~ Clean Eaters Thread ~

I'm curious...is there any way to clean up Mexican food? I love the stuff, and am not prepared to never be able to eat it again.

I usually make my own. Salsa is awesome and you can get all kinds of different kinds. If you must do chips, try the multi-grain or other kinds of baked (not fried!). Try the whole grain tortillas to make a burrito. I like to make a huge taco salad at home w/ chicken, black beans, lots of veggies, tomatoes, and did I mention salsa? I love salsa! :laugh:

I used to get the chicken fajitas until I saw how much OIL they use in restaurants!!! Now if I do go out, I get a grilled chicken salad and top w/ some avocado (very good fats) and lots of salsa.

It's up to you. I just feel gross if I eat the fried foods now! Oh, and refried beans are beans fried in *lard*. If you must, go for just regular pinto or black beans.

We don't go out for it often, and I am glad for that....I love to cook, so I will just keep making it at home. Fajitas do sound really good right now...

I'm curious...is there any way to clean up Mexican food? I love the stuff, and am not prepared to never be able to eat it again.

Hi Satellite... I am the same way, I live in New Mexico and one of my favorite things about living here is the FOOD. I usually make clean versions, like a chicken burrito with green chili and salsa (both of which are fine) and maybe a little low fat cheese, and some red peppers and jalepeno peppers, and whole wheat low carb tortillas. Corn and black beans are also clean, as well as brown rice, so that way it's like a mexican food smorgasbord of things I can eat, in small portions of course.

But when I go to New Mexican restaurants in the area, especially with family or friends, there really aren't many healthy options. (I did order my burrito last night with a whole wheat tortilla instead of a flour tortilla. ) So I allow that as one of my few non-clean splurges once in awhile, in addition to ice cream with hot fudge. Those are pretty much the two things that I know for sure I would not want to go without for the rest of my life, even though eating clean and light really does feel and taste so good. So I have them *occassionally* guilt-free.

For instance I ate ice cream twice during my beach trip, once on the boardwalk with my little siblings who are 7 and 8, and once when my mom made milkshakes for the whole family. Yummy, I loved it. But that was the first time I had eaten ice cream in months, and the last time I plan to eat until my birthday which is three months away. Same for the burrito. My boyfriend's parents always take us to a new mexican restaurant for my birthday, so that's the next time I'll have (half of) a ground beef green chile burrito, and I won't begrudge myself for it because I used to eat them at least once or twice a week :embarassed: and in much bigger portions to boot, and combined with other unhealthy stuff like sopapillas and alcohol etc.

I find that for the most part I have no problem giving up other stuff -- candy, soda, coffee creamer, white flour -- I waved goodbye to that crap without looking back and I haven't missed it. So I figure a burrito and a bit of ice cream every few months isn't going to kill me. And those are the things I *do* miss and I get by by telling myself I *can* have it, just not right now.

You have to be careful though, of course, because there are always excuses for "special occasions" or "just one more", so most of the time I tell myself, "not today", and either make a clean version of it (which to me does not taste nearly the same as the "real" thing, but it suffices) or just wait it out until my next "planned" splurge.

Neeter, welcome back! :drinker: It sounds like you had a great vacation with your family. Wow, you are so brave, 90 days of clean eating??? I could not pull that off, not even 30 days. I am more of a people pleaser and I resent myself for being that way sometimes. Like Jess said there is always a "special occasion" being celebrated and that is when I lose my will power. I do better sometimes than others but I still lose control. I can also use a lot of support from those around me to pull off something like that and I don't have that. But I am doing well and as you said Neeter my "splurges" are also smaller ones compared to those before. Baby steps for me...

Have a wonderful day!!!! :flowerforyou:

Yep, that is what happens to me once I start to *give* a little. There's always a special occasion, it's someone's bday somewhere every day, right?? You're doing great, I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty! You know what is working for you, so go girl! :drinker:

I know you weren't Jess.

I used to be soooo extreme and if I had had a burrito or whatever, I would think, "well, I blew my diet, I might as well have ice cream," and then I'd be *off* the wagon again for awhile till I got back on and was super perfect about everything. Now I have finally been able to find a better balance, where *most* of the time I stay on track, so that I can achieve my goals and because I see how eating badly for even a day decreases my results, but that when I do splurge, I don't feel guilty enough to just stop eating clean all together. It took me a long time to reach this point and even my boyfriend has commented how it looks like it's a lifestyle change for me instead of just a "diet."

Neeter, welcome back! :drinker: It sounds like you had a great vacation with your family. Wow, you are so brave, 90 days of clean eating??? I could not pull that off, not even 30 days. I am more of a people pleaser and I resent myself for being that way sometimes. Like Jess said there is always a "special occasion" being celebrated and that is when I lose my will power. I do better sometimes than others but I still lose control. I can also use a lot of support from those around me to pull off something like that and I don't have that. But I am doing well and as you said Neeter my "splurges" are also smaller ones compared to those before. Baby steps for me...

Have a wonderful day!!!! :flowerforyou:

Alf, I am a people pleaser too and that is something I have been trying to change about myself in my quest to eat clean AND to avoid alcohol. It seems that when people are eating a bunch of sugar, like cake or whatever, or drinking, they want everyone else to drink too, and I used to feel bad and give in. My sister is great but at the beach she kept making comments like I have to loosen up and live a little and I can't be on a diet on vacation and why am I being so anal etc. I told her I *was* loosening up, that I was enjoying ice cream and some alcohol and that otherwise I needed to stay on track because I was getting great results this way. And when I had on my sports bra and running shorts to go running (it was sooooo hot and humid out!), she said, "Okay wow I actually can see a big difference, I'm impressed."

So I just tell myself it's *their* issue, not mine, and I need to stick to my own plan to reach my own goals. I am not perfect of course and even during this 90 day "strict" period I will probably decide to have a little bit to drink, like I've already made myself an allowance for Halloween when we go to a big party and which I think would just not be as much fun if I weren't drinking at all and everyone else was. And I may have a little piece of birthday cake if it is my friend's birthday, etc... but they will be *my* allowances, they will be because I feel it is all right to have it then for my own reasons, and not because someone is pressuring me to eat like them. I think that if I make calorie allowances for my 10% non-clean eating and continue to eat clean 90% of the time, I will be able to meet my 3-month goal. But if I let myself say "okay, that person says I need to eat french fries with them, I'd better do it" every other day, I won't meet my goal.

I'm glad things are getting easier for you in this regard too. I've realized with clean eating and training etc. that we have to put ourselves first and make our health/fitness our number 1 priority... and there is nothing wrong with that IMO, in fact for people-pleasers like us, it can be a very good thing.

Hi Cleanies!

I got my Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook in the mail yesterday, and some of the recipes look really yummy. Luckily, my boyfriend will eat pretty much whatever I cook...so we'll be trying quite a few of the meals. I notice that a lot of things call for stuff like ground flax and flax seeds. Where can I find that? We have a Trader Joes, would it be in a place like that?

And what about this whey protein you ladies use?

Please forgive all my questions, this is totally new territory for me. :blushing:

Have a great day! :flowerforyou:

Shuntae