Clean Eating

New Obsession

on 2 Comments on New Obsession

Thanks to a tip from Mallory in response to my Tuesday Tell-All plea for someone to explain “clean eating” to me, I have now found my latest obsession.

You see, when I get interested in something, I don’t get just a little interested–I tend to need to know everything I possibly can, and right now. So when Mallory pointed me to the blog “100 Days of Real Food,” I couldn’t help myself–I’ve seemingly gone through half the site already. And I’m pretty much sold: I want my next challenge to be something to do with clean eating.

However, I recognize that the week before I’m about to go on vacation is probably not the best time to start doing a major diet overhaul. But, I think that I’ll need a little time to prep myself anyway for this change, so these few weeks will provide me some solid time to get my bearings before I jump in headfirst to this (hopefully) new lifestyle change.

But, because I’m so excited and all, I want to at least share a little tidbit with you from this site to maybe get some of your thoughts on this.

The information below is taken directly from the 100 Days of Real Food site, which you definitely need to check out.

What you CAN eat:

  1. Whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry
  2. Lots of fruits and vegetables 
  3. Dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and cheese
  4. 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains 
  5. Seafood 
  6. Only locally raised meats such as pork, beef, and chicken
  7. Beverages limited to water, milk, all natural juices
  8. Snacks like dried fruit, seeds, nuts and popcorn
  9. All natural sweeteners including honey, 100% maple syrup, and fruit juice concentrates are acceptable in moderation

What you CANNOT eat:

  1. No refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat…not just “wheat”)
  2. No refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff like Splenda
  3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label
  4. No deep fried foods
  5. No “fast foods”

Even though some parts of this will come naturally due to the changes I’ve been trying to make to my diet over the last two years, I know that this “clean eating” will definitely be a challenge. Luckily, I have a friend that hasn’t eaten any processed food or refined sugar since she was ten, and I also have a current itch to lose a few pounds before swimsuit season, so it looks like a win-win. 

What are your thoughts on eating clean? Have you ever tried anything like this?