clean eating for us.

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so, if you've been following my blog these days, you've most likely picked up on the fact that we have been making some changes in our eating.  we've always eaten pretty healthy (most of the time) but we have cranked it up a notch around here lately.

why?  well, i'm so glad you asked.  here's the scoop.

as i said, we've always eaten relatively healthy.  and in recent years, i had started trying to buy less processed foods, make things from scratch (like our bread and coffee creamer) and just made little changes here and there like swapping out the aunt jemima for real maple syrup.  however, there were still a lot of changes we could be making that just got swept under the rug because of time and money.

this summer, while trying to buckle down and start losing some serious post-pregnancy-poundage, i was sitting with a few of my good girlfriends discussing the 100 day challenge, which is a commitment to eat whole, non-processed foods for 100 days.  this discussion stuck in my brain.  not only was i wanting to start shedding unwanted weight faster than i had been, but we were in the middle of a battle with bella's health that lasted much of the summer.  she has pretty bad eczema and i was determined to try anything to help my sweet little girl.  i knew cutting out processed foods wouldn't cure her skin, but it definitely couldn't hurt.

so, i began researching.  two websites that totally helped me in my quest to know more about the concept of "clean eating" were 100 days of real food, and the gracious pantry.  both are great resources for more information about this dietary change, but also some fantastic recipes and even meal plans and shopping lists!

during my research, i read that it was recommended to 1) define what clean eating is for you.  there can be different levels/degrees depending on what works best for you and your family and what you can stick to.  and 2) decide what "cheating" means for your clean eating plan.  i was on board for that.  something with no wiggle room or space for some freedom doesn't suit our family too well.  it needed to be realistic on so many levels.

so... here's what i stick to (and my family basically does, too, since i do most of the cooking/grocery shopping).  and keep in mind, i am certainly no expert!  this is just what i've found that works for our family.  i'm sure it will change and grow over time, but for now, this is it.

1) what clean eating is for us: because of time and budget constraints (i'm in school part-time, i work part-time and i'm a wife and mama of two young girls... so this was important to take into consideration!) there are a few things we are going to have to still purchase that are not organic or non-processed such as condiments... and i do stock our pantry with cans of beans and corn as a time/money saver.  however, here are the main points we follow:
            * no (to little) white sugar: i use a bit in my morning coffee (because our purchasing of maple syrup and agave was getting out of control!) but that's pretty much it.  i have used brown sugar in some of my baking, but i just cut the amount called for in half.  for the majority of my baking i use natural sweeteners such as honey, agave or maple syrup.  unsweetened applesauce, pumpkin and ripe banana work well as sweeteners in baked goods too.
            * no white flour: i use king arthur's white whole wheat flour... don't be confused by the "white" part; it's still a whole grain flour, but just uses a variety of wheat that's lighter in color.  i also love organic whole spelt flour.  i prefer it for baking, as it stays lighter and fluffier than the whole wheat.
            * no white pasta, rice, etc: whole wheat pasta and brown rice all the way.
            * no processed breads: i bake our own.  two loaves covers our sandwiches and toast for a week.  and the best part is: it's super yummy.  my brother-in-law found me an awesome bread machine at a yard sale this summer, so it's a huge time saver.  i use it to mix the dough and to do the first rise, and then put the dough in my breadpans to do the second rise and bake them in the oven.  so so easy, i'm not lying i promise!  i also want to start making tortillas and pizza crusts from scratch as well.
            * no processed snacks: each week i try to make at least two snacks for our family.  my staples are nutrigrain bars, hummus, granola, cheese crackers and graham crackers.  i'll be posting recipes on my blog, but they are all super delish and most of them are bella-approved, which says a whole lot.  in my research, i did find that triscuits were the best of all processed crackers, so i do buy boxes of those occasionally as well as multigrain rice crackers to eat with hummus.
            * no "fake" butter: i used to always buy the "i can't believe it's not butter!" with olive oil because it was low in calories and fat.  but what i didn't understand is that in order to be low in calories and fat, it was filled with all kinds of fake crap.  i also used to buy blue bonnet "butter" sticks for cooking and baking because they're like seventy cents for a package of four sticks.  oh well.  hello, real butter.  it's more expensive, but it's real.  and also super delicious on homemade toast in the morning.
            * no more bottled coffee creamer: i'll be honest, this totally bums me out.  i admittedly loved bottled coffee creamer (maybe sometimes more than the coffee itself).  but i've gotten used to either making my own creamers, or just using half&half and a bit of sugar.  a fun little fall trick is to add some pumpkin pie spice to the coffee grounds before brewing.  yum.

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2) what "cheating" looks like for us:  well, this is a tough one.  the weekends, honestly, are hard to stick to any strict eating regiment.  when we're on the go taking roadtrips for the day, getting together with friends, date nights at our fav restaurants or having family dinners it's hard to stick strictly to eating clean.  so on the weekends, i stick to it as much as i can, but allow for some non-clean indulgences.  like mcdonald's french fries we had last weekend, or homemade doughnuts i want to make some weekend coming up.  let's keep it real, folks.  oh, and i still totally have wine a few evenings here or there.  i know for myself i need some freedom in order to stick with anything!

so, what does a typical day of eating look like for me?  well, here you go (some of the meal categories have a few ideas:

breakfast
- coffee w/half&half and a bit of sugar
- fruit
- slice of homemade bread, toasted
- homemade granola w/milk or greek yogurt
- eggs (mostly egg whites, with one or two whole eggs added)

lunch
- salad: organic spring mix w/black beans, corn, diced tomato, avocado and salsa
- a good, homemade soup

snacks
- handful of raw almonds
- a piece of fruit or berries
- celery/carrots with hummus
- rice crackers with a couple slices of cheese
- apple and peanut butter
- homemade tortilla chips (coat whole corn tortillas with a bit of canola oil, sprinkle with salt and bake until golden and crispy) with salsa

dinner
- a quiche with a homemade whole wheat crust and a side salad
- chicken or fish breaded with homemade bread crumbs and baked with a side of vegetables
- butternut squash mac&cheese

so, basically: i stick to my definition of clean eating, allow myself to cheat here and there, and feed my family things that i've made so that i know what's in it.  i also try to be more intentional about reaching for vegetables and fruit as snacks or sides to our meals.

i know it sounds like a lot of work, and i'll be honest; it is.  but i've gotten into a pretty good routine of making 2 loaves of bread, a batch of granola and two snacks each week for our family.  i enjoy spending time in the kitchen and it's a great activity for me to share with bella (and someday emmy) so i've just tried to incorporate the food prep into our everyday life/routine.

i've weighed myself each week since we started eating more cleanly and i've lost close to ten pounds pretty quickly.  obviously i can't totally chalk it up to our way of eating since i'm still shedding pregnancy pounds, but still.  pretty encouraging.

so, for those of you wondering and asking, here's our eating plan.  i'll keep recipes coming your way!  if you're interested in making some changes in the way you're feeding your fam, totally check out the websites i gave at the beginning of this forever-long post!

in closing...

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