Tips To Get Started With Clean Eating.
I know that before I started following the 21 Day Fix meal plan, the words “clean eating” were enough to make me want to crawl into a hole and not come out for a week.
I am not sure why, but the idea totally intimidated me. Looking back now, the biggest reason was because I had no idea where to begin! Thankfully, the 21 Day Fix guide broke it down for me, but for those of you who are not doing that program, I wanted to provide you with a few tips for getting started.
Eating clean can mean different things to different people, so definitely do your own research and determine how far you want to take it. But here are some steps to get you started!
1. Nothing White – white flour, white rice, white bread. If it’s white, it’s not a vegetable, so stay away from it. Sugar, obviously, falls in this category.
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2. Read labels – I was NEVER a label reader. If it sounded good, I bought it. If it said “Whole Grain”, I bought it. But most things that come in a pre-packaged box are FULL of things that are not good for you! My rule is that if it has more than 5 ingredients, I don’t buy it. And if it has ingredients I cannot pronounce or have to look up, I don’t buy it. A great app that I have on my phone is Fooducate. It scans labels and tells me exactly what is in something and gives it a rating.
3. Buy whole foods. Foods that you recognize. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats. This is a lot of food to choose from. So many people say that eating clean limits them and there is not enough food to choose from. I beg to differ!! God created SO many amazing and yummy foods to treat yourself with! Open your mind and be open to trying them! Here is a list of foods I wrote about previously. Get started there!
4. Treat yourself with a Cheat Meal. Clean eating is definitely not boring, but you also shouldn’t deprive yourself of the things you really enjoy. Figure out what works for you. Will you plan a cheat meal once a week, once a month? I aim for once a week and usually on the weekend. I make sure it does not turn into a cheat weekend!
5. Plan a shopping day and use it to prep as well! I never used to have a plan for weeknight dinners. I just threw something together or make peanut butter and jellies…
But when I started meal planning, I started making a grocery list and making sure I had everything to make those meals! Not rocket science, but it took me a while to catch on!
Use your grocery shopping days as prepping days too. Before you put anything away, wash it, diced, it, and bag it into individual portions so you can grab and go throughout the week!
It may take an extra 30-45 minutes out of your day, but it is worth it in the end. To keep you from running through the drive thru.
6. Don’t beat yourself up! Last but not least, give yourself some slack. It can be difficult sometimes to adapt to new changes. If you end up driving through McDonald’s on the weekend and eat a Big Mac and Value Fry, don’t throw your hands up and quit. Start again. Make small positive changes, and watch the magic happen. Self-control and consistency go a long way in making these changes a long-term thing.
And here are some great tips for digging deeper from The Gracious Pantry.
Wherever you start, do it at your own pace. Maybe you’re just cutting out sugar this week and next week it’s white bread. I never recommend going all in all at once. You set yourself up for failure that way. Take it one week at a time, and I promise you will see results!
Clean eating has helped me lose weight, lessened my PMDD symptoms, and made my family healthier overall! I’m so glad I found the fix, and that I learned clean eating is not the monster I feared it was!!!
xoxo,
Rachel