Need help with clean eating...

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BlueEyedGirl2013
BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I get the jist of clean eating. My problem is Im not very creative when it comes to putting meals together. So Im looking for somewhat simple meals. I do not like any fish (except tuna lol)

Any help is appreciated.

I have been fighting this losing/gaining battle for far too long. It's time for me to get serious and stick with it. Not only to make myself feel better but to be healthy and to be a role model for my family as well.
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  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-kickstart-plan/

    Here's a really helpful site I use, had another one but can't find it at the moment.
  • squishybarb
    squishybarb Posts: 72 Member
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    I am a lot like you. I am not creative in the food department, and to be completely honest, I SUCK at cooking. Seriously. I take after my mother. My fiance gave her food the nickname "desert ______" desert burgers, desert lasagna, etc. Everything she makes is so overcooked its dry as a bone or burnt. :laugh:

    I try to eat relatively clean, too.. But my all-time favorite clean food is brown rice. Oh man, the things you can do with rice! :love:
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    "Clean" eating isn't going to make you lose weight. The "clean" food has calories just like everything else and you can over eat just as easily following the elusive clean diet. There's no reason to demonize any foods. It's great to cut back on eating a lot of highly processed foods for health in general but it isn't the secret to weight loss.
  • iechick
    iechick Posts: 352 Member
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    I eat a mostly whole foods, plant based diet which is around 80-90% 'clean.' I'm in maintenance and no longer track calories-here's the format I follow most days

    -green smoothie with two veggies (usually kale and spinach), chia or hemp seeds, and then 2-3 fruit (1/2 cup blueberries, a banana etc)

    -large dinner plate sized salad, usually loaded with veggies, ground flax seed, mushrooms and black olives. Sometimes I'll add refried beans to make it a vegetarian taco salad

    -a whole grain with add ins. I usually alternate between brown rice with veggies and mushrooms, oatmeal with seeds, nuts, dried fruit and then occasionally I'll do pearled barley, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat pita stuffed with veggies etc.

    Snacks are not an every day thing, but when I do want something it's usually a homemade muffin or cookie. I also like a small plate of olives and almonds.

    That's 80-90% of what I eat-the other 10-20% is fast food, meat and dairy and then non-whole foods like pretzels, regular ranch dressing on my salads, croutons etc.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    I eat a mostly whole foods, plant based diet which is around 80-90% 'clean.' I'm in maintenance and no longer track calories-here's the format I follow most days

    -green smoothie with two veggies (usually kale and spinach), chia or hemp seeds, and then 2-3 fruit (1/2 cup blueberries, a banana etc)

    -large dinner plate sized salad, usually loaded with veggies, ground flax seed, mushrooms and black olives. Sometimes I'll add refried beans to make it a vegetarian taco salad

    -a whole grain with add ins. I usually alternate between brown rice with veggies and mushrooms, oatmeal with seeds, nuts, dried fruit and then occasionally I'll do pearled barley, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat pita stuffed with veggies etc.

    Snacks are not an every day thing, but when I do want something it's usually a homemade muffin or cookie. I also like a small plate of olives and almonds.

    That's 80-90% of what I eat-the other 10-20% is fast food, meat and dairy and then non-whole foods like pretzels, regular ranch dressing on my salads, croutons etc.
    :flowerforyou: Love that you shared all this, so appreciative.. Thank You! I'll most definitely be incorporating more of your creativity into my meal plans.:drinker:
  • aling01
    aling01 Posts: 163
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    I usually start eating clean by removing grains (as I've noticed that I'm sensitive when I consume them) and sugar.

    My food is usually the same for the whole week so I don't have to think.

    Breakfast is usually 3 whole eggs, uncured bacon, cheese and whatever veggies I throw in.

    Snacks range from fruits + protein (usually a fruit and cheese) or plain full fat greek yogurt (mixed with 2 packet of stevia, strawberries and dark chocolate chip)

    I'm not creative either but I've been making an effort in looking up recipes and been trying to cook a variety of food with pork, chicken and beef.

    An easy recipe is mustard glazed chicken thights.

    I melt equal parts kerrygold butter and organic mustard, add sage, salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up and then brush them all over the chicken. Bake them in the oven at 375 degree for 45-50min and its yum!

    I also started doing crockpot so that way I dont really have to do anything except prep stuff.

    I've been finding lots of paleo recipe that are quite simple. Primal cravings, nom nom paleo, 100 days of real food, kia's fit fare, etc.
  • c7eat2live
    c7eat2live Posts: 308 Member
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    if you can invest, the Tone It Up nutrition plan is ammaaazziinnggggg. I used it a lot for recipes over the summer, so clean and green and lean and I felt awesome. I still use many of the recipes. Today my day was:

    breakfast: protein muffin (rice protein powder, otas, flax, carrots, peaches, banana, egg whites, etc) + half a chobani yogurt

    snack 1: banana

    lunch: split red lentils (cooked per the bag, from trader joes) and a cup of organic wild rice

    snack 2: scoop of protein in almond milk

    dinner: probably black beans, avocado, feta and nutritional yeast, maybe some quinoa.

    My diet varies a lot. But I try to make the healthiest choices possible, and I am NOT a salad lover, so you will almost never see one in my diary. I adore green smoothies though. I feel my best digestively and energetically when I eat minimally processed, wheat and sugar.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
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    It may help to use some cookbooks to find new recipes :) this is really how I got started eating cleaner
  • darkangel45422
    darkangel45422 Posts: 234 Member
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    "Clean" eating isn't going to make you lose weight. The "clean" food has calories just like everything else and you can over eat just as easily following the elusive clean diet. There's no reason to demonize any foods. It's great to cut back on eating a lot of highly processed foods for health in general but it isn't the secret to weight loss.

    Actually a lot of people find it helpful since processed foods tend to carry a lot more empty calories, making you want to eat more because you haven't gotten any nutrition out of the crap foods. It's kind of the difference between eating 1200 calories of Eggos, McDonalds and takeout Chinese food vs. 1200 calories of salads, omelettes and stir fries. You'll get a lot more filling food for the clean stuff.

    But you are right in theory; if you overeat clean food you will probably still not lose weight. But there's a difference between demonizing foods and choosing not to eat things that aren't healthy for you. Processed foods are not as healthy as clean foods, so why discourage someone from improving their diet? Even if it doesn't result in weight loss it's still going to be a step closer to better overall health because you're no longer ingesting a crap ton of additives along with your food.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    go and get yourself a couple of cookbooks...
  • nerge
    nerge Posts: 52 Member
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    I love this website http://thefitnessrecipes.com/ it's so cool and has some amazing recipes for things like pizza and brownies so you still feel like you're cheating but when you look at the ingredients you're not. I am finding that you just have to look for healthy options of what you already eat and then the next step is seeing how much u can eat to stay in your calorie goal. Make changes you can sustain and that fit into your life and you'll do great! Happy cooking!!
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    Options
    "Clean" eating isn't going to make you lose weight. The "clean" food has calories just like everything else and you can over eat just as easily following the elusive clean diet. There's no reason to demonize any foods. It's great to cut back on eating a lot of highly processed foods for health in general but it isn't the secret to weight loss.

    Actually a lot of people find it helpful since processed foods tend to carry a lot more empty calories, making you want to eat more because you haven't gotten any nutrition out of the crap foods. It's kind of the difference between eating 1200 calories of Eggos, McDonalds and takeout Chinese food vs. 1200 calories of salads, omelettes and stir fries. You'll get a lot more filling food for the clean stuff.

    But you are right in theory; if you overeat clean food you will probably still not lose weight. But there's a difference between demonizing foods and choosing not to eat things that aren't healthy for you. Processed foods are not as healthy as clean foods, so why discourage someone from improving their diet? Even if it doesn't result in weight loss it's still going to be a step closer to better overall health because you're no longer ingesting a crap ton of additives along with your food.
    love your response, so very true!

    It's not the healthy food I binge on but the junk so it's easier for me to stay away from it or as nerge shared above..alter the recipe to make it healthy and tasty! Enjoy it and realize your body loves you for taking such good care of it.:heart::drinker:
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
    Options
    "Clean" eating isn't going to make you lose weight. The "clean" food has calories just like everything else and you can over eat just as easily following the elusive clean diet. There's no reason to demonize any foods. It's great to cut back on eating a lot of highly processed foods for health in general but it isn't the secret to weight loss.

    Actually a lot of people find it helpful since processed foods tend to carry a lot more empty calories, making you want to eat more because you haven't gotten any nutrition out of the crap foods. It's kind of the difference between eating 1200 calories of Eggos, McDonalds and takeout Chinese food vs. 1200 calories of salads, omelettes and stir fries. You'll get a lot more filling food for the clean stuff.

    But you are right in theory; if you overeat clean food you will probably still not lose weight. But there's a difference between demonizing foods and choosing not to eat things that aren't healthy for you. Processed foods are not as healthy as clean foods, so why discourage someone from improving their diet? Even if it doesn't result in weight loss it's still going to be a step closer to better overall health because you're no longer ingesting a crap ton of additives along with your food.
    Can you provide a scientific backing for your claim that "processed" foods (whatever that means - all food is processed unless you grow it in your own backyard) is "healthier" (whatever THAT means too) for you than "clean" food? I'm legit curious.

    BTW I've seen raw vegan cheesecake that is 1300+ calories per slice. Totally "clean" and organic, too. The post above is nonsense as per usual when people start getting sanctimonious about the creepy arbitrary value judgments they're attaching to their foods.
  • tmpecus78
    tmpecus78 Posts: 1,206 Member
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    Eating slow called "clean" will not make you lose the extra weight. Being at a caloric deficit will.
  • tmpecus78
    tmpecus78 Posts: 1,206 Member
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    Actually a lot of people find it helpful since processed foods tend to carry a lot more empty calories, making you want to eat more because you haven't gotten any nutrition out of the crap foods. It's kind of the difference between eating 1200 calories of Eggos, McDonalds and takeout Chinese food vs. 1200 calories of salads, omelettes and stir fries. You'll get a lot more filling food for the clean stuff.

    But you are right in theory; if you overeat clean food you will probably still not lose weight. But there's a difference between demonizing foods and choosing not to eat things that aren't healthy for you. Processed foods are not as healthy as clean foods, so why discourage someone from improving their diet? Even if it doesn't result in weight loss it's still going to be a step closer to better overall health because you're no longer ingesting a crap ton of additives along with your food.

    Great bro science.
  • BlueEyedGirl2013
    BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
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    Eating slow called "clean" will not make you lose the extra weight. Being at a caloric deficit will.

    I plan to do both (:
  • BlueEyedGirl2013
    BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
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    I love this website http://thefitnessrecipes.com/ it's so cool and has some amazing recipes for things like pizza and brownies so you still feel like you're cheating but when you look at the ingredients you're not. I am finding that you just have to look for healthy options of what you already eat and then the next step is seeing how much u can eat to stay in your calorie goal. Make changes you can sustain and that fit into your life and you'll do great! Happy cooking!!

    TY I will check it out (:
  • BlueEyedGirl2013
    BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
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    go and get yourself a couple of cookbooks...

    I've been finding websites with great recipes but ty.
  • BlueEyedGirl2013
    BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
    Options
    "Clean" eating isn't going to make you lose weight. The "clean" food has calories just like everything else and you can over eat just as easily following the elusive clean diet. There's no reason to demonize any foods. It's great to cut back on eating a lot of highly processed foods for health in general but it isn't the secret to weight loss.

    I get that. Thats why Im on here "counting calories" and try to eat healthier instead of all the processed / fast food Im used to eating.
  • BlueEyedGirl2013
    BlueEyedGirl2013 Posts: 15 Member
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    I am a lot like you. I am not creative in the food department, and to be completely honest, I SUCK at cooking. Seriously. I take after my mother. My fiance gave her food the nickname "desert ______" desert burgers, desert lasagna, etc. Everything she makes is so overcooked its dry as a bone or burnt. :laugh:

    I try to eat relatively clean, too.. But my all-time favorite clean food is brown rice. Oh man, the things you can do with rice! :love:

    haha yep!
    I cooked up a bunch of brown rice so Id have it on hand in fridge. Also made sure to stock up on veggies and eggs (hard boiled eggs/"whites only")
    Just trying to take a different approach. Im tired of failing. Im desperate to shed these lbs and be healthier.

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