{Personal Post}- Clean Eating Adventures #1

Obviously, as the title of the post hinted at, this is not teaching related. But I figured it's summer time, and every now and then we might actually like to enjoy reading something OTHER than school-related posts.

Clean eating. Yep, that's the adventure. I debated whether or not I wanted to blog about this or not. I considered the pros and the cons, and ultimately decided that I would share about it. Not that I would expect this from any of my blog followers, but please do not leave any negative comments in regards to this topic. This is my decision to make and I'm not asking you to agree with it. Everyone is entitled their own opinion and I respect that. I just ask that you respect my decision and take the negativity elsewhere.

Now, on the flip side, I am more than open to any advice or constructive feedback you can give me! Clean eating is a little overwhelming at first, especially with trying to figure out what to eat, what not to eat and where to begin. So advice is appreciated and encouraged. For example, is coffee a yay or a nay on this diet?! I just haven't been able to clear that one up!

What? What is clean eating? My interpretation of clean eating is following a diet that is made up of foods that are not processed. You want foods as close to their original state as possible. No additives to foods, no preservatives, and if you can't pronounce something in the ingredients, chances are it's not clean. Same can be said for the amount of ingredients. For the most part, anything higher than 3-4 ingredients isn't clean either.

Why? Why clean eating? I had heard of clean eating many times before, but always wrote it off as something for the die-hard diet fans or fitness fanatics, but that's not the case at all! I work with a teacher who started the clean eating diet and she looks great! My goal for a clean eating lifestyle is not to lose weight, don't get me wrong, I don't think you'll ever meet many women who would be against dropping a pound or two, but my biggest focus is to reap the benefits of feeling better and having more energy. 

I decided that by sharing my clean eating adventures on my blog, it would give me some accountability. Someone to report my progress and results to, which would in turn force me to stick to the clean eating as much as possible. My goal is to be about 90% clean. Knowing that not every single little thing is going to be clean. I am certainly going to try my best, but I won't beat myself up over something little. Also, to prove the benefits of it to you, should you consider doing it yourself, I figured I'd need to share some starting points with you.

Starting Weight: I weighed myself first thing in the morning on my start day. 126.6 lbs (again, let me reiterate, my focus is on better energy levels) 

Starting Activity Level: I teach special education pre-school. I stay pretty active and on my feet, up and down off the floor, I'd say from 8am-2pm. I try to make it to the gym 4-5 times/week, but when things get busy, I allow myself to skip rather than make time for the workout.Throughout this process I want to also work on making better time for the gym.

So far I've been doing this for 5 days. I've found some pretty yummy meals. I'm really enjoying my breakfast:

It's PLAIN greek yogurt, with homemade clean granola, 1 banana, and some honey. You have to check your greek yogurt ingredients. Some are alright for a clean diet, and others aren't. And always take the plain route.

I've been making all kinds of spinach salads for lunch. Chicken, shrimp, pineapple, mango, strawberries, guacamole. Keep mixing it up so it doesn't get boring. One of the things I haven't gone clean on yet is the salad dressing. This raspberry one was just bought so I figured when it was gone, I'd go to a clean dressing.

Dinners have consisted of pineapple chicken made in the crock pot with a clean recipe. Ground turkey, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes- i LOVE sweet potatoes. 5 minutes in the microwave with some coconut spread and it's delicious!



I'm hoping to find some new recipes each week so things don't get boring.

Days 4 and 5, the cravings started to hit hard, especially in the evenings. Cravings for sweets, cereal, all the things I can't have. But I stuck with it and haven't even cheated with 1 bite!

Have you ever thought about clean eating? Do you do clean eating now?