Eating Clean

In the healthy eating world, the phrase eating clean or clean eating (same difference, tom-a-toes/tom-ah-toes) seems to surface a lot. As such, I have done a lot of reading on the subject, and found that, while everyone’s exact definition of it seems to vary a bit, there are general principles that remain the same. In general, it is about a natural approach to eating, focusing on whole, unprocessed foods. Over at Menus4Moms, they say clean foods are “those without man-made sugars, hydrogenated fats, trans-fats and other unnecessary ingredients” and suggest that eating clean even only 80% of the time can have a huge impact on your overall physique.

Photo credit: Crossfit Oakland

Of course, this doesn’t mean just eating fruits and vegetables. This means whole wheat fibers, fat free yogurts, eggs, plain cheeses, lean meats.

All my life, I think I always assumed that clean eating meant living on salads and, really, it’s anything but. The ultimate bonus? When you’re eating clean, you can eat so much more food than when you aren’t and still not gain an ounce. These are foods that your body was designed to process so they natural metabolize much better. It makes so much sense, no? And, while I just started eating 90% clean only a week or so ago, I can already say that I feel a MILLION times better than I have felt. Ever.

What about you? Have you tried eating clean? Or, something else that you loved?

Making the Right Choices

Today, as I arrived home from the grocery store (for just a mini-trip), I unpacked my bag and surveyed its contents. As I stood back, I thought to myself Wow! What a difference just a few weeks makes. Every single item I had unpacked was in some way healthy or health-conscious. After basking in the glory of a successful grocery trip and patting myself on the back for making some good decisions, I couldn’t help but take a picture to remember this moment. I wish – so much – that this could be a before and after type post. Unfortunately, I have no before for this. I cannot imagine a grocery trip weeks ago where I would have come back and taken a photo of all the crap we had bought, sadly.

Nevertheless, here’s one for the books.

That’s 1 large plain Light-&-Fit yogurt, 1 bag of Romaine, 5 bananas, 1 canister of allspice,
1 container of classic hummus, 1 package of 100% whole wheat, whole grain sandwich thins, and 3 apples.

I’m seriously impressed with myself.