So I wanted to tell you about some changes that I'm making to get healthier. Mostly to hold myself accountable. But also because I'm getting a lot of questions and I figured I could explain things better here. And, because I know that there are probably some of you out there that are exactly where I was, stuck in your ways and not caring too much about changing habits. I'm not trying to persuade you to change. I just want to say that I was right there.
When it came to anything health and food related, I would say I was just simply uneducated and didn't care all that much to be educated. I didn't care what I was eating, as long as it tasted good. I do like to workout. But I can count on one hand the number of months I've consistently worked out in the last 10 years. I got in a 3-4 month routine of going to the gym last year, and I felt AMAZING and saw some changes in my body. But 1-2 hours at the gym every night just wasn't feasible to continue for the long haul. The phase wore off. That workout phase was the first time since college I had done much, other than train for 3 weeks one time for a 5K. And with that phase, for the first time I actually wanted to eat better. I was working hard to look decent in my swim suit for our 2 vacations last year. And when I work out, I am motivated to eat the right foods. The minute I stopped working out, I started eating crap again.
I wasn't really finding anything that would work for me, exercise or diet, for more than a short period. Everything always wore off eventually. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that.
This year started a new journey to become healthier. At the beginning of the year I attended an essential oils and clean eating class. Both of which left an impact on me and nudged me into changes. Before this, I hadn't really heard the term "clean eating" all that much. Mostly because I didn't care. I had my stubborn opinions about food. But to put it simply, this is what has stuck with me...
"80% of the way we feel has to do with the food that we eat".
Hmmm?? Well I know I don't feel the best most of the time. I don't ever feel like I have much energy. I seem to get sick pretty easily. And we just finished the worst winter ever with sickness in our home. Now, I realize that could be our stage of life. Little kids who are in nurseries and preschool classes, and who bring all the yucky germs home. I realize it may not all be in my control and that we could take every precaution possible and still get sick. But, I am willing to do what I can with what is in my control. And then ultimately, I'm ready to not only feel better, but also feel better about myself. It's no fun at all feeling like a frumpy mom, trying to hide her body all the time because of baby weight that I've been dragging around for several years. And let's be real...wearing a spanx cami every single day of my life is just no fun. And when it's 100 degrees outside, it's pretty much miserable.
So here's the deal on clean eating...
Everyone you talk to may give a different explanation. Some forms of it are pretty extreme, and cut out things like dairy and meat completely. And clean eating is not the same as paleo. Some versions include only eating fresh picked produce (which means you better have the ability to grow all your own food). I'm totally fine buying my food at the store.
What I like about clean eating is that to an extent, you make up the rules that work for you and you are comfortable with, but the basics are always the same. And it's not a crash diet. And I don't want a diet that makes grocery shopping impossible. I pretty much never leave this town to get groceries, so I need to be able to get everything here locally, and I'm finding that to be completely doable. It's not meant to be something you just do for a short time. It's more about a lifestyle change than a diet. That's great for me. I don't want a diet that I end up quitting after a month or so and then go straight back to where I was.
Based on my cooking, grocery shopping and eating habits, I was in need of a lifestyle change.
I don't feel like I have to commit to "all clean, all the time". I'm not going to stress out on holidays and times I'm out with friends. And realistically, even at home, things are not going to be 100% clean. But what I've noticed already, in the last 6 months is that I think differently about food. When I'm eating the yucky stuff, but the oh so good stuff, I think about it. I know it's not good for me, I know I can't fall into a habit of it. These are not things I used to think about. When I grocery shop I automatically read every label. I can't even help it anymore. I don't care about the nutritional facts. I just care about what's in my food. If the list is long, with a ton of things that I can't even pronounce, I know it's overly processed and full of things I don't need nor want in my body, or my kids' bodies.
Once I started educating myself and actually learned what that extra stuff in our foods does to us, it was hard to ignore it. It’s scary to look at an ingredient list and realize you wouldn’t want to breathe in or touch most of the chemicals listed.
Clean eating for us is eating whole foods as close to their natural state as possible. It's stopping myself from grabbing all the convenience foods and just making things myself when I can (like salad dressings, sauces, using my own seasonings, etc). It's been about changing some of the things we used on a regular basis to the cleaner version. And about not eating out so much. They aren't changes that are just going to last a short time, they are changes that will continue. I really felt like this was a good explanation for me...
So Monday I'm starting a 90 day clean eating challenge. I'm participating in the challenge with about 200 other people, all placed on teams for accountability and support from a handful of different states. The challenge includes coaches available to answer questions and help us learn how to do this, including a doctor specializing in natural and functional medicine and clinical nutrition, clean eating classes, and a community of support to help us keep going.
I was scared to commit, I really was. And I almost didn't do it. 90 days is a long time. It would have been a no brainer had it been 30 days. But what I realized is that 90 days will help change habits, and not just pick up changes that will last a month and then fall back into old routine. 90 days is enough time to see huge changes to overall health, when 30 days is about the length of time someone may barely begin to see changes. After 90 days, I will know how awful I felt before. It will give me the chance to 100% prove to myself how food affects my body and the way I feel. That's what I need. I need the proof. Weight loss isn't the #1 goal with clean eating. But those that have been a part of the challenge before have definitely dropped major poundage.
I'm not going into this cold turkey. There is actually no way I would be able to do that. We've been eating much much cleaner since January. And guess what!?! If we want to simply make this about weight loss (which it is actually way more than that), I'll tell you that I am about 8 pounds lighter than I have been for years. Last year, even when I was working out, my body changed, which was great, but the pounds didn't seem to go anywhere. I completely contribute the number on the scale right now to the changes I've made in my food since the new year. No calorie counting, no crash diet. Just eating cleaner. And that's without adding the workouts in. I've only started working out again in the last 5 weeks. So I'm super pumped to see where I can get when I have both the food and the exercise going for me!
So I've had about 6 months to baby step into this. Baby steps is what I need. We slowly switched our white rice and pasta for brown. We slowly stopped using the cheap maple syrup and brown sugar in our oatmeal and switched to honey or real maple syrup or no sweetener at all. We slowly stopped opening the cupboard to look for snacks, and instead are learning to grab fruit and other healthier snack options. We slowly began putting more veggies on our plates. I am NOT a veggie eater, so this has been a challenge. I stopped drinking pop at Easter and hardly even think about it anymore. And we very very slowly transitioned off cereal (even the "healthy" stuff is full of sugar), something I honestly didn't think my kids could do. Next question everyone asks...what in the world do your kids eat for breakfast then? We eat eggs, oatmeal and smoothies. That's pretty much it. On weekends, every once in a while I'll make whole wheat pancakes. I would have said you were crazy to think I could get my kids off cereal, they ate it every morning and pretty much every night for a bedtime snack. But they did it! And it's really been so neat to watch them learn to make better food choices and take pride in the choices they make.
I am the only one in my family 100% committed to the 90 day challenge. I know there are going to be times I'm just not going to be able to keep it clean for everyone all the time. But because we've been working to this point anyway, they know they challenge is coming, they know they will be participating too, and they are all for it. They just begged to have more cheats than the 2 cheat meals I get each week.
We'll have several trips during this challenge and I just told myself I'm not going to stress. If I don't have good point days during those trips, it's ok. But getting back on track when I get home is what will matter. I'll fail some days I'm sure. But my goal is to start each new day fresh, do better than I did the day before. This if for the long-haul, not just something trendy and short-lived.
After the challenge is over, I know I won't be as hard core as I will have been for the challenge. We need cheat meals, treats, even cheat weeks. But I have a feeling after experiencing the results of eating clean, it will be hard to go back.
It's crazy the responses I've gotten already as I've approached this challenge. Some people think it's crazy. They roll their eyes. But that's okay. I probably would have been one of them a year ago. Some people don't get it, don't understand the whys. That would have been me too. Some people automatically define it as impossible. I would have felt the same way had I not taken the last 6 months to slowly get us here. And some have just wondered why not just eat clean on my own, why participate on a team, in a challenge. I have been mostly eating clean on my own for the last 6 months. But for me, the team, the points, the support, the extra education, and motivation of a challenge is what will help me go ALL IN. And going ALL IN means I'll get to experience all of the results that I don't necessarily experience when I'm just "mostly" eating clean.
I want to know what feeling good really feels like. It seems like we just learn to cope with the way we feel sometimes. We think it's normal. We don't realize how low on energy we are until we experience what energy really feels like. We don't realize how bogged down our immune systems are until we strengthen it. And we don't realize how many health issues we deal with on a regular basis that are completely connected to the foods we eat. I'm ready to care about it all, and I'm ready to make changes.
I'm ready. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. I have friends doing it along, which I know will help so much!
Week one starts off with a 5 day "raw" challenge. I'll tell you more about that soon.
If you have questions, feel free to leave them for me!
The countdown is on...3 days to go.
"80% of the way we feel has to do with the food that we eat".
Hmmm?? Well I know I don't feel the best most of the time. I don't ever feel like I have much energy. I seem to get sick pretty easily. And we just finished the worst winter ever with sickness in our home. Now, I realize that could be our stage of life. Little kids who are in nurseries and preschool classes, and who bring all the yucky germs home. I realize it may not all be in my control and that we could take every precaution possible and still get sick. But, I am willing to do what I can with what is in my control. And then ultimately, I'm ready to not only feel better, but also feel better about myself. It's no fun at all feeling like a frumpy mom, trying to hide her body all the time because of baby weight that I've been dragging around for several years. And let's be real...wearing a spanx cami every single day of my life is just no fun. And when it's 100 degrees outside, it's pretty much miserable.
So here's the deal on clean eating...
Everyone you talk to may give a different explanation. Some forms of it are pretty extreme, and cut out things like dairy and meat completely. And clean eating is not the same as paleo. Some versions include only eating fresh picked produce (which means you better have the ability to grow all your own food). I'm totally fine buying my food at the store.
What I like about clean eating is that to an extent, you make up the rules that work for you and you are comfortable with, but the basics are always the same. And it's not a crash diet. And I don't want a diet that makes grocery shopping impossible. I pretty much never leave this town to get groceries, so I need to be able to get everything here locally, and I'm finding that to be completely doable. It's not meant to be something you just do for a short time. It's more about a lifestyle change than a diet. That's great for me. I don't want a diet that I end up quitting after a month or so and then go straight back to where I was.
Based on my cooking, grocery shopping and eating habits, I was in need of a lifestyle change.
I don't feel like I have to commit to "all clean, all the time". I'm not going to stress out on holidays and times I'm out with friends. And realistically, even at home, things are not going to be 100% clean. But what I've noticed already, in the last 6 months is that I think differently about food. When I'm eating the yucky stuff, but the oh so good stuff, I think about it. I know it's not good for me, I know I can't fall into a habit of it. These are not things I used to think about. When I grocery shop I automatically read every label. I can't even help it anymore. I don't care about the nutritional facts. I just care about what's in my food. If the list is long, with a ton of things that I can't even pronounce, I know it's overly processed and full of things I don't need nor want in my body, or my kids' bodies.
Once I started educating myself and actually learned what that extra stuff in our foods does to us, it was hard to ignore it. It’s scary to look at an ingredient list and realize you wouldn’t want to breathe in or touch most of the chemicals listed.
Clean eating for us is eating whole foods as close to their natural state as possible. It's stopping myself from grabbing all the convenience foods and just making things myself when I can (like salad dressings, sauces, using my own seasonings, etc). It's been about changing some of the things we used on a regular basis to the cleaner version. And about not eating out so much. They aren't changes that are just going to last a short time, they are changes that will continue. I really felt like this was a good explanation for me...
So Monday I'm starting a 90 day clean eating challenge. I'm participating in the challenge with about 200 other people, all placed on teams for accountability and support from a handful of different states. The challenge includes coaches available to answer questions and help us learn how to do this, including a doctor specializing in natural and functional medicine and clinical nutrition, clean eating classes, and a community of support to help us keep going.
I was scared to commit, I really was. And I almost didn't do it. 90 days is a long time. It would have been a no brainer had it been 30 days. But what I realized is that 90 days will help change habits, and not just pick up changes that will last a month and then fall back into old routine. 90 days is enough time to see huge changes to overall health, when 30 days is about the length of time someone may barely begin to see changes. After 90 days, I will know how awful I felt before. It will give me the chance to 100% prove to myself how food affects my body and the way I feel. That's what I need. I need the proof. Weight loss isn't the #1 goal with clean eating. But those that have been a part of the challenge before have definitely dropped major poundage.
I'm not going into this cold turkey. There is actually no way I would be able to do that. We've been eating much much cleaner since January. And guess what!?! If we want to simply make this about weight loss (which it is actually way more than that), I'll tell you that I am about 8 pounds lighter than I have been for years. Last year, even when I was working out, my body changed, which was great, but the pounds didn't seem to go anywhere. I completely contribute the number on the scale right now to the changes I've made in my food since the new year. No calorie counting, no crash diet. Just eating cleaner. And that's without adding the workouts in. I've only started working out again in the last 5 weeks. So I'm super pumped to see where I can get when I have both the food and the exercise going for me!
So I've had about 6 months to baby step into this. Baby steps is what I need. We slowly switched our white rice and pasta for brown. We slowly stopped using the cheap maple syrup and brown sugar in our oatmeal and switched to honey or real maple syrup or no sweetener at all. We slowly stopped opening the cupboard to look for snacks, and instead are learning to grab fruit and other healthier snack options. We slowly began putting more veggies on our plates. I am NOT a veggie eater, so this has been a challenge. I stopped drinking pop at Easter and hardly even think about it anymore. And we very very slowly transitioned off cereal (even the "healthy" stuff is full of sugar), something I honestly didn't think my kids could do. Next question everyone asks...what in the world do your kids eat for breakfast then? We eat eggs, oatmeal and smoothies. That's pretty much it. On weekends, every once in a while I'll make whole wheat pancakes. I would have said you were crazy to think I could get my kids off cereal, they ate it every morning and pretty much every night for a bedtime snack. But they did it! And it's really been so neat to watch them learn to make better food choices and take pride in the choices they make.
I am the only one in my family 100% committed to the 90 day challenge. I know there are going to be times I'm just not going to be able to keep it clean for everyone all the time. But because we've been working to this point anyway, they know they challenge is coming, they know they will be participating too, and they are all for it. They just begged to have more cheats than the 2 cheat meals I get each week.
We'll have several trips during this challenge and I just told myself I'm not going to stress. If I don't have good point days during those trips, it's ok. But getting back on track when I get home is what will matter. I'll fail some days I'm sure. But my goal is to start each new day fresh, do better than I did the day before. This if for the long-haul, not just something trendy and short-lived.
After the challenge is over, I know I won't be as hard core as I will have been for the challenge. We need cheat meals, treats, even cheat weeks. But I have a feeling after experiencing the results of eating clean, it will be hard to go back.
It's crazy the responses I've gotten already as I've approached this challenge. Some people think it's crazy. They roll their eyes. But that's okay. I probably would have been one of them a year ago. Some people don't get it, don't understand the whys. That would have been me too. Some people automatically define it as impossible. I would have felt the same way had I not taken the last 6 months to slowly get us here. And some have just wondered why not just eat clean on my own, why participate on a team, in a challenge. I have been mostly eating clean on my own for the last 6 months. But for me, the team, the points, the support, the extra education, and motivation of a challenge is what will help me go ALL IN. And going ALL IN means I'll get to experience all of the results that I don't necessarily experience when I'm just "mostly" eating clean.
I want to know what feeling good really feels like. It seems like we just learn to cope with the way we feel sometimes. We think it's normal. We don't realize how low on energy we are until we experience what energy really feels like. We don't realize how bogged down our immune systems are until we strengthen it. And we don't realize how many health issues we deal with on a regular basis that are completely connected to the foods we eat. I'm ready to care about it all, and I'm ready to make changes.
I'm ready. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. I have friends doing it along, which I know will help so much!
Week one starts off with a 5 day "raw" challenge. I'll tell you more about that soon.
If you have questions, feel free to leave them for me!
The countdown is on...3 days to go.
1 comment:
Thank you for posting this!! Everything you are doing has been on my never ending list of things to do list...so thank you for simplifying this process for me. I have been back to this page many times as a reference..thank you for your information and summary!! I appreciate it so much!!
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