~ Clean Eaters Thread ~

I have good news and bad news... good news is that last night I went out with friends to a fave bar and didn't drink a drop. One of my goals has been to give up alcohol for awhile and eventually to cut way back on it. So I am doing well with that goal and I wrote about last night in my "hiatus from alcohol" thread if anyone else is trying the same thing and is interested.

Yesterday I think I posted my breakfast, lunch, and one snack. So, to round out yesterday, another snack was a turkey wrap I make and dinner was roasted turkey salad at the bar, and sharing a bowl of green chile stew with my boyfriend. I went to restaurants twice yesterday (once for lunch with a former co-worker where I had the tuna sashimi/sushi and the second time to the bar), so I think overall I did well at eating healthy instead of giving myself excuses to order something unhealthy.

BUT the bad news is that today I cheated, my boyfriend and I went to Santa Fe on the train and he loves this Chicago Pizza place (he is from Chicago) that has real Chicago-style deep dish pizza. I had told him I would have one piece and so I did... sausage and green chile. NOT a clean food of course but I occasionally do a "detour" for him because I don't want to be a spoilsport and order salad at his favorite pizza joint and also it really does taste so yummy. And when I say "occasionally" I mean that we go to this pizza place *maybe* three or four times a year... like for his birthday and a couple other times when he really wants to go. And in the past I would have two pieces with beer or wine at the restaurant and then eat it for leftovers, and tonight I had the one piece with water and I am not going to eat any leftovers, it's a big pizza but he can share it with his friends :laugh:. So I am doing better than I would have in the past. I stayed at my calorie goal for the day AND my long run this weekend was 7 miles so I think it's not the worst "cheating" imaginable, although I do aim to always eat clean so yes it was cheating.

I hope everyone else has been having a good weekend!

Susie's Strawberry Shortcake

1 cup of fresh strawberries
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 Tbsp Blue Agave Nectar or Raw Honey
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal
1/2 Tbsp almond meal (optional)

(189 calories without the almond meal)

YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Celery salad recipe:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/simple-celery-and-almond-salad/

1 bunch (12-15 stalks) celery, plus leaves
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Chop the celery stalks and leaves into bite-sized pieces. Mix together with almonds.

Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, and a pinch of salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Drizzle dressing on top of celery and almonds and stir well. Makes approximately 4 servings.


This is from Mark's Daily Apple, lean lioness actually posted the link to the site in another thread. I don't agree with the evolutionary reasoning used as a basis for the paleo diet, but they have a lot of good clean recipes! I tried this one and loved it. Thanks LL.

That sounds yummy!! Thanks for sharing!!

BTW... we are "paleo-ish" but we call it the Genesis Diet!! hehe!! (new beginnings via bible-based good sense!)

I'm on the Crap Free plan too Love that. It is so unfortunate that organics and healthy choices are so expensive, it is hard to change completely, but it is right that every little change makes a difference.

Just a thought... organic and healthy choices may seem to be more expensive than their less nutritious counterparts, however, when eating out or buying prepackaged processed "crap," one is actually spending a whole lot more! Especially when the doctor bills pile up because of symptoms of metabolic syndrome! (hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, etc).

I'm so excited about this thread! This type of support seems to be exactly what I have been looking for! I have tried many different ways of eating/diets,but even when I am eating healthy I am not losing weight. It took me a long while to realize that eating "clean" doesn't necessarily mean eating less calories as many raw foods eaters are eating tons of nuts,which are high in calories. I have a collection of recipes that are "clean"(never heard that terminology before-but I like it) but had no idea how many calories they contained. Yesterday I went on line to try to figure this out and I found myfitnesspal. And today I found this thread! I feel so happy. Eating healthy and losing weight-what could be better. I'm weighing myself tomorrow and I'm ready to start losing that 37 lbs.

Spotter - welcome to our thread and MFP!! :drinker: This site is very helpful.

Susie, thank you for your input. I believe you when you say that clean eating does not require calorie counting, measuring, etc but how do you monitor what is necessary to meet your nutrition goals to accomplish a goal being maintaining your weight, losing or for some people gaining. Also if one is doing a fitness program, such as P90X, that requires a certain amount of nutrients, how would you monitor? To be honest with you I would love to follow the clean eating approach of not counting calories. I am becoming frustrated and a little tired of it. My main concern is that I might not be meeting my nutrition requirements if I don't monitor. I have always heard that your body will give you signs of what is lacking but how do I differentiate from what is truly needed by my body or just a craving? Also, let's say your goal is to lose and you are gaining instead, how do you know what and how much to cut back that might be causing the weight gain?

I have been doing very well today!! My husband is going to grill later but it is a good selection of healthy meats. Jess, I need to try the sweet potatoes with cottage cheese and cinnamon, that sounds so good. Maybe I can have my husband grill the sweet potatoes.

Have a great day!! :flowerforyou:

My breakfast for today was a concoction I made... it was supposed to be an omelette but I cooked it too high and put too many veggies in it so that I couldn't fold it over... so it was more like scrambled eggs with a lot of veggies and some turkey and cheese. :laugh: I put salsa on top and it tasted so good and was so filling I couldn't eat it all and have some leftovers. Here is what it was:

3 eggs
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 vine tomato, chopped
Little bit of onion, sliced
1 oz natural mozzarella cheese, cubed
3 slices deli turkey breast (I try to make fresh roasted turkey but I didn't have any left today)
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp salsa

Yummy it was a great way to start off the day. I also had 1.5 cups black coffee and a glass of water.

I'm here! Sundays are my rest days and I needed it!!

Breakfast:
Usual oatmeal

Lunch (met extended family after church at Logan's Roadhouse):
I had the 6oz chicken breast (with no rice or sauce)
Baked sweet potato (plain)
Veggie skewers (tomato, zucchini, onion, mushrooms)
And I had NO rolls!!!

Snack:
1 c. plain yogurt + 1/2 c. blueberries

Cals are a bit lower today since it's my rest day.

Dinner:
Not sure yet, need to decide sometime soon!

You are a better woman than I am! I could never say no to Logan's Roadhouse rolls. Bread at the table is one of my major weaknesses when going out to eat. I make sure I tell the waiter NOT to bring it to my table.

I'm on the Crap Free plan too Love that. It is so unfortunate that organics and healthy choices are so expensive, it is hard to change completely, but it is right that every little change makes a difference.

Just a thought... organic and healthy choices may seem to be more expensive than their less nutritious counterparts, however, when eating out or buying prepackaged processed "crap," one is actually spending a whole lot more! Especially when the doctor bills pile up because of symptoms of metabolic syndrome! (hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, etc).

I agree with that. A bag of chips for $3, or a bag of apples for $3. The apples are a lot more filling too! I hardly *ever* get sick anymore. *knock on wood* And my kids are much healthier too! I'm not spending money on prescription migraine medicine anymore! :bigsmile:

Exactly! and when I need a chocolate fix, the smoothie I make is soooooo healthy and satisfying, not to mention pretty low in calories, that I don't even miss ice cream at all (posted in food forum)!! And I LOOOOOVE ice cream!!! In fact, I used to reeeeeeally love pizza! but I don't miss that either! I get wayyyyy more food and feel soooo much more energetic, even euphoric, from the whole foods that I consume! And we are legume/dairy/gluten free! (health issues that I've mentioned in other threads)

To your health!! :drinker:

Just a friendly comment--clean eating doesn't require measuring, counting calories, or any of the usual burdensome chores of "dieting." One naturally loses, maintains, or gains by eating properly.

:flowerforyou:

This is true. However I am not used to eating the right way and I tended to over-eat calories before I was a clean eater. Now I tend to under-eat because I still have the "diet" mindset and I can't believe I can eat all of these healthy foods and always be full! :laugh: So I've gotten the best results, most recently, when I eat clean AND make sure I stay at about 1225 net calories (which includes eating all or most of my exercise calories which tend to be about 200 - 600 a day). Sometimes I really have to stretch to take in those extra calories -- green beans and pumpkin seeeds before bed, etc. Other days, when I don't stick to the clean diet as is ideal, I have to calculate calories to make sure I don't go over, because going over on calories on non-clean foods is what really wrecks my weight loss and fitness results.

Eventually my goal is to just eat naturally healthy and clean, and maintain, and not need to calculate and measure etc. But while I am still getting used to everything, for me it works best to stay on track by keeping track of calories as well as protein and fiber. It motivates me and teaches me that in the past I had *no* idea what a proper portion size or daily calorie amount was, etc., and now I am learning more every day. So I plan to keep up with the calorie tracking until I reach my goal weight (another 11 pounds to lose) and then maintain that weight for maybe a month or so until it really does feel natural and second-nature.

Thanks for sharing all the recipes and advice.

I agree with all of you that you need to do what works for YOU!!! Ya gotta listen to your body and pay attention to your personality type! <smile!>

I keep track of everything that goes into my mouth, including samples! I do this for many different reasons, some of which several of you have mentioned. And it's good to measure things so that you get the idea of how much the portion size is, so that you can eyeball it in the future.

The main reason is that I need to do it is for accountability. I'm not too concerned about a few calories over or under, because the science of calories isn't exact due to variables in the environment. But it's good to have a ballpark figure to make sure you're getting what you need. Being a nutritionist, I am used to tracking the nutritional values of foods, and am teaching my children, by example, how to eat properly (two of them are on MFP in order to use the food diary and are currently in a college nutrition course); one is going into the field of Physical Education, and the other is training to be a Physician's Assistant. Also, my son, Josiah, age 23 (pictured in my ticker), is career Army, has gone from a Private First Class to an officer, and is currently in Ranger School. He needs to make the most of what he consumes to keep his body functioning properly when taxed by such physical exertion that is required of him as a soldier. I am constantly teaching him what is good and what is not expedient for his body.

There is a lot of information about how to make sure one is getting the proper nutrition and amount of food, when and what to consume, on the web. I recommend Zone: http://www.zonediet.com and Eat Clean: http://www.eatcleandiet.com. I'm sure there are many others, and I'll prolly come across them, since I'm always researching, and will share them in the future!

To your health!! :drinker:

Spotter - welcome to our thread and MFP!! :drinker: This site is very helpful.

Susie, thank you for your input. I believe you when you say that clean eating does not require calorie counting, measuring, etc but how do you monitor what is necessary to meet your nutrition goals to accomplish a goal being maintaining your weight, losing or for some people gaining. Also if one is doing a fitness program, such as P90X, that requires a certain amount of nutrients, how would you monitor? To be honest with you I would love to follow the clean eating approach of not counting calories. I am becoming frustrated and a little tired of it. My main concern is that I might not be meeting my nutrition requirements if I don't monitor. I have always heard that your body will give you signs of what is lacking but how do I differentiate from what is truly needed by my body or just a craving? Also, let's say your goal is to lose and you are gaining instead, how do you know what and how much to cut back that might be causing the weight gain?

I have been doing very well today!! My husband is going to grill later but it is a good selection of healthy meats. Jess, I need to try the sweet potatoes with cottage cheese and cinnamon, that sounds so good. Maybe I can have my husband grill the sweet potatoes.

Have a great day!! :flowerforyou:

Alf, Zone and Eat Clean both teach one how to choose and portion one's foods without counting calories and just eyeballing the portions. I've posted the websites in another response. They can help you get started and give you the info you desire.

Also, Jillian McKeith of "You are What You Eat" on BBC follows the same approach. You can google her and get the website. Check out the show; it's awesome!

Good job on doing well today!! All the best on your journey!

Hugssssssssssssssss to all my fellow MFP'ers!!!

<smile!> :flowerforyou:

I just read through some of the threads and will need to check out the Clean magazine you have been talking about. I saw some posts about breakfast ideas. I have been drinking Green Smoothies for breakfast. I have found when I start my day with them I eat better for the whole day. It also eliminates the need for coffee! And I when I am in coffee mode, I drink expresso only! Here's a basic recipe from Martha Stewart, but you can add or delete to your own tastes.

In a blender mix
2 oz of spinach-I use much more spinach-a huge punch !
1 celery stalk
1 cucumber-I usually use 1/2
1/2 apple
1/4 fennel bulb
1" ginger root
3 springs of parsley
3/4C honeydew melon-I often use frozen mango or pineapple,my husband always adds a banana-but this adds additional calories

another version: I add 1/2 fresh beet and strawberries-delicious!!!!!

Thank you for the recipe!!! I'm gonna try it! Sounds very nutritious! :flowerforyou: