Clean Eating Club ~ February 2009

The crockpot is the BEST timesaver - EVER, hands down! Take from me as a FT working mother of three kiddos (4 if you count hubby). CP are not expensive - I got mine from costco for $40 and it is NICE. You can find them at thrift stores for cheaper. The best thing is you can throw just about anything in there, make your own soups, stews - whatever - and you have total control over sodium, etc. The night before I'll throw in a bunch of stuff, start it before leaving for work, and ta-da - dinner is ready when we get home.

As for baking turkey/chicken - just cover it with EVOO and aluminum foil, bake 20 minutes per pound on the weekend and you will have enough meat for lunches and soups for a long time. I do this maybe once a month. After you rip off the meat you want - put the carcass in the CP, fill with water and crock it for 6-8 hours, strain the water and toss the carcass, and pour the broth into a plastic baggie and let it sit for 10 minutes. You should see the fat rise to the top. Snip the bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth into a container, stopping when you get to the fat layer - toss the fat and you have your broth. You can put it back in the crockpot and make soup or freeze it for later use.

I love the CP too! I do a lot of recipes in there. I use the oven bags for cooking turkey/ chicken. I tend to forget to make turkeys except around holidays! :ohwell: Thanks for the reminder!

Molly K thanks for the crockpot tips and now I know what EVOO means ha ha. :laugh:

I have been doing really well at eating healthy. Last night I went to play poker with my friends like I do most Wednesday nights, but I skipped the customary beer and chips. I didn't even feel interested.

I've also been keeping up my strength training schedule and finally able to squeeze in some runs -- it always seems like I can fit in strength or cardio but not both! So I am working to fit both in and I actually lost a pound. Funny enough, I don't care so much about the number anymore because I really feel like the weight will take care of itself and come off, if I continue being healthy. I just feel so much better and lighter that I think, how could I not lose weight?!

I've been eating "healthier" for a long while, but I recently read Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle," and he makes such good arguments.

So I'm stepping things up a notch and slowly phasing most processed stuff out of my diet.

Is cottage cheese considered a clean food? 'Cuz I don't care how unclean it is, it stays!

BREAKFAST:
- 1/2 c oats (150)
- 1/2 c cottage cheese (100)
- 1/2 fuji apple (55)
- Green tea (0)
Total: 305

I've been eating "healthier" for a long while, but I recently read Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle," and he makes such good arguments.

So I'm stepping things up a notch and slowly phasing most processed stuff out of my diet.

Is cottage cheese considered a clean food? 'Cuz I don't care how unclean it is, it stays!

BREAKFAST:
- 1/2 c oats (150)
- 1/2 c cottage cheese (100)
- 1/2 fuji apple (55)
- Green tea (0)
Total: 305

Welcome!! I consider cottage cheese a clean food, so you're in good company here! :bigsmile: Cheryl here is doing BFFM also, I really would love to read it but don't have a printer so I haven't downloaded it. I've read a lot about it though! I'm also addicted to Fuji apples!!! :bigsmile:

Jess, I printed my copy of BFFM for $15 through the copy service that my office uses. (It was about half the price of Office Max.) I think you can find free downloads of the book online, too, although I paid for mine, and wouldn't feel right not doing so. I want to support everything Tom Venuto does. His book is definitely worth its price.

Yeah, I have seen that you can get it printed off at Kinko's or other places and I would definitely pay for the book first! I hope you feel better soon!

Jess

It only takes a day or two before I'm craving the healthy foods again. I really don't crave the junk anymore, but eat it mostly when I'm tired or stressed. I am still tired today, but I'm going on about six hours of sleep, rather than three! I'm getting back to my routine, minus the exercise. :ohwell: Hopefully I'll feel good enough to have a couple of really strong workouts this weekend.

On a positive note, my 9yo daughter told me I'm "skinny" last night after I lifted my shirt and exposed my abs (not on purpose, lol), and she said, "Don't lose anymore weight. You look good like you are." :flowerforyou: Very sweet. :happy: But she won't want to hear that I'm trying to put on more muscle, either, because she thinks that's gross. :laugh:

I hope everyone has a good day!

I'm glad that you're feeling better, Cheryl! As you can tell with me, I'm kind of an OCD type person, so I don't like to deviate from schedule. :laugh: Being sick makes it harder, I might eat something like canned soup or something higher in sodium, but I don't let it derail me. Thankfully I don't get sick often!!

YEAH for the comment from your dd. Very cute! My kiddos think muscle is awesome, they love having a strong Mom and do pushups and pullups with my dh & I. :bigsmile:

Cherapple, that's great that your daughter said you're skinny. How cute.

I have surprised myself lately by looking in the mirror and thinking, "you're skinny." I never used to do that. I also *feel* skinny... like when I'm driving in my car and I rest my arms near my rib cage, I'm like, woah, is this me?!

I'm not trying to brag, I have a long way to go, but it is just a rare sensation for me to feel this way. I always used to feel fat/bloated/discouraged. I think that the combination of my circuit training and my healthy eating is totally re-shaping me. The weird thing is, from running more than usual, my calves look *bigger* to me... it is harder to zip up my boots and I look down and think, "woah, big calves." I really don't want to get them too big but that just seems to be happening... at least they're the only things getting bigger. :laugh:

Last night I met some friends for dinner and we shared bruschetta and then I ate chili salmon, rice patty, and snow peas. I think I did pretty good but it's hard to know how many calories are in things made at a restaurant. I also ordered two glasses of white wine which is rare for me lately but I thought I deserved a splurge...

Workout done!

Breakfast:
1/2 c. multi grain hot cereal (130)
1/4 c. Fiber one (30)
1/2 scoop choc. protein powder (60)
1 T. NM PB (85) , 1 T. flax (30)
1/4 c. cottage cheese (40) = 375

That is so great!! That has been my struggle too. To really *see* myself as other people see me. I guess losing 70# it took me a long time to see myself as thin. I used to go shopping and grab clothes to try on in a bigger size thinking they wouldn't fit and they wouldn't... but because they were way too big! :laugh:

It's hard going out to eat. I always check chain restaurants for their nutritional info, but it varies from each location also! We don't eat out too often though, expensive w/ a family of 5!! :grumble:

I know. This is the first time I have *ever* felt thin but it's not even about thin, it's more about feeling like I am in good shape and I take good care of myself. I have only been doing this clean eating thing for a few days but I think just the mindset of it helps me so much. I never realized all the junk I put in my body (and I really didn't eat that bad... not since college anyway). I just realize there are good choices and bad choices and I am so proud of myself for making the good choices. It makes me not even want to eat badly, whereas before, I obsessed about my body/ food and I had to tell myself to resist temptations and then I would cave etc. Now I'm like, I can eat it if I want to, but do I really want to? I've been working out for about a month straight, very consistently, so I think I am finally starting to see results from that, and combined with how I've been eating well it's just like, woah, a whole new Me. When I look in the mirror, I think two things: "Thanks Jillan" (because I've been doing her workout book and it really works!) and then "Thanks Neeterskeeter" :laugh: Today I was thinking, I wish I had a shirt that says Body By Neeterskeeter... because that's why I think I"ve been feeling so good about my body... it's mine and I've been shaping it and that is a new feeling for me!

Anyway. I'm glad we've got these good feelings going on LOL!

I think I'm going to go w/ Cheryl's (and the BFFM thing) and call my food meals instead of meals and snacks because most of them are pretty evenly spaced.

Meal #1:
Banana (105- but ate it before working out)
1/2 c. multi grain hot cereal (130)
1/4 c. Fiber one (30)
1/2 scoop choc. protein powder (60)
1 T. NM PB (85) , 1 T. flax (30)
1/4 c. cottage cheese (40) = 480

Meal #2:
2% Fage Total Greek yogurt (130)
1 T. NM PB (85)
1/2 c. Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Granola (140)
Fuji apple (80) = 435

Meal #3:
Broccoli & cauliflower (100)
Vanilla yogurt (80)
1 T. Better n Peanut Butter (50)
Cheddar Soy crisps (120) = 350

Meal #4:
8oz Tofu Shiritaki Fettuccini noodles (40)
1/4 c. Light Parmesan sauce (70)
4oz chicken breast (120)
1/2 c. diced red pepper (19)
1 T. parmesan cheese (25) = 274

Meal #5:
SF hot cocoa (139) <side note, it seems that everything on this week has been about the health benefits of cocoa powder and dark chocolate, so I'm sticking w/ my evening treat! :bigsmile: >

Total: 1,678 (have 51 cals left but not much to snack on for that! )

OK, I'm going to have to try to fix my picture. Click and you can see the full length shot, my hubby took some new pics for me today! And I fixed my ticker... I'm officially down 8# since starting at MFP!!

Went for lunch at Chinese buffet:
I had a piece of salmon, some shrimp, chicken, and lots of broccoli, snow peas, zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, grape tomatoes. I was going to get some fruit for dessert, but felt satisfied and knew I would feel stuffed if I went for the fruit.

Dinner:
Making lean hamburgers & probably a baked sweet potato.