In the past when I would attempt this, I would get overwhelmed at the "weirdness" of all the clean eating food I saw. It was overwhelming how much I didn't have easily accessible in the pantry (making me feel like crap about myself) and overwhelming how much most of what I found did not sound appetizing at all (making me want to toss my research and go eat Chick-Fil-A)
So, when an old friend who does a lot with clean eating and exercise posted about a free 5 day clean eating challenge on Facebook, I accepted the invitation and dove into some research and materials she posted. Five days seemed like a doable goal and I had a few easy documents to read to get my own research started.
She provided several meal plans and recipes along with general information on clean eating. If you couldn't tell from above, I can be picky. I knew to be successful, I needed meals that were realistic for me to eat. So, using her general information, I did some further research on my own and found several other meals that I was excited about.
I spent last weekend researching, grocery shopping, prepping for the week, and making sure all of my recipes were in one place.
First lesson/take away from the week:
I learned prepping my breakfast is key in getting me to eat a wholesome meal first thing. On mornings I used to eat breakfast, it was usually a granola bar or if I was out of those at school, candy. :/
Second lesson/take away from the week:
My biggest struggle this week was getting enough water. I've been working hard on drinking at least 64 oz of water a day. Being a teacher, I can't just run to the water fountain whenever I am out of water. So, I have to fill my water bottles up in the morning or there is no hope of getting enough water. Even doing that this week, I still struggled to finish them. Once I get to teaching, picking up my water bottle, even if it is right in front of me, is hard to remember because I'm always doing a million things at once.
Third lesson/take away from the week:
I wasn't 100% perfect in clean eating this week...and I'm okay with that. The majority of what I ate was clean and I consider that a success. (I was surprised that overall, I think Stephen and I do a decent job of eating on a regular basis)
Here's what my week looked like
Monday
Breakfast: Cinnamon Oatmeal
Snack: 1 piece of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (I won teacher of the year last week and a friend baked me a small loaf of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (my favorite) so I was not going to let that go to waste)
Lunch: Grilled Chicken and Blueberry Salad with Homemade Dressing
Snack: 1 Apple with 1 Tbs of peanut butter
Dinner: Chicken Taco Bowl
Snack: 4 shortbread cookies with cool whip and yogurt dip (I was craving something sweet SO bad!)
Tuesday
Breakfast: Bowl of Bare Naked Cereal and a Banana
Snack: Clif Protein Bar
Lunch: Leftovers from Chicken Taco Bowls
Snack: 1 piece of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Dinner: BBQ Pork Roast with Salad (original recipe called for ginger and cranberries, but I didn't think that was realistic for me to like so I left that out, cooked it plain, and put 1 Tbs of BBQ sauce on mine)
Snack: Chick-Fil-A Cookie (So hard for me to resist those sweets)
Wednesday
Breakfast: 1 Whole Wheat Waffle with 1/2 Tbs Strawberry Preserve and 2 pieces of Turkey Bacon
Snack: Clif Protein Bar
Lunch: BBQ Pork Roast and Salad
Snack: none
Dinner: Leftovers and 1 Orange
Snack: 2 small sugar cookies
Thursday
Breakfast: 1 Whole Wheat Waffle with 1/2 Tbs Strawberry Preserve and 2 pieces of Turkey Bacon
Snack: 1 piece of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Lunch: Grilled Chicken and Blueberry Salad with Homemade Dressing
Snack: 1 Apple with 1 Tbs peanut butter (small glass of sweet tea)
Dinner: We already had dinner planned with another couple.
Grilled Chicken Breast with Cheese and 1 piece of Bacon
1 serving Mashed Potatoes
Salad
Pecan Crossaint Roll
Snack: none
Friday
Breakfast:1 Whole Wheat Waffle with 1/2 Tbs Strawberry Preserve and 2 pieces of Turkey Bacon
Snack: Hot chocolate that a co-worker bought for me :/
Lunch: Chicken Salad on Whole Wheat Flatbread and Tortilla Chips
Snack: none
Dinner: Panera: 1/2 Fuji Apple Chicken Salad and 1 Cup of Brocolli Cheddar Soup
Celebratory Snack: 1 glass of sweet tea and 1 Chick-Fil-A cookie! :)
My biggest win from the week was turning down free Chick-Fil-A THREE times. Yall, I love Chick-Fil-A...especially when it is free. I turned it down THREE times! That was hard.
Reflecting on the week,
I didn't lose a ton of weight or shrink any inches.
I could tell I was more rested in the morning.
I haven't conquered that sweet tooth...especially at night.
It was interesting to learn more about clean eating.
Although everything we eat isn't great, it was nice that this wasn't a major shock to our system...making me feel like I might be doing something right.
Three biggest lessons:
1. Prep breakfast! I know breakfast is important. If I can start the morning off well, I'm much more motivated to eat well the rest of the day!
2. WATER!! So important!
3. Read the ingredients. The fewer and more you can understand, the cleaner!
Taste Tests on some of these new recipes coming soon!
E, splurge and buy a huge Tervis tumbler. I bought one last week and I don't regret that $18 one bit. I was in the same boat as you with not drinking enough water. My face has been breaking out recently, so I figured drinking tons of water might help clear my skin. If you fill up the tumbler with ice water in the mornings, it lasts a really long time and stays cold! Plus, my tumbler is really cute!
ReplyDelete