Food Journal: Step 2

Congratulations, you made it to Step 2: Creating Your Food Journal. Here are some steps to complete Step 2:

1. Write a food journal, meaning log in a notebook what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks for at least a week. At the end of the week, review and evaluate.
2. Out of everything you ate, divide the foods into healthy and unhealthy categories.

Having a visual and writing down your diet, you can assess which foods are beneficial to keep in your daily routine and which ones are not. Think about what foods make you feel energized and happy. For me, I'm all about protein and salads. I cannot go a week without having a big salad with avocadoes, chickpeas, walnuts, apples or pears. That satisfies my stomach for hours!

Try a new veggie and try to incorporate it in a recipe that is good for you. For me, I wanted to incorporate parsnips into a recipe because they are a good root vegetable and have a natural sweetness. It is also a good winter food. I like to roast them and add them into soups. Here is a recipe I found in Whole Living with my own little twists.

Braised Chicken and Parsnips

Prep time: 5 mins, Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 leeks, white and pale green parts thinly sliced (2 cups)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 lb parsnips, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
2 teaspoons dried sage
1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups cooked brown rice for serving
3 carrots sliced

Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a large ovenproof pot over medium high heat. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Cook until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes, and set aside. Reduce heat and cook leeks until tender, about 4 minutes. Add vinegar and scrape up brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add parsnips, dried sage, stock, carrots and seared chicken and its juices and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven. Braise until chicken and parsnips are very tender, about 50 minutes. Serve over rice.