Monday, August 19, 2013

Clean Eating Update



Hey Everyone, 

As I mentioned in a previous post, a couple of weeks ago I decided to challenge myself to following a clean eating diet for 30 days. After a week of reading books and various clean eating blogs/websites, cleaning out my cupboards and buying a bunch of clean eating foods, I finally started my fully clean eating diet last Monday. So far, I absolutely love it. 

I feel like my whole life I've been programmed to only think about calories and fat when it comes to dieting. I have been on weight watchers several times and while, I did manage to lose weight, I wouldn't say I ever felt healthy. On weight watchers you are programmed to eat snacks that, while low in calories, really aren't made with the most wholesome ingredients (hello 100 calorie thinsation cookies, or mini weight watchers bagels). So while I was losing weight, I was also eating a fair share of chemicals, additives, etc. 

With clean eating, I am eating real food. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. If I have chocolate its as close to 100% cocoa as I can find. If I want ice cream, I blend up a banana and add some natural peanut butter to it (surprisingly this has a really ice-cream like texture). If I want spaghetti sauce, I make my own with fresh tomatoes and basil.  If I want something sweet, I don't use processed unrefined sugar. I use 100% raw organic honey. I'm still able to eat a majority of my favourite foods, I am just making them myself and know exactly what is in them. I feel better about myself and really feel like I have a purpose again (something I often lack lying in bed with chronic pain). 

As far as weight loss, I haven't seen any real results yet (I go up and down each day it seems), but as of right now, I don't really care. I feel good about what I am putting in my body. I am conscious of the portion sizes I am eating but I am not limiting myself to a certain amount of calories (or 'points'). If I'm hungry, I eat something wholesome, I don't think 'well, you aren't supposed to have more than a 100 calorie snack this afternoon'. 

With the exception of being a vegetarian for the past 18 years I tend to be someone who throws everything I  have into something and then gives up a couple of months later when I get bored and move onto the new thing. While I can't say I am going to be a clean eater for the rest of my life, I can say that this 'diet' feel a lot different than other diets I've tried in the past and I really hope this is a life style change I can, and will want to, stick to for a long time. 

I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress, and once I find some more great clean eating recipes, I will definitely be sharing them. If you are interested in seeing what I am eating, be sure to follow me on Instagram (funnyfacebeautypics) where I post almost daily photos of my meals (yep, I'm one of those!). 

Thanks so much for your support. 
xx
Alicia




3 comments:

  1. Awesome job! I really need to get into this too. I've cut out meat from my diet (aside from chicken that I am limiting myself to max once per week), but I really need to start cooking more with wholesome ingredients. I just often feel too tired/lazy to do it, though that lethargy is probably partly due to my less than stellar diet.

    I look forward to recipes you post!

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