You may have heard that keeping a food journal is a great way to keep yourself accountable, and help you lose weight. I agree with this. But does it really give enough information about what you are putting in your body? Probably not, unless each item of food that you eat is a single ingredient food.

So here is my proposal to you as a way to take things a step further. Instead of keeping a food journal, keep an ingredient journal. So instead of writing down the foods that you eat, write down every single ingredient that you eat. I think this will be a real eye opener for you when you see what you actually put into your body.

So takes take an example here. Let’s say I have eggs and oatmeal for breakfast and salmon and sweet potato for dinner. My ingredient journal would be eggs, oats, salmon and sweet potato. Pretty easy when you eat all natural foods.

Well now, let’s say I eat Smart Start Healthy Heart Cinnamon Raisin cereal for breakfast and a Lean Cuisine Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce for dinner. Well then my ingredient journal will look like this:

oat bran, sugar, rice, raisins, glycerin, dextrose, malt flavor, potassium chloride, salt, cinnamon, coconut and palm kernal oil, baking soda, ascorbic acid, niacinamide, zinc oxide, wheat starch, calcium pantothenate, reduced iron, pyriodoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin hydrochloide, vitamin A palmitate, bht, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin D

Blanched macaroni product (water, semolina, wheat gluten), skim milk, cooked chicken breast with rib pesto glazed smoke flavor added (cooked chicken breast meat with rib meat, water, chicken flavor (dehydrated chicken broth, chicken powder, flavor, salt, modified corn starch, salt, spice, glazed with: water, seasoning (sugar, (dehydrated romano cheese and blue cheese {part skim cow’s milk, cheese cultures, pasteurized cow’s milk, salt, enzymes}, spices, salt, modified food starch, dehydrated garlic dehydrated onion, citric acid, (dehydrated flavorings {(modified food starch, corn syrup solids, flavor, smoke flavor, partially hydrogenated soybean oil), dehydrated flavor (maltodextrin, citric acid, gum arabic, natural flavor}, extractives of garlic, olive oil), water, red peppers, ywllow peppers, 2% or less of cream, parmesan cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), soybean oil, modified cornstarch, bleached wheat flour, basil, asiago cheese (pasteurizred milk, salt, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), water, salt, lactic acid, citric acid), extra virgin olive oil, garlic puree, enzyme modified parmesan cheese (cultured milk, water, salt, enzymes), whey protein concentrate, cheese flavor (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), water, salt, enzymes, cultures, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum), dehydrated onions, potassium chloride.

Pretty shocking difference between the two ingredient journals, huh?

So my challenge to you is to keep an ingredient journal for 3 days – or even 1 day! Try to eat how you normally would rather than changing up your eating habits just for this challenge. I want you to have a really big eye opener about what you are putting into your body.

And, I don’t think anyone else has come up with this idea of keeping an ingredient journal, so please share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment.

Have a great day.

Scott