Time to Eat-Clean!

Hey ladies!

 

I just wanted to share my new endeavor....to eat clean. To start, I have never been a fan of traditional diets and the concept of eliminating or restricting entire food groups. If you choose that route, I am not judging, but my opinion is that it is not a healthy approach food and I have trouble with them. Then, in the last month, I came across the concept of eating clean and the Eat-Clean diet.

 

An excellent resource that outlines the concept is "The Eat-Clean Diet" book by Tosca Reno or Eat-Clean magazine....or you could Google it and figure it out that way.

 

Essentially, I have decided that my hubby and I are overdue to clean up our diets. So as of September 1st, we are committed to eating clean!

 

What this means for us is:

1) Eating whole foods, that have not been processed, or have been as minimally processed as possible (aka fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grains etc)

2) Increasing water to at least 2500ml a day (10cups)

3) Cut out the white - white sugar, white flour, white rice

4) Reducing saturated fats by choosing lean meat and most cheese (the cheese will be the toughy for me...mmm...cheese); no transfats

5) Eating every 2-3 hours, but having mini-meals rather than 3 square meals a day

 

The principles are simple, read labels, don't consume things you can't pronounce and eat a little protein, fat and complex carbs every meal.

 

Basically, it is basic nutrition without the crap from take-out, fast-food, or pre-packaged items...oh and no alcohol....DH won't cut out beer, but I don't really drink much anyways so when I do I will choose heart healthy red wine instead.

 

Wish me luck and I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on my progress and challenges!

Good luck! Eating clean is certainly more challenging than it sounds but I'm sure you're up to the task! I have heard of many people following Tosca's books and have experienced great results.

Hi there, I've been doing more or less the same thing myself but didn't realize it actually had a name :-) I've started making everything from scratch using non-processed foods, such as yogurt, ice cream, soups, salad dressing, cookies, etc... It does take a bit more time and organization, but in the end it's so worth it! And it also gives me an excuse to play with the new kitchen appliances we got as gifts :-) Good luck, and I'd be happy to share recipes!

Chantal

Good for you!! I'm just excited to start making soup from scratch, but props for making yogurt! I would love to share recipes so post your faves for sure!

Thanks Kathy! It will certainly be a challenge but I we have been working towards it for the last couple of weeks and getting rid of the stuff that would be considered unclean. The challenge will be for me when I eat out for dinner...lunch I can handle, but dinner will be tough!

Good luck! I'm doing P90X and it is pretty much the same diet plan as the eating clean...it was tough at first, but now it is super easy!

The Eat-Clean cookbooks and the Eat-Clean mags are great. Ive made tons of stuff from both and even my super picky meat and potatoes husband has liked the majority of stuff Ive made from them. I never felt deprived while doing clean eats, just requires a lot of planning ahead for me, especially working 12hr shifts. Oxygen mag is a great resource as well -- check 'em out!

Best of luck with your venture!

I was doing that when i first started my diet in June.. basically I cut out processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, and trans fats (read the labels, because even things that say 0 still have some.. look for "partially hydrogenated oils" on the ingredient lists).. I chose wheat over white for breads and pastas and I ate brown rice instead of white.

 

Keep us posted of your progress!

I have a signed copy of the Eat-clean diet! My MIL is her banker (ya hoo for her, LOL)

 

I knew you had to be CDN, because her (and her books) are Canadian too!

haha! Yep, I'm a Canuck! I'm super jealous of your signed copy! Tosca is such an inspiration and her philosophy just makes sense to me.

Update: I'm on day 10 and have done really well so far, although I found the weekend tougher than Mon-Fri b/c thats when I do most of my socializing.

I have cut out the large 1/2 coffee, 1/2 hot chocolates from Tim Hortons that I would have 2-3 times a day, so I have also saved some cash. Instead I am having Green tea...not quite the same, but I am actually not really missing them as much as I thought I would.

We have tried some new recipes and my favorite right now is chicken burgers with diced red peppers and onions inside!Mmmmm!

So far, the biggest change is that I have soooo much more energy, no more falling asleep on the couch at 7:30pm. Probably b/c I am no longer crashing from all the sugar/caffeine during the day! Plus I am back to working out regularly again, so that helps too!

I'll keep you all posted on my progress as I go, but right now I haven't found I've had to make any huge sacrifes so its really not that bad!