind of information. The daily reflection adds a different kind of writing alongside the food and symptom record.[1]
The compact arrangement also means choosing your words carefully. “Soup” may fit neatly on a line while leaving out the detail you need later. “Chicken soup, usual recipe, added yogurt” tells you more. If a meal was different from the usual version, record that change instead of relying on the dish’s name.
Some days need more room. You can keep an additional note and reference it from the daily page rather than squeezing an important explanation into a checkbox. A simple notebook may suit you better if you consistently want long entries, a very different set of fields or a digital record you can search.
For a household, keep each person’s information clearly separate. One family meal can produce different observations for different people. My own raw-apple and applesauce example is a reminder of why preparation and individual response belong in the note, rather than treating a food as the whole explanation.
How It Fits With the GAPS Books
My Daily Insights supports the work of keeping a record. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s books explain the GAPS program. Those are useful, complementary roles: one helps you understand the guidance, while the other gives your own observations a place to stay together.
My GAPS books and coaching-kit guide explains the different contributions of the two core books and the other companions. If you are starting with the program itself, begin there. Choose the journal when the practical problem is keeping a consistent record while you apply what you are learning.
The annual undated journal reviewed here is also different from Amy’s seasonal quarterly journals, which the author sells separately.[2] A shorter quarterly format may be worth looking at if you prefer a smaller period at a time. This review’s page examples come from the undated A GAPS Journal, not a claim that every version has identical pages.
My Recommendation
I recommend My Daily Insights when you want a structured paper record that brings daily food, introductions, habits and observations together. Its useful contribution is the repeatable arrangement: you have a place to make a brief entry, then a weekly opportunity to gather what you have noticed.
The most useful habit is returning to the page while the details are still fresh. The daily layout gives you a place to begin, and the weekly summary helps you look back across those small observations.
You can find the undated My Daily Insights: A GAPS Journal through my Amazon book collection. The author’s current journal listing is another place to see the format. Start with one accurate daily entry and give yourself a manageable time to return to it.
My 90-Day Family Food Diary is also listed in the WFLI Shop. The journal reviewed here is an established option to consider if you want the pages ready to use.
References
- Mihaly, Amy. My Daily Insights: A GAPS Journal, undated edition. Be Well Press. “Introduction,” p. 4; “How to Use This Journal,” p. 5; “Example: Daily Page,” p. 6. Actual paperback sample pages inspected October 22, 2026, through the book’s Read Sample viewer.
- Be Well Clinic. My Daily Insights: A GAPS Journal (365 Days) and the author’s journal range. Undated format and separate quarterly options. Checked October 22, 2026.
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