Cleaning things Up

via Pinterest (and it IS hard.. at first)

And what I mean by that is my diet.  I have gone clean when it comes to my eating habits.  The hubs and I have been doing it for a month now and I can’t even begin to tell you how much better I feel.  Feeling bloated was like a normal daily thing for me- but not anymore.  Among many other improvements…

What is eating clean you may ask? In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods, such as fruits, vegetable, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates.  Simply put, I stay away from all fast food joints, man-made sugars, white bread, bad fats, and preservatives, or in other words any foods that are heavily processed. 

I’m not doing this to lose weight, although that is a benefit for most people, but to feel better.  Before, my diet probably consisted of 90% sugar, and that is not a joke, and I really only ate one “true” meal a day.  It was not healthy.  A typical day of eating before going clean consisted of hot chocolate in the morning when I got to work, then we have this wonderful bowl of delicious candy at work that I constantly visited through the day to keep me going, then on our way home from work the hubs and I would hit up some fast food place for dinner.  Not good.

But now- this is what a typical food day looks like:

Breakfast- oat meal with oat bran, almond milk,  whey protein powder, flaxseed, and some variation of berries or if time is short I go with a fruit protein smoothie that I can take on the go.
Mid-Morning Snack- some type of fruit with a small handful of nuts
Lunch- usually this consists of left-overs from dinner, which is some type of meat like chicken, pork, flank steak, fish, or turkey with brown rice and veggies.
Snack- boiled eggs, with some type of veggie.
Dinner- lean cuts of meat, brown rice, veggies. 

You get the idea.

If you are interested in eating clean then I would definitely recommend reading one of the Eat Clean Diet books, the one I read was The Eat-Clean Diet Stripped.  It really lays everything out for you. Everything from recipes to a whole 2 week eating plan.

I am not going to lie to you- the first week was HARD! First, I am sure I was going through sugar withdrawals, I had the worst headaches and was moody as hell, and on top of that- eating well is a lot of work, you or at least I felt like I was always either preparing a meal, eating, or cleaning up from eating. It’s also more expensive to eat right and you have to go grocery shopping more often- which if your anything like me sounds like the most awful thing ever.  BUT with all that said it really is worth it and it does get easier. And, you really can adjust things to make them work for you and your life.

So to sum things up a person that eats clean generally practices the following:

• Eliminates refined sugar
• Eliminates preservatives and processed foods
• Cooks healthy meals
• Packs healthy meals/snacks
• Makes healthy choices when eating out
• Drinks lots of water
• Eats 5-6 small meals per day
• Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it)
• And ALWAYS eats breakfast

via Pinterest

If you decide to go clean the biggest tip I can give you is to always plan your meals.  The moment you don’t have a plan in place for what you are going to eat that day- it makes it really difficult to stick to it. The first thing I did after reading the Eat-Cleat Diet book was I went out and bought tons of Tupperware and a lunch cooler and every night before bed I packed mine and my husbands food for the next day while we are away from home- that way there is no excuses.

I gotta say I am pretty dang proud of the hubs and I for doing this and sticking to it- we have had our bad days and we have our weaknesses- mine is ice cream- but for the most part we are doing it and it’s been good.  I have to thank Katy over at Think Pretty Thoughts for her blog and being so inspirational and passionate about being healthy and blogging about eating clean and fitness- with the added bonus of an outfit post every so often.

Now if only I can conquer that whole dreaded working out business…