Clean Eating ... and stuff...

This actually kind of works a little in that Saturday will be pretty busy for me so I can sneak a blog in early AND answer all your questions at the same time. Anything I don't quite answer for you please feel free to shoot me a message and I would be happy to elaborate or help out in any way possible. Seriously. I love this stuff. Obsessed.

So what is clean eating...basically its eating natural REAL whole food. Nothing processed, refined, messed with, mucked up or otherwise garbage. Tosca Reno, the Eat Clean Queen defines it as "a lifestyle approach of exercise and a diet plan of unprocessed, whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and void of artificial ingredients, preservatives, "chemically charged foods," sugars, saturated fat, and trans fat." If you can't pronounce an ingredient on a label you probably shouldn't eat it. And nothing should have more than a few ingredients. Organic is super, but it is becoming such a generalized "marketable" term, so be wary. Alcohol has sugar in it too so that's out too...FYI. No sodas, fruit juices - unless you're juicing your own...the good news is you can substitute a lot of this stuff and it may taste funny at first but as your body get accustomed to real, whole, natural foods you will start to see what you've been missing, and how crappy the crap actually is! And while I don't prescribe to the cheat meal, you can incorporate it into your week as long as its just a meal (not a full day!) and you get back to it. But fair word of warning, once you're used to the good stuff the bad stuff makes you feel HORRIBLE!!!

 The program (I hate to call it a diet because it really isn't - its changing the way you look at food and your body) focuses on eating 5-6 small meals a day, incorporating lean proteins, complex carbs and healthy fats at every meal which keeps the metabolism revved up and blood sugars steady which reduces the cravings, sugar crashes and binging.  One of the reasons why nutrition is so much more important than exercise (80-20) is that you can work your ass off in the gym but if you're feeding your body a bunch of garbage and you have a sluggish metabolism the fat isn't going to come from the right places. And it wasn't until I started eating clean (I'd say I'm roughly 90% clean depending on how hardcore you want to look at it) that i started seeing the results and I crushed the plateau I had been holding on to for months. 40 lbs in 2.5 years or 30 in 6 months ... you choose.

You know I love bodybuilding.com and they have an article about clean eating here that you can take a look at - with some principles laid out if you wanted to take a look. You can also check out some more of the principles here  - sort of a little simpler. I could regurgitate it all for you but they have pictures and its glossy and fun.

There really isn't anything special you need to do to eat clean - aside from maybe clear out your pantry and your fridge and re-stock. No special tricks for cooking - I couldn't cook very well before all this but everything just seems to work when you're dealing with just a few simple ingredients - some simple swaps and some openmindedness. Also, pre-prepare your food! I set aside some time usually on sundays before the work week or while I am making dinner to get a few extra meals made that I can pack and bring to work. I will make extra for myself when cooking dinner and some things are just so quick and easy! Cost wise I find that it actually works out a little better than eating processed...cooking staples can be purchased in bulk which means really I am just stocking up on fruits and veggies, my almond milk, protein and greek yogurt each week. Also if you're batch cooking you save yourself money that way too.

So basically, you can lose weight, have healthy hair, skin and nails, improved overall health, AND save some cash?! this keeps getting better.

So what do I eat? My staples are almond butter, greek yogurt, sugar free jam, quick cooking oats, tuna, avocado, fresh veg for salads, sweet potato, lemon/citrus for water (we keep a pitcher going in the fridge) broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, and chicken chicken chicken. I have flax seed on hand, honey and organic maple syrup for sweeteners, unsweetened applesauce for baking and protein powder. A typical workout day looks like this:
530-600 - Pre-workout: banana
700 - Postworkout: protein shake, 1/3 cups egg whites scrambled, 1/3 quick oats cooked, mixed with 1.5 tsp sugar free jam and blueberries
1000 - rice cake with greekyogurt/sugar free jam spread or almond butter (1tbs)
1200 - 3-4 oz chicken (i get the fillets and bake them with coconut oil or olive oil, garlic salt and basil) 1 cup broccoli or asparagus and either a salad, 1/2 baked sweet potato, red pepper slices or some other veg. like carrots but they started hurting my tummy. 1/2 grapefruit and a protein ball (google angi greene's amazeballs...so good)
1500 (or 3pm - sorry i work in military time) - 100 grams plain greek yogurt with sugar free raspberry jam and another protein ball
1800/6pm 3-5 oz is a pretty close repeat to lunch. protein, a few veg, salad whatever.

I can hit anywhere between 1400 and 1700 calories a day which is in line with my bodyfat goal (not weight goal....bodyfat...)

Sometimes i will have a protein shake near the end of the night or as a delayed "dessert" and once in a while I will indulge in a Rivi's Gluten/guilt free cookie after dinner (which I just remembered I have - but now its too late ... boooo...) or a spoon of peanut butter right before bed. Peanut butter is a slow burning protein so it helps keep your metabolism going through the night and you wake up less hungry - at least I do. If I am not working out in the morning I will have a slice of ezekiel bread toasted with almond butter and blueberries on top. And on weekends I will usually cookup some protein pancakes (super easy)

Here is a grocery list to get you started with your clean eating. There are lots of simple recipes out there - and a lot of very involved ones as well if you're more cook-y than I am....here are a few to get you started:
Tomato Sauce - I add ground chicken or turkey and eat with whole wheat pasta
green beans and pecans with maple vinaigrette - i swear by this dressing and use it almost every day - also makes an amazing marinade for chicken
sweet potato and chicken hash
Blueberry protein pancakes - this is the extended recipe - I usually just use oats, eggwhites protein powder and blueberries - both are delicious
Dijon Cod and Asparagus

So there you have it. Clean Eating 101. Sort of ... at least some tools to get you started...do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any additional questions or comments...or if there is anything else I can help you with. I didn't get to where I am on my own and I never get tired of this... :)