Clean Eating

I know I haven't posted in a while, and all I can say is that I just haven't felt like it. I'm not getting paid for this, so they come when they come.

But something has come up that I felt like posting about. I'm trying to jump on the bandwagon of clean eating. Anyone who has read my various postings about exercise and dieting know that this is one heck of an uphill battle for me. But now I am declaring that I will no longer be counting calories, counting points or keeping a food journal. I'm done with measuring every grain of rice or leveling out that 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on my whole wheat bread. I'm going clean!

I was inspired by a friend's blog about an author Tosca Reno and her mission to get everyone to eat clean. I was very interested in learning to do this. So immediately I ordered her book:
It is an easy read, and she makes a lot of sense. But...I couldn't see myself eating her plan outlined in this book. It did seem a little hard core and I just want to know what to eat and what not to eat. I need it spelled out to me in black and white and also explained to me why I can't eat those things other than they are just bad for you. So I knew just where to turn to further educate myself:


Okay, before you judge...can I just say I LOVE this book! They really break it down explaining what to look for in ingredients lists and why you should avoid those things. And it has really helped me to feel even more committed to this new way of eating.

See...not only do I have weight issues that I would love to take care of, (and once all those preservatives and additives are out of my diet my body can better regulate itself I should naturally slim down to a healthy weight), Theo's side of the family is riddled with cancer. Unfortunately that means that he, along with our kids, could be carrying a gene that is easily manipulated into cancer. It actually has a name, but I can't remember what it is. They will have to be checked for cancers at an early age to make sure that if they do get cancer we can catch it early. But one of the promises with eating clean is that I will be giving them the chance to battle those mutant genes by giving them the ammunition to fight them with clean cancer fighting foods.

For example: Trans Fats. I have always been confused as to which fat was bad for you and now it seems on all nutrition labels there are 3 different types of fats. Well this is what the book says about Trans Fats.

"These fake fats, made by hydrogenating polyunsaturated fats such as corn oil, are one of the most dangerous artificial ingredients. They raise your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.
Because your body doesn't recognize that trans fats are artificial, they become part of your cell membranes, making the cells weaker. Consuming trans fats increases the level of LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff) in your blood. Your body easily stores trans fats but can't easily retrieve them for fuel, so they cause weight gain."

That's some pretty serious stuff. By eating clean it just means that I will be eating things that haven't been processed to death. Processed means that they take out all the nutrients so food won't spoil as quickly and then they add a bunch of fake stuff to make it taste the way it should taste before they added all the chemicals to it, and it's never as good. But they have shown that these chemicals are as addictive as hard core drugs. The problem is that you can't stop eating, you have to eat to live! Therefore the cycle continues and is passed down and each generation is getting fatter and sicker than the last.

That is why I have now decided to avoid such additives and preservatives as much as I can. I know it's going to be tough, but I'm working on gradually shifting my family's eating habits and hopefully one day we can claim ourselves as a clean eating family!