My Clean Eating Journey Begins!

Have you ever been told your a picky eater? Well, I am probably the pickiest eater you will ever meet. I basically have the food pallet of a 7 year-old, which means I have been missing out on ALOT of delicious foods. It also means that my go-to-foods are not always the healthiest. So, in an effort to expand my food pallet and develop healthier eating habits, I decided to look into "clean eating."

What does "clean eating" mean? Well in a nutshell it means incorporating a well balanced diet of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts & legumes, and protein. Now, let me tell you what it means to me. No chocolate, candy, chips, chicken strips, bad-carbs, soda, alcohol, basically all my favorite foods! I could go on-and-on but I think you catch my drift. It turns out those prepackaged and easily accessible processed foods are really bad for you. So instead of going on yet another diet, I am starting my journey to discovering healthier ways of eating and ultimately to change the way I think about food.

I want to touch on that last part for just a minute. A friend of mine recently told me to change the way I think about food. Over the past few days I have spent some time really pondering over what she meant by that and here is what I came up with. 

1. Don't Eat When Your Emotional: Listen when your life at work or home gets a little stressful, there is nothing wrong with turning to a little bit of chocolate to help you get through right? WRONG! I recently started noticing that I turn to comfort foods in certain situations. Which means, regardless of if I am actually hungry I am eating to help suppress an emotion. Here is what I have found:
• Emotional eating throws off your biological hungry signals. Now I don't know if I am eating because I am actually hungry and need food or if I am just eating to suppress an emotion. For me these emotions range from boredom, sadness, stress, and excitement. I think emotional eating is by far the most difficult issue I have with food, but it is also the one I want to change the most. 
• I am not living my life in the moment. In general life experiences help shape you and make a you a better person, however, by turning to food during these experiences (even the difficult ones) I am missing out on all the personal growth. 
2. Eat to Fuel Your Body: I want to learn how eat foods that will help fuel me through life. Have you ever heard of athletes eating a ton of carbs before a marathon because they need a lot of energy for the big race? Well, that is what I want to do, but for my life.  I want to eat foods to help me perform at my best in whatever I am doing. That could mean eating foods that help promote brain power to help me concentrate at work, or foods that promote skin health for when I go for a swim, or foods that help muscles recover after a hard workout. 
3. Stop Obsessing: I don't know if this is a girl thing, a fat person thing, or maybe just a me thing but I am always obsessing about food. Is food "good" or "bad", is it to much, should I not eat this, I should eat more of that. Basically I think about food quite a bit. I keep thinking of all the time I spend obsessing about food and all the things I am missing out on because of it. So its time to start thinking about something else for a change.

That was a lot right?! So what now? 

Getting Started: Over the next few months I will be exploring a variety of clean foods that promote healthy living and change the way I think about food. Stay tuned for some hopefully delicious recipes, lots of laughs, and maybe a few tears as along the way.