Homemade Chicken Burrito Bowl with Lime-Cilantro Rice

Ingredients:
Chicken
Brown Rice
Lime
Cilantro
Corn
Red and Green Peppers
Onions
Tomatoes
Olive oil
Lettuce
Potatoes (optional)

Chicken:
Season chicken (I used my homemade sofrito which is a mix of herbs and seasonings but you can season it however you'd prefer) and grill and shred the chicken in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If adding potatoes, slice the potatoes in long strips and add to the chicken using an extra tablespoon of olive oil.

Rice:
Follow the instructions on the back for making organic brown rice. When rice is close to a simmer add in half a lime and about a 1/4 cup of cilantro. Let the lime juice reduce.

Corn Mix:
Add 1 cup of corn, 1 lime, 1/2 cup of cilantro, onions, and tomatoes in a bowl.

Peppers:
Grill strips of red and green peppers in a pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Grill till brown.

Place all ingredients in a bowl. I recommend this order:
1. Rice
2. Chicken
3. Peppers
4. Corn mix
5. Lettuce
(and of course I added a nice slice of avocado!)
Enjoy!

Tips:

1. Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club, and other wholesale stores are a great way to save a lot of money.

2. Always read the label. If you have a hard time pronouncing 90% of the ingredients listed, chances are you shouldn't be eating it.

3. Chia seeds are a great source of nutrients. Here are 10 Reasons to add chia to your diet: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/03/chia-seed-benefits-_n_3379831.html

4. Drink plenty of water. Water is the best way to stay hydrated throughout the day and should be a part of every meal.

5. Honey is a great way to add sweetness to any meal 

Planning

When planning my journey, I had to decide where to start. Obviously, not everyone is the same so I found it hard to believe millions of people could stop everything they know about food and dive right into a full paleo diet. So I followed some easy steps to evaluate my own eating habits and routines.

1. I kept a food journal and wrote every meal I had for a week straight including times, where I was when consuming this meal, and how often I drank water. (long story short, my diet sucked)
2. I wrote down how often I was truly hungry, not just in the mood for cookies or something.
3. I documented every strength and weakness I had and every aspect of my daily routine i believed would be a serious problem and barrier.

After a week, I determined what was the unhealthiest thing I ate the most of. For me, bread and wheat was definitely part of my meals everyday, so based off of this I decided eliminating wheat from my diet was my first task at hand. Everyone will have different results but it is ultimately up to you want you want to start with. Just remember: if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself!

My Own Journey to Clean Eating

After SERIOUS research I finally decided to start eating clean. I knew this was the beginning to a hard but rewarding journey, however, I did have one major concern: How was I going to change a 17 year old habit? I mean of course I tried this before but I never got very far because so many things were getting in my way, but there was something different about this time. I finally formulated a plan that would work for me. Clean eating blogs and websites help so much but never really touch on the fact that you will make mistakes the first few weeks, I sure did. The beginning stages of changing your diet is always left in the unknown, but I'm here to explain the raw and uncut version of what really goes on. I decided that starting off with a completely paleo diet (a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit, and excluding dairy or grain products and processed food. AKA NO PRESERVATIVES) would to hard for me. Instead, I am working step by step toward cleaning out my diet and eventually eating a rigorous paleo diet. Instead of following specific diets online, I made my own based on my strengths and weaknesses and I truly believe this helped a lot. So whether you want to jump right into it or take baby steps, you can use the steps on my next post to make your own plan.