If you follow me on social media, you probably saw this post yesterday: "I'm not promising perfection, but as of today, I'm making a conscious decision to eat totally clean. I'm sure I'll mess up, but one day I'll get it right!"
Well, I fail already.
I still have a lot to learn about clean eating. I don't propose to understand it or have it all right just yet--I only just started reading about it. I subscribed to both Oxygen and Clean Eating magazine, and let me tell you, I was pretty surprised to learn what you CAN eat when focusing on eating clean.
The current issue has a picture of a chocolate banana pie on the cover! And it looks really good! I was so relieved to see that there's still yummy-looking foods on the menu.
Here's what I do understand about clean eating, as described by both the magazine and the website, "Clean Eating": "Clean eating is all about consuming whole food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible."
So, fruits and veggies are on the menu, Greek yogurt is good, eggs, whole grains...things you already know to be healthy.
More importantly, it means avoiding absolutely anything and everything that is processed, chemically altered, sugar-laden, etc.
I think I do tend to do a pretty good job of eating mostly clean already, and you probably do, too. I'm sure you've heard that if you can't pronounce the ingredients or if your grandma wouldn't recognize the ingredients, don't eat it! But when you start reading labels, you might be surprised at how many things have hidden sugar, unheard-of chemicals, dyes, etc.
For example, regular yogurt is made up of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Common peanut butters like Jif and the like have extra sugar, and they add unhealthy oils! This is why you want Greek yogurt (as close to a natural state as possible) and natural nut butters, where it's basically just a jar of mashed and smoothed-out nuts.
Natural food tastes better than you think. You might just need some time to adjust your tastebuds--this is how our ancestors ate. I'm sure they weren't adding ranch to their vegetables or figuring out a way to make corn syrup tasty and drinkable.
Your body doesn't want or need chemicals. It just needs fuel. The right fuel.
I have often wondered why so much of our food supply has to be messed with in the first place. I'm aware that a lot of it may have started as a method of preserving the food so it could be shipped farther across the country, have a longer shelf life, etc. But we don't need any of that added junk--unfortunately, most of us have grown up accustomed to the flavors of processed foods, so when we try to eat more natural foods, our taste buds can't find the subtle flavors, and then we label it bland and boring and we return to our familiar, comforting, tasty junk food.
And believe me, because of all this, I understand how it can be difficult to really and truly begin to eat clean once you understand the definition.
Let me tell you how I failed. First, I found out my mom made chili tonight. My mom's chili is awesome, and I refuse to argue about how your mom's is better cuz it's not.
I'm just kidding, but seriously, her chili is amazing. And it's still cold here in Wisconsin, even though May is almost over. We've had maybe 2 days in the 70s and the rest have been in the 40s and rainy. So of course I had to go have some.
I also have a very sore throat right now, and I have a tendency to give into anything comforting when I have a sore throat--anything to coat it, calm it, and hopefully annihilate it!
And is it just me, or is it sort of an unwritten truth that anything "Mom" cooks is ALWAYS good and ALWAYS good for you, no matter what it is? Mom made it, it's good for you, so eat up! In all honesty, her chili might pass the clean eating test, but I added noodles to it, and no, they were not whole grain.
I also gobbled up my last Cadbury egg from Easter, again in the hopes of coating my sore throat, however temporarily.
I believe I also had a Special K bar and a Quaker granola bar. (Okay, I don't believe; I did.) Both great-tasting and low in calories, but in no way are they natural. I know that, but I ate them anyway. =)
But right there is why it doesn't HAVE to be difficult. Somewhere in my mind and your mind, I'm sure, we all know what is natural, what is good for us, and what isn't. We just need to train ourselves to choose what we know is right more often, over and over again, until it becomes second nature (pun intended).
So tomorrow's a new day on this journey. I invite you to come with me as I post my successes and failures along the way, here and on social media. Perhaps you'll even join me?
Kerri Randall is an AFAA-Certified Group Exercise Instructor and a Beachbody Coach. She teaches Turbo Kick, Hip Hop Hustle, and PiYo, and is dedicated to spreading the message that working out and eating right can be fun and easy! Check out easy methods to stay fit, healthy, positive, and happy on her site, http://www.hotfunfitness.com.
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