Friday, November 2, 2012

Clean Eating Challenge

If I could have any job in the world, I’d be a nutritionist who freelance writes about healthy eating and healthy lifestyle sustainability. I’ve loved nutrition forever. Ever since I was sent to a nutritionist when I was 14 years old, I’ve been intrigued by their knowledge of food and healthy living.

I read more about nutrition and healthy eating than anything else and most people would probably be surprised at how much I know on the topic. (Disclaimer: just because I know so much about healthy eating does not mean I always make the healthiest choice, just to be clear.) To take my point even further, I even applied to go back to school last year and earn my master’s degree in nutrition. However, life happened and I got married and didn’t know if I could commit to two more years of school.

I write all of that to say I am always trying to find ways to clean up my diet. Healthy eating is an everyday decision and something that affects every aspect of your life. I hate the word diet. I think dieting is ridiculous and doing extreme things like cutting out entire food groups for an extended period of time is unhealthy.

I recently blogged about Whole30, a month-long cleanse that cuts out sugar, alcohol, grains and other foods that have an affect on how you feel. However, after doing some more research on it over the past week, I don’t feel like it’s the right thing for me. I certainly see the benefits of the cleanse, but with the holidays coming up, I just don’t think it’s something I can sustain for an entire month (I love Thanksgiving… sue me). So I’ve decided I’m more interested in implementing clean eating strategies into my lifestyle.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with clean eating, it’s essentially a diet that moderates unhealthy foods and encourages eating clean, unprocessed foods. As with anything, there are people who take clean eating to different extremes. There are some clean eaters who won’t touch anything processed and only eat fruits, vegetables and lean meats. I am starting this out a bit more realistic and just looking to cut out some of the crap I consume on a daily basis.

I’m sure I will start off somewhere in the middle and either get more or less into this type of eating (hopefully more). I decided to “begin”my clean eating journey next week after I have the chance to make a Central Market run. I already try to make healthy decisions on a regular basis, but I am looking to cut out things like artificial sweetener and slow down my sugar cravings. I think this change will include more eating at home (my bank account will be happier) and more smart decisions when eating out. 

I am going to start subscribing to Clean Eating Magazineon my iPad so I’m never short on healthy recipes and I already follow a few clean eating blogs, so I will have healthy ideas at my disposal. I don’t think this will be a huge change, as I already try to choose healthy, whole foods; however, I do think the holidays will create more difficulty in implementing this 100 percent. I will keep you all posted!

PS. Does anyone remember this from being a kid? If only food were so simple.


1 comment:

  1. I have found that Providence is a very different environment when it comes to healthy and clean eating, compared to Texas. I am learning a lot through my friends here who are choosing to eat all organic/local/non-processed foods. Many here also do not eat meat or dairy.
    I've been wrestling with how I want to use this info with my own diet. I would say we have definitely started eating healthier since we have moved here, but talking Nick into beginning a veggie based diet, rather than meat, is pretty much impossible. Let's be honest, we like steak. :)
    Anyway, just thought I'd share what I am trying to figure out right now and can't wait to hear more about your clean eating!

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