eating clean... too much fruit?

julies90

:bigsmile: I'm trying my best to eat clean. I've run into a few problems.. 1 being that I have a hard time finding enough of a variety of food and 2, filling up even 1200 calories a day is hard! I'm also avoiding wheat as a month long experiment. Anyways, I'm wondering if I'm eating too much fruit. Here's a sample day for me: Breakfast: Banana with Tbs of natural peanut butter. Snack: small orange with carrots and celery. Lunch: two hard boiled eggs with cashew nuts and goat cheese. Snack: nectarine and tomatoes. Dinner: chicken stirfry with broccoli, onions, peanuts and a bit of oil. I might have something else later too. ITS SO HARD to eat enough! Any thoughts? Thanks .

WBB55

Solution:
Banana with TWO tbs of PB
orange w/carrots and celery AND homemade ranch dressing
eggs w/ MORE cahews and MORE cheese
nectarine and tomatoes AND avocado
stirfry with vegies, MORE peanuts and MORE oil

megzboo

You could add a bit more protein to your snacks while still keeping it clean and balanced. Extra protein will add a few more calories into your day and help you maintain fullness. Fruit is good but it's still a fructose (sugar)- sounds like you keep it in the earlier part of your day though so you should still be on track :happy:

travlinjess

From my experience eating 'clean' the past 4 months, I don't think you're eating too much fruit!

Like you, I struggled meeting 1200 calories...but have found ways to increase it to 1350, and even up to 1500 since I eat half my exercise cals back.

For breakfast, I also eat a small-med banana with natural peanut butter. I slice it lengthwise, spread 2 tbsp, sandwich it together, and then drizzle 1 tsp of local honey over it. YUM, it's my go-to breakfast and I love it. So we're similar there.

As already mentioned, the extra tbsp of PB will help with the cals, and I've added 3/4 glass of skim milk to my breakfast which also helps. I still eat some dairy, whether considered clean or not...I'm in Portugal/EU, so the food and produce seem to meet higher standards than in the States anyways.

Throughout the rest of the day, I'll eat 1 apple, 1-2 clementines, or possibly some melon or another fruit. So I typically have 3 servings of fruit per day. I might go over a bit on carbs/sugars from time to time, but I know they are coming from healthy sources, so I don't stress over it.

As for the rest of your day, it sounds delicious! Something you could add is quinoa...1/2 cup cooked will add in some healthy calories. Lots of resources and recipes using quinoa out there. I also add in beans to salads, stir-frys, etc..to up calories, fiber, and protein. I slow-cook dry beans instead of using canned.

Hope this helps!