What Does Clean Eating Look Like???

This post is a continuation of yesterday's, "What Is Clean Eating?"

Today I want to show you what clean eating looks like and how it can be just as delicious as what you would normally eat... only it's all natural and has no chemicals or man-made ingredients!
Your body will thank you and you will notice a huge improvement in energy, complexion, skin, nails, hair.... everything!

I went to the grocery today and this is what a clean eating grocery trip looks like....

Notice that I still have meat, eggs, yogurt, milk (I prefer almond milk), peanut butter, fruits and veggies.
I even got a pizza that has no artificial ingredients, and is all organic! SCORE!!

The only difference here is that nothing is packaged or processed. Everything I got is either straight from the earth/farm (also try to be organic as much as possible) or is made up of only ingredients straight from the earth/farm. These are the types of foods our bodies were created to consume and knows how to break down so that we are getting the nutrients that we need!

Now let me show you what I made for dinner from the above ingredients......

Looks like a "regular" meal right!?!
I cannot even tell you how delicious this chicken was!!! Oh my gosh!! My mouth was watering smelling it cook! Here is where I got the recipe: The Iron You (yes, I know, mine looks sad compared to his!)
These are the changes that I made:

1. I do not use soy sauce. EVER. Most soy sauces contain caramel color (read yesterday's post to see why that is so awful to put in your body!!). There are organic soy sauces out there that do not contain artificial ingredients, but they contain crazy amounts of sodium. Something like 40% of your daily allowance! I use liquid aminos instead. Healthy! And tastes just as good as soy sauce, only less salty!
2. It is 5 degrees outside so now way was I grilling! :)  After marinating, I put the chicken on the kabob sticks and put on a cookie sheet and poured the marinade overtop so it could cook in the marinade. Baked at 350 for 25 minutes. 
3. Served over quinoa and sprinkled on some more Liquid Aminos (think soy sauce flavor!) to soak into the quinoa.  PERFECTION!

Served with a side salad. I usually make my own dressing (that's what's in the little glass bowl in the picture above) because it's easy and that way I know what it is made out of. I usually just throw stuff together depending on what's around. Tonight I just mixed together red wine vinegar, olive oil, and some maple syrup. Tangy and Sweet! You can also add some lemon juice. Or pepper. Whatever you are in the mood for!

I am sure some of you are thinking that my meal is too small and you would need more, but I couldn't even finish it! I only ate about half the chicken and half the quinoa from what you see on the plate. My stomach is shrinking so I cannot eat that much at once, which is exactly what is supposed to happen! You are really supposed to eat 6 small meals throughout the day as opposed to 3 large meals. This speeds up your metabolism and keeps your body from storing fat and calories, because it is always metabolizing food. Plus you will have more energy when eating every 2 hours instead of going 4 or more hours in between meals.

Here is some more info on how to eat clean.....


                 
   
 Sugar can also be replaced w/ honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar!





I hope this helps and please follow my blog for more recipes and inspiration!

-Jen

What is Clean Eating?

I have realized that not everyone knows what clean eating is and why it's so important.

So, let me tell you about it!

Clean eating is eating all natural food; or food in it's natural state. The most important thing to note about clean eating is that it is not a diet. This is not a fad, or something you do temporarily. This is a lifestyle! The reason that is so important, is because with fad diets or diets in general, it's something you can only do temporarily because it deprives your body of nutrients that you need. Sure, you can lose weight on diets. You can lose a lot of weight even. But it is almost guaranteed that you will gain all of it, and maybe more back, because you can't continue depriving your body of vitamins and nutrients that it needs. It will start to fail you!

To begin the journey of clean eating, start reading the labels of the packaged foods at your local grocery. This goes back to the Fooducate app/website that I mentioned in another post. This is where you can scan barcodes and it will tell you about the ingredients in that food. For example, I looked up Nutri-Grain cereal bars because this is something I used to eat for a quick snack thinking I was making a good choice! Boy was I wrong!!! Here is what Fooducate reveals about these bars:

(click to enlarge)

Pretty scary right!?!? Go ahead and look up the products that you normally buy, I dare you!! Share with me what you find out!!

The above is a great example of why eating clean is so important. It's avoiding all processed and refined foods. This will include almost all packaged foods, and also white flour, refined sugar, bread, and pasta.
Click the links to read about the dangers of white flour and refined sugar. Read my blog post about Ezekiel bread to read about bread. Pasta is bad because most of them use white flour and contain refined sugar.

Hopefully this is a good introduction to the importance of clean eating. I will do a "What is Clean Eating?" continued post tomorrow to show you what kind of meals and snacks are "clean".
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Now for my food and exercise logs.

Today was a rough day. I had a terrible stomach ache all day (the result of my awful eating the last 2 days I am sure) and I woke up at 8:00 and expected to go to the gym today, but I got up and ate and then ended up going back to sleep until 11:00! I felt so crappy I hardly ate anything today (terrible!) I did get a good workout in though without having to leave my house!! Feeling proud about that, but need to get my eating on track. Seems to be one extreme or the other the last few days!

Sunday, Feb. 9th Food Log

Pretty pathetic huh?? At least I ate clean. Just didn't eat enough calories so my body is probably storing up all sorts of fat right now!

Exercise Log

This workout was awful and wonderful at the same time! Super challenging!

12 of each:
Plank w/ Knee to Elbow touch
Burpee w/ tuck jump
Exercise Ball w/ pike pull-ins
Kettlebell swing
Push-ups w/ squat thrust
Squat Jumps
Skaters

Then 11 of each, then 10 of each, then 9, and so on, all the way down to 1. That's a total of 78 each!
Wooohhooo! I feel very accomplished! :)

If you ever have questions about healthy eating, or exercises, please feel free to ask! If I don't know the answer, I have some great mentors that can help out!

-Jen

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Food Logs

Alright, here it is. In all it's ugliness..... the truth about how hard it is to stick to eating well when going out for celebrations!

I hate to have to post that I totally failed the last 2 days, especially after I just said in my last post that by putting my eating and exercising logs out there it has been keeping me on track because I don't want to have to post embarrassing details about eating bad and not exercising. But as one of the lovely ladies that I hung out with last night pointed out, by posting the bad, it makes this more realistic and shows that I am human and am going to make mistakes, and so are you! It's just about learning from it and how to make better decisions. So here it is.... the last 2 days.....

Friday was a co-workers 30th birthday party at a restaurant. So I went straight from work to the restaurant, which meant eating dinner there. And then having drinks. And this really shows how many calories are in alcoholic drinks! When going out to a restaurant for food & drinks, you should choose which one to spend the calories on. Not splurge on both. Lesson learned!

Friday, Feb. 7th Food Log

Let's talk about these cookies..... I was dying for dessert when we were at the restaurant. I didn't do it. BRAVO! When leaving the restaurant I wanted to walk over to Jeni's ice cream, my favorite ice cream ever, but my will-power was in full swing after already eating and drinking so poorly (and so was the negative degree windchill!) so I avoided it. BRAVO! And then I got home..... and there were peanut butter cookies w/ peanut butter chips that I had made for the kids' lunches and that I had avoided all week! And I did not avoid them this time. FAIL!

Not only did I eat terribly, but I also did not workout on Friday. I had planned on working out on my lunch break since I knew I couldn't after work, but then there was a 2 hr delay for the kids' school and I didn't go to work until 11:30, so I wasn't able to take more time out for the gym. I should have eaten fewer calories since I didn't get to the gym, but obviously I made poor decisions!

So on to the next day......

Another 30th birthday celebration. This time for one of my fabulous neighbors! Another night of eating out, followed by a late night playing cards.

Saturday, Feb. 8th Food Log

(I realize that it should be "not too shabby" instead of "not to shabby" but it's too much effort to go back and edit the picture :)  )

As you can tell I tried to do well during the day since I knew the night was going to be difficult. I even got up and went to the gym! I feel like I made good choices at dinner. I could have done without the chips and salsa, but it literally took about 1 1/2 hours to get our food from the time we got there, so I needed something to tide me over! I even made a wise drink choice, and kept it to only 1.

Then it all went to crap at the after party! Let me start by saying I did very well because I didn't eat a piece of birthday cake! (high five!) And I brought healthy cookies to eat instead. But instead of just sticking to that, I munched on some chocolate twisty grahams with an orange dream cream cheese ball dip. YIKES! And then topped that off with 3 glasses of wine. Now, mind you, that was over a span of 2 1/2 hours, but that is what happens when you stay up late, you have more hours in your day to eat!

Now, let's get away from the negative and focus on the positive. I did get up Saturday morning and go to the gym!

Saturday, Feb. 8th Exercise Log

I did about 3.5 miles on the elliptical. I think it was only a little over 300 calories burned, but then I did a circuit with my fabulous neighbor that included more cardio that I couldn't track on MyFitnessPal.

She kicked my butt with the circuit and it was tough. But I learned something new and can't wait to do it again!

12 Bent-over barbell rows, 12 incline push ups on bar, 12 each side step up arm press w/ dumbbell, 12 Kettlebell swing tosses w/ squat, 30 second alternating arm waves w/ rope. 3x Hand over hand rope pull. Ab Twist w/ 8lb medicine ball.  Ran through this twice.

So now on to a new day..... Need to do a serious cleanse today and tomorrow after the food and drinks. Moving forward!!

Here's the recipe for my favorite pre-workout snack. I usually make mine into granola bars, but last night I made them into small cookies as my sweet instead of cake. Happy Trails Adventure Cookies Enjoy!

Weight Loss Progress!! / Food Log

I have lost 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches this week!!!

On that note... I am sorry that I don't have much inspiration or knowledge to pass on today. I am just going to post my food log and some good recipes from what I have eaten today.

I am still trying to get my food to a good balance. Today I felt like I had way too few calories before 4pm so I was light headed and about to fall asleep by 4:00. If I do another day of food like today, I would switch my lunch and dinner so I have more energy during the day and then do some peanut butter or some other protein with the veggie wrap for dinner before boot camp.

Hopefully I can get this eating down so I can pass some menus on to you! :)

Side note: posting my food logs and exercise logs daily have really been keeping me accountable! I don't want to have to post that I ate something bad, so that keeps me from eating it. I also don't want to have to post that I was too lazy to work out one day, so that keeps me motivated to get some sort of exercise in! So thanks for letting me share with you!

Thursday, Feb. 6th Food Log

(click to enlarge)

Exercise Log

I did an hour bootcamp tonight. I couldn't find anything equivalent to put into MyFitnessPal to track today's exercises. Today's workout really showed me how out of shape I am! There was a lot of cardio! Jump roping, planks, plank rows, some running, squats, ropes, etc.

Click here for the "Kitchen Sink Veggie Wrap" and "Sneaky Red Lentil Hummus"

Click here for Paleo Granola. (OH MY!!!)

My Inspiration

There is a picture going around on Facebook right now that pretty much sums up why it is so important to live a clean life.

(Click here to be linked back to owner)

You literally are what you eat. Your body uses everything you consume for energy, reproduction of cells, food for your hair, your skin, your nails, your immune system, etc. So what happens when all you are taking in is processed "food" that is mechanically made? What happens when you are taking in foreign "food" that your body can't break down? If all you eat are packaged foods that have no nutritional value, where is your body getting it's nutrients to stay healthy?? It is my belief that these chemically and mechanically made ingredients are a leading cause of so many diseases and ailments that are in our society today. There are so many links between diseases/ailments and certain ingredients in our food. Even if a food doesn't directly cause a disease, it could drastically increase your risk. Especially in people who have the genetics for disease. These chemicals could also be lowering your immune system because your body can't process it, and then you are being opened up to all sorts of sicknesses.

With the amount of people that are suffering from cancer and other fatal diseases, why take a chance with what we put into our bodies? I have heard the argument so many times, "Well, we are all going to die", and while that is absolutely true, do you want it to be before you see your grand-kids or even your own kids grow up? Do you want to miss out on your family's important events because you are sick in the hospital?

I know this all sounds extreme, and I also realize that there are many circumstances completely out of our control, but all of this is my personal inspiration for living a cleaner and healthier life and if it's possible to prevent diseases/ailments, wouldn't you want to at least give it your best shot?

I don't mean to come off too harsh or judgmental, because believe me, I am still trying to get down the whole clean eating lifestyle, but I just wanted to share what has inspired me to start writing this blog and changing what goes into my body.

And hey, if weight loss comes along with it too, well I wouldn't complain about that! :)

I hope my daily posts can inspire you as well!

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Wednesday, Feb. 5th Food Log

(click to enlarge)

Exercise Log

Click here for the "Kitchen Sink Veggie Wrap" and "Sneaky Red Lentil Hummus (you won't regret it!)

Oolong Tea & Daily Food/Exercise Logs

I am a little behind on my posts, but have no fear, I have been keeping track of my exercising and eating, and also have some good info for you :)

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Today I am going to talk about Oolong Tea. One of my wonderful co-workers got me started on Oolong and I wanted to pass on the great benefits of it!

Oolong tea is one of the most popular teas in China. It is made from the leaves, buds, and stems of the Camellia sinensis plant. The same plant that is used to make black tea and green tea. The difference is in how it's processed. Oolong tea is partially fermented, black tea is fully fermented, and green tea is unfermented. (Read about fermenting here) 

Oolong tea's claimed benefits are:

• reducing cholesterol levels
• heart health (heart disease prevention)
• treatment of digestive disorders
• boosting the immune system
• formation of strong bones
• prevent cancer
• prevent tooth decay
• prevent osteoporosis

It is also used to sharpen thinking skills and improve mental alertness and some people use oolong tea to treat obesity, diabetes, “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), and skin allergies such as eczema.

From Dr. Oz on Oolong Tea:

For Weight Loss: Oolong tea boosts metabolism, helping you burn fat faster. It's unique catechin (an antioxidant) and caffeine combination ignites your body’s fat-burning furnace and raises your metabolism for up to 2 hours after drinking it. Oolong tea also contains polyphenols that help block fat-building enzymes. Studies have shown that drinking oolong tea has led to sustained weight loss and a smaller waist size. Be careful not to overload your tea with sugar, which will negate the benefits.

What I like about Oolong:  I have never been a big tea drinker without adding sweeteners or something to it, but Oolong has the health benefits of black tea but the smoothness of green tea. I can drink it without adding anything to it. But if you need a little something, just add a little pure honey! I like to drink mine with my morning or afternoon snack, or anytime I am having a food craving!
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Now on to the boring stuff.......

Tuesday, Feb. 4th Food Log
(Breakfast: Shake w/ hard boiled egg. Lunch: Protein Shake.)

Exercise Log

Monday, Feb. 3rd Food Log

(Breakfast: Shake w/ hard boiled egg. Lunch: Thai-Inspired 

Tomato Soup. Dinner: Grilled goat cheese strawberry sandwich)

(Exercise break day)

Ezekiel 4:9 Bread Info / Fooducate App / Food Log

Let's talk about bread.......

There is an app on my phone that I have been using for at least a year now. It is called Fooducate. While you are at the grocery store you can scan barcodes and it will tell you about the ingredients in that product and give you a rating of the food. (Be prepared to be turned off from almost all packaged foods!) There is also a website you can search for products.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients that are in the sliced breads that we buy at the grocery??

Here is a list of ingredients in Aunt Millie's Multigrain Bread: (sounds healthy right?!?)
enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, ferrous sulfate (iron), thiamine hydrochloride(vitamin b1), riboflavin (vitamin b2), niacin (vitamin b12), folic acid), sugar, wheat bran, wheat gluten, whole grain oatmeal, soybean oil, yeast, molasses, salt, rye flour, barley flakes, yeast nutrients (calcium sulfate), monocalcium phosphate, sweet dairy whey, monoglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, vinegar, citric acid, azodicarbonamide, ascorbic acid, calcium peroxide.

Bleached flour? (Read "Why Bleaching Makes White Flour Even Worse". Toxins that cause diabetes?!) Doesn't sound very healthy!

Here is a list of ingredients in Sara Lee Honey Wheat Bread:
enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin b1), riboflavin (vitamin b2), folic acid), water, honey, whole wheat flour, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, wheat gluten, contains 2% or less of each of the following: wheat bran, calcium sulfate, salt, soybean oil, dough conditioners (may contains one or more of the following: mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium peroxide, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), calcium propionate (preservative), distilled vinegar, guar gum, yeast, nutrients (monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate and/or calcium carbonate), corn starch, vitamin d3, soy lecithin, milk, soy flour.

There's that bleached flour again! They also both contain azodicarbonamide.
From Fooducate: "Azodicarbonamide is a popular dough conditioner. It also bleaches the flour (makes it whiter). It's considered safe in the US at up to 45 parts per million, but is banned from use in Europe because studies showed it could cause asthma or allergic reactions."


Here are the ingredients of Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Bread:
Organic Sprouted Wheat, Organic Sprouted Barley, Organic Sprouted Millet, Organic Malted Barley, Organic Sprouted Lentils, Organic Sprouted Soybeans, Organic Sprouted Spelt, Filtered Water, Fresh Yeast, Organic Wheat Gluten, Sea Salt.
(they also have gluten free options)
Oh and it tastes just as good, if not better than other breads.

What would you rather put in your body!?!

Please look before you buy!

And if you are curious... here is what Ezekiel 4:9 says in the bible: "Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them in one vessel…"


Today's Food Log....

8:30am   - Mocha Shake: Coffee, banana, protein powder, oats, vanilla, almond milk, ice. Check out the recipe here. I added protein powder to mine.
1 Slice of Ezekiel bread w/ Earth Balance spread
9:30am   - Bear Naked granola (1 serving)
11:30am - My Super Bowl day splurge: organic cream cheese w/ Tastefully Simple Salsa (just add the seasoning to a can of organic diced tomatoes! Quick&Clean!!) and tortilla chips. My splurge was 10 chips w/ the cream cheese/salsa mix :)
12:30pm -  Leftover BBQ tofu from dinner last night
3:30pm   -  Banana w/ peanut butter and granola sprinkled on it
5:30pm   - "Dessert" for dinner. My all time favorite meal! 
(1) Make a balsamic vinegar reduction (google it if you've never done it before!). (2) Toss strawberries in the balsamic reduction. (3) Spread coconut oil on 1 side of 2 pieces  of Ezekiel bread. (4) Spread goat cheese on the opposite side of each slice. (5) Put strawberries on top of the goat cheese. (6) Put slices together and grill like a grilled cheese sandwich on a griddle. (7) Eat (8) Feel like you have died and gone to heaven!
6:00pm   - EXERCISE: 11 minutes of BeFit Lower Body Workout. 14 minutes of BeFit 24 Day Fat Burn.5 minutes of stretching. **If you think that you don't have time to workout, or that you need a gym membership to do so, that's not true! There are a ton of workout videos available online. My workout today was from looking up Lionsgate BeFit on YouTube. You will get your heart rate up and break a sweat! There is also a great phone app called Nike Training that will give you daily circuit training exercises.
             

Cleaning Out My Pantry

Welcome to my blog!

I am starting this blog for many reasons. First and foremost, to take you on my journey to living a healthier, cleaner lifestyle and hopefully inspire others to live a healthier life. Secondly, for you to inspire me and share your stories, recipes, and favorite workouts! And finally, to relieve my Facebook friends of my more than long daily posts.  :)

The title of this blog can be taken literally and figuratively, because I am cleaning out my pantry in more ways than one!

I will use this blog to post my daily eatings (right now for my own accountability and for others that are more experienced and knowledgeable to give me feedback, but hopefully in the future these posts can be menu ideas for others who want to take this journey with me.)

I will post many clean recipes, articles, advice, and also opinions about the benefits of living clean.

I hope this will become interactive and that you will find useful information here. Please feel free to offer your advice, comments, and feeback!

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jen

Facebook "Did You Know" Archives

For those of you on my Facebook page, you have already seen these "Did you know?"s, but I wanted to bring them over here to have them documented.

A lesson on coconut oil.
I use coconut oil as a butter substitute in almost all my cooking. Here are just a few of the health benefits of coconut oil: 

• Studies have show that intake of coconut oil can help our bodies mount resistance to both viruses and bacteria that can cause illness. 
• It can help to fight off yeast, fungus and candida.
• Great for thyroid and blood-sugar control. 
• Can boost thyroid function helping to increase metabolism, energy and endurance. 
• Increases digestion and helps to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. 
• Read more here  and here.

A lesson on avocados.
Avocados are a SuperVeggy that help:

• Maintain a healthy heart
• Lower cholesterol levels
• Control blood pressure
• Promote eye health
• Regulate blood sugar levels
• Prevent birth defects
• Reduce stroke risk
• Protect against cancer
• And they even contain anti-aging properties!! Winner winner!
• Read about more benefits here.

Did You Know?

Chia seeds boost fiber, protein, calcium, antioxidants, and omega-3s in your diet! 

Flaxseed may reduce risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease lung disease, and diabetes. They can also lower cholesterol! What magical little seeds 
Read more on WebMD!
These seeds are great in shakes, baked good, or even sprinkled on oatmeal or cereal!