Learning to eat well

In my big Quest to Lose Weight and Be (Extremely) Healthy, I have two subquests: 1) Become a runner, because I was always second-last in elementary school races and I didn't like that. Running was and is cool. I shall conquer this.

My second subquest is to become a clean eater. I am going to eat cleanly, if you will. This means that I am going to start moving (probably gradually) to a diet consisting of fewer and fewer processed foods until I am eating absolutely none. Of course, this means that life will be slightly more annoying, in that I will have to soak beans overnight before cooking them, but so what, you know? Health comes first, and I truly feel this could be a healthy experience for me. I am a vegetarian already so I've got those pesky fruits and vegetables down.

I think letting go of salt and sugar will be my toughest challenge. I don't eat excessive amounts of man-made sugar, anyway, but I do put some in my coffee. No more! I was falling asleep while studying for my exams a few minutes ago, and I made up a cappuccino. I put honey in it and dreaded the first sip, wondering if it would taste like lemon honey tea, and ew if it does! BUT IT DIDN'T! It tastes great and honestly, I can't even tell that it's honey. It's just the right amount of sweet and it's clean and natural!

In clean eating, you are technically allowed to eat salt, but I figure that cutting back on salt can only help me. I don't want high blood pressure and I don't want to retain water, so, goodbye, salt!

So, anyway. I hate doing things alone. So... who's with me!? Shall we eat cleanly, or what? (Check out eatingcleanworks.com for more information.)