Last Spring (2011), after viewing vacation pictures of me on the beach I decided it was my time to get back in shape. I was miserable. I was anxious, stressed, depressed and extremely moody. I felt so bad all of the time I went to the doctor. After hours of research online I decided I either had thyroid disease or cancer. So after a near perfect report with the doctor (except being overweight) I decided it was time to take responsibility for my health again. I came home and joined weight watchers. After a month I had lost....dun dun dunnnnnn 3 lbs. At one point I had lost 7 but they came back. Weight watchers wasn't working for me. I needed something else...enter clean eating.
I bought the book on kindle for my android phone and read it every moment I had. Essentially I devoured it. I loved it, I ate it up. This book spoke to me.
The Eat-clean Diet: Recharged is a very uplifting book not just about a diet or way to eat but a way of life. Tosca Reno was living life like the rest of us. Busy mom, overweight and unhappy. After a divorce she decided to make a change. She joined a gym and started to eat clean. Today she is in her early 50s and gives most 20 somethings a run for their money. Her book is not only informative but uplifting and compassionate to you as a woman. By the end of the book you are thinking HELL YEAH am going to do this. And I did...
Clean eating is easy. I am not the type of person who can succeed on a diet of weights and measures. I have two small, very active kids. I work from home and also make children's clothes for my Etsy shop. I don't have time to measure and count everything. I needed something where I could eat certain foods and not have to think about it. The clean eating way of life allows that. You eat certain foods (low fat proteins, vegetables, fruits & grains) and avoid others (sugar, simple carbohydrates). You do watch portion sizes (I have a trick for that) but there is no real measuring, unless you are making one of the great recipes in the book.
A typical day might look like:
Breakfast - 1 egg +egg whites, spinach
Snack - handful almonds, berries
Lunch - tuna of lettuce with lemon & olive oil
Snack - greek yogurt, carrot sticks
Dinner - roast chicken breasts, green beans and sweet potato
Evening snack (if hungry) protein shake
Essentially you eat 5-6 times a day to increase your metabolic burn. You have protein with every meal and add in healthy vegetables and or fruits. Have some nuts and add in a smidge of healthy fats. Then make sure to drink a few liters of water throughout the day. It is really easy to follow. Essentially you don't eat nonfoods or white poison as she calls them (I love this). In the book she lays out multiple eating plans. There is a strict plan, a basic plan, a family plan, vegetarian plan and even a plan for senior dieters along with corresponding grocery lists.
This doesn't mean that all fun foods are out. On Tosca's blog one day she said "A treat is just a treat and don't give it anymore power than that" I am paraphrasing I don't remember the exact quote but that line spoke to me and I remember it every day. It is powerful to think that a small block of dark chocolate as being what it is, a treat. I don't have guilt I am not throwing myself into a binge, it is just a small delicious treat. So of course there is room for goodies and you can find clean recipes all over the web for everything from brownies to pies.
Now a lot of people are anti low carb diet. I have even had people tell me it sounds like South Beach. Well yes & no. First off this is not really a low carb diet. It is a smart carb diet. You can have bread and pasta and rice, but these need to be in a whole form. It isn't a diet about how many sugar free foods or pounds of bacon you can eat. It is about a healthy lifestyle. It is about loving yourself enough to only put the best there is in your tummy.
Me and the Eat Clean Diet
My transition to eating clean was an easy one. We only buy whole wheat anything in our house. At the time I was putting a nice spoon of sugar in my multiple cups of coffee and taking bites here and there of treat I may have bought for the kids. So even though our diet was relatively healthy I wasn't eating the right amount of protein or the right combinations of foods. After about a week of eating clean I hit the sugar wall (see my previous detox posts for more info) it lasted about 48 hours then I woke up feeling like a super hero. I was a maniac of energy and happiness. That first week I lost 8 pounds...EIGHT POUNDS!! After my first month I lost 15 lbs. I was running most days and felt great. I could easily eat throughout the day without much thought. My method for portion control is easy. I always made sure to eat less than I would typically eat. So say I put a helping of something on my plate I will take half off. If I typically ate two scoops of pasta I would only put on in my bowl.
So what changed you might ask why do I still have 46 lbs to lose? Well I want to tell you it isn't because eating clean failed me. It was because I got Salmonella poisoning which completely turned my life upside down. I had a really hard time staying healthy for close to 6 months. After getting the flu I had had enough and started fighting back. First thing I did was start eating clean and started this blog. The rest you can learn about from previous posts.
While this time around I have not had and huge weight drops I had before. I attribute that to the weight training I do daily on 30 day shred. I have more energy and gusto to do the things I need to get back in shape. I have been transitioning to a more Paleo way of eating but not because I think that clean eating isn't good it is more trying to fight my own health demons.
One of the best things about clean eating is there are two great magazines that you can get and read every month to keep you motivated. Clean Eating magazine which is full of great recipes, success stories and always has a two week meal plan & grocery list. Then Oxygen magazine which is full of clean eating tips and recipes as well as some great success stories. Tosca also has multiple books to accompany Her Eat Clean book. I have Eat Clean for families which has some good tips and recipes.
So give her book a try and even the diet a try. If you don't want to wait to buy and read the book google clean eating and you can get tons of information. There are great blogs and websites out there. If you do a clean eating search on Pinterest there are always tons of results. You can even follow Clean Eating Magazine on there. They always have some great recipes.
The last thing I want to say about eating clean is that even though an illness knocked me off track I never gained back the 15 lbs I lost. Even when I was eating pure junk post sickness...never gained a pound. I honestly believe this is because I lost true fat and not just water. I think it kicked up my metabolism enough to keep them off as well. So give it a try...
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