The Bad Of Clean Eating Coming From A First Timer

My conscience is pretty switched onto things,

I really wish I would listen to it more!

 

 

I have learnt alot in the last 5 days of clean eating.

1. Smoothies are awesome.

2. There is an art to providing your body with the right nutrition

3. There is so much good information online about all things clean eating

4. A food diary is worth keeping.

5. Nuts really do have to be activated.

So far, the bad of clean eating has outweighed the good, unfortunately. The last 2 days I've been struggling with stomach cramps/spasms which I believe are to an imbalance in my diet. Lots of good food was going in but maybe too much of a good thing can do damage without the right balance. The doctor said my pain was "most likely due to diet".

 

Day 4 night I had to break the clean eating for a plate of yellow oven goods, not for satisfaction or craving, it was what my body was needing to deal with whatever was going on inside.

 

A couple of days ago my conscience asked the question, can too many nuts be a bad thing? I wish I stopped and Googled it then. YES! Too many nuts can be a bad thing. Most of my snacks were nut based (almond meal), nut snacks and nut filled snack balls. My interpretation of findings > Nuts can contain an acid called Phytic Acid. Small doses are ok, but in large doses nuts are not easily digested and can react badly in the stomach. This Phytic acid that gets released then consumes any good minerals that are coming into my stomach. Which could also explain my lacking energy.

 

I read a topic on the Lorna Jane MNB website about 'activating nuts'. What a drawn out process just to be able to eat some nuts. Overnight soaking in water, followed by hours of oven drying... I thought, yeh, no thanks... But now I get it :-/

 

Soluble fibre is important too, which if I have my facts right comes from breads, bran and grains. Well I pretty much had cut out all of this stuff too. I am pretty annoyed with the situation, the pain was uncomfortable. Frustrating that I was making a conscious decision to "eat well and eat clean", yet all the time spent investing into the decision was actually creating large amounts of conflict in my stomach. Hmmm....

 

I am going to continue a clean eating outline to the food I eat, but a little more balance and realistic nutrition because of the intense workouts that I do undertake. Balance of course is the key to everything.

Preparation For Clean Eating

 

I spent a couple of hours yesterday preparing for my clean eating transition. I think this will help me maintain good eating decisions and have plenty of variety on hand. There is nothing boring and bland about eating healthy and making good choices for your body.

 

On top of a super dooper food shop, I have prepared all sorts of food options, done plenty of research and have a few print outs of recipes to try at hand to make this all easier.

 

 

Recipes to come soon of course, I have banana bread and apple muffins portioned and ready to freeze for easy access to a breakfast or snack option. I love to freeze things to avoid waste, it seems odd to bake something fresh and then freeze it just after it cools. Surprisingly this is the only way I do things when I bake.

 

 

 

While preparing a roast dinner for my family, I have already measured out and prepared the ingredients for a pumpkin and lentil soup. These went straight into the freezer, ready for the day I decide to make the meal.

 

 

An enjoyable supply of snack balls: I have my own recipe energy balls. And a tahini and hazelnut ball. All no bake from raw ingredients.

 

Lastly, a pic of me. I am ready to make some more great choices to make sure that I am living the best life I can.

 

 

Over the weekend I started being aware of the food I ate and had already noticed a 1kg weight loss > which does make me feel a little uncomfortable about losing too much weight. Let's see how things are looking after 2 weeks anyway... no need to get ahead of myself.

 

Day 1 Clean Eating: I was feeling a little hungry and could have taken another piece of fruit to work. I think breakfast should have been more filling. Just had 3 of my energy balls and hoping they will give me what I need to go hard at Cage Fit tonight. 

 

Clean Eating Challenge

 

I've set myself a challenge for the last 2 weeks in November. Clean eating, 'no sugar', minimal processed foods, closest to raw form possible. I've done the shop and I've prepared the goods. Ooh, I'm excited about the results.

 

I've found my new healthy living lifestyle good, the active side is fun and I am loving it. But food wise, I do eat well enough, although I haven't set too many standards. So for 2 weeks I'm going to challenge the food side of things and see if I can break some habits. 

 

I have already cut sugar out of my coffee completely Yay!

 

I am aiming to achieve nutrition and satisfaction out of the food I eat. By no means am I looking at starvation. No I am not cutting out fruit because of its high sugar content. And honey as a sweetener in sweets, that I do manage to make, is fine.

 

I hope I can inspire someone else to think about achiving a healthier lifestyle. AND please join me if you want to set a challenge for yourself. I would love to hear back from anyone else eating this way, recipes, encouragement, anything...

 

Jump through to SKY SEA SAND SOIL on Facebook

to have a chat, post your recipes for me to try, etc.

Don't forget to LIKE my page.

 

New Goals: I am trying to hit the next level of fitness, working on lots more cardio. Started Cage Fit and wanting to stick to it until it gets too easy (MMA style training workouts = yeh baby!)

Why Do You Work-Out?

 

I have been wanting to do this blog post for a while. It is important to have clear reasons why you do things, it helps to justify them and keeps you driven to achieve certain goals.

Why do you work-out?

Fitness and healthy living is certainly become more trendy now, well more now than ever in my adulthood. I remember when mum would don the lovely aerobic gear of the 80's, doing sessions on her mini trampoline. Jane Fonda was huge and Aerobics Oz-Style (Bring that one back!). I believe there was a nice fluffy blonde perm and toweling headband included. hehe.

I LOVE the fact that working out is the trend now! And if you are part of it, I know that you know, IT FEELS GOOD!

So, why do I work-out?

 

I'm in my early 30's and part of my family time line has a history of heart disease. Go back to the start of the year, I was feeling a little more tension in my heart than I would have liked too. Reason #1. Done.

 

#2. I have 2 boys, active boys. I also have a husband who has abnormal strength for his size, is fit, healthy and can run. A family of active boys playing sport and a mum who loves to bake just doesn't seem to work. I want to keep up with my family.

 

But my main motivator for why I work-out, reason #3. Earlier this year I felt like I was always surrounded by unwell people. Unwell with lingering stress, back problems, knee problems, growing old unfit, cancers, preventable deaths, general sickness, lazyness. The list just goes on. When you are surrounded by people who are always complaining, it does something to your phsychi, that is when I decided > I never want to be like that.

I work-out because I am committed to making the most of the one life that I have been given to live. I want to grow old with good health and happy memories. I want to play with my boys, I want to make my husband proud and keep him happy, I don't want to be lazy. I want to see my grandchildren grow up and I want to be able to run around with them too. I want to grow old in health not in a wheelchair.

 

 

Just as a side note, can I be honest? It was never about looks for me. *Weight loss and muscle tone are a nice side effect from working out. When you feel good, you look good.