Eat Clean Diet (Lifestyle)

I never did try this, but I heard it works! I got this magazine clean living or something, and it was in Oxygen Mag in August 2008. Good luck, I hope it works out for you!

You don't necessarily have to follow a particular diet that's been written up by some "expert" when it comes to eating "clean". One easy way to take some baby steps - any maybe get some buy-in from the Mr. is to start eliminating some of the processed foods in your diet & start cooking more at home. For example, stop buying pre-packaged soups and instead cook them yourself from wholesome veggies, whole grains, & low sodium chicken, beef or vegetable stock. Eliminate excess salt and sugar from your cooking, too. You may think you'll notice a difference, but chances are you won't even notice the salt & sugar are gone.

Find a few items that you'd like to swap out each week and it'll be a more manageable process. If you try to do a complete kitchen overhaul in one weekend, you'll get overwhelmed and more likely than not, go back to your old habits because they're "easier".

I LOVE eating clean and I have the same problem with my BF and his eating. He loves to eat and I couldn't convince him to start eating healthier. So, I started to cook more and all of my recipes were "clean." I haven't heard any complaints from him yet. He likes the food and doesn't even realize that they are designed to be clean and healthy. I like the advice above about eliminating processed foods little by little though. And you don't necessarily have to give up carbs, they just have to be the right ones. There are great breads from French Meadow and Ezekiel that you can have and there are a lot of ways to have potatoes or like vegetables in the meal plan. I understand about not following an expert, but I really do recommend Tosca Reno's clean eating book. It has a ton of recipes in it along with some practical advice.

It sounds like you've got some great advice so far. Here's my "two cents":
Eating "clean" is really the only way to go (in my opinion)...It's okay to have processed food here and there on special occasions but as long as you don't make it a habit, you're on the right track. It's tough to make the switch in the beginning because it seems like EVERYTHING is processed these days and it seems sooo much easier to just grab something already "made". However, you'll find better alternatives out there and realize they taste great! Once you make the switch, you'll realize you "feel" so much better even though you may not feel like you feel bad now. You will find that you eat less as well since processed foods are actually addictive and you will want to eat more, more, more and never feel satisfied until you've blown past your daily cal (& sodium/fat/sugar) allowences.

You'll want to strive to eat this way for life so it's important that you devise a way to stick w/it. As others have posted, try to make some switches every week and try to enjoy yourself and your choices. Little by little, you'll find it's not only working but you'll never want to go back. I hope this helps. :happy: GOOD LUCK!

I have this book and have been trying to incorporate these changes into my routine over the past year or so. It's definitely a long process and I think it's unrealistic (for most people) to try to change everything at once. I started small, just having a piece of fruit instead of a granola bar for a snack, making oatmeal instead of having cereal in the mornings, etc. I'd say I'm about 80% there -- and I doubt I'll ever be 100%, there are a few snacks (and glasses of wine!) that are just too good to give up forever. So I think I'm doing pretty well.

There's also the Eat Clean magazine which I really like. One of the things they always have is a 2-week eating plan you can follow -- I decided to do it for the next two weeks and blog about it. I'm posting lots of pictures and stuff if you're interested. Link is in my signature -- sorry, not trying to be 'spammy' just thought you might be interested to see what I'm eating.

I received an email from her once, she doesnt count calories, she says as long as you eat clean, you can change your life.

Portion control is still important, though. I think Tosca probably has a pretty good idea of how much she should be eating on a daily basis and that comes with practice. Unfortunately, I still need to learn since I have been eating clean for years and 20 lbs still managed to sneak back on! A meal can be totally, deliciously "clean" but if you eat 3x more than you should, it is still going to make you fat or prevent you from losing weight.