Meal Replacement Smoothie

Yesterday I was getting ready to run out the door to the gym when I realized I hadn't eaten anything. So I quickly threw together a smoothie and I'm glad I did...spinning class is not something to do on an empty stomach! 

Here's the recipe from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet book:

1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 tbs. agave nectar
1 scoop protein powder
2 tbs. almond butter
cinnamon
almond milk
I also threw in some ice cubes to make it colder. Nobody likes a lukewarm smoothie.

The oatmeal made it very thick, but it definitely made me feel full quickly.  On days when I'm not good at planning ahead, smoothies are my friend.

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Surprising Finds

So yesterday I was strolling through Home Goods, tossing things in my cart that I didn't really need, when I came across the Natural/Organic section.  I've seen it before but never really cared enough to stop and look.  I found a lot of great things in the little section.  They had Chia seeds, organic veggie chips, organic cookie bars, flax seed, oils, etc. Everything was about half the price of Whole Foods.  So next time you're in a discount store like Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Ross, take a look at the natural food section.  You might just find something surprising!

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Sorry, Too Busy to Eat

I'm adding a new principle to eating clean...stay busy!  I was so busy today...running errands, chasing my son, going to the gym....that I totally forgot to rummage through the kitchen for junk to eat! I didn't have time to stare down the bag of chocolate chips that are sitting in my freezer.  That is all.  Stay busy. On it.

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Food I'm Loving

Food I'm loving this week...

Almond Butter

I finally scraped (licked) my peanutbutter jar clean and decided to branch out to new nut butters, despite their heavy price tag ($5.50 a jar!?). Grocery bill aside, I have to tell you...I'm loving almond butter.  Sometimes I eat it on a banana for a quick snack or spread it on a Ryevita cracker (and let me tell you...those Ryevitas need all the help they can get for taste). 

Here's my answer to a PBJ:

Chai Latte

While meandering through the natural section of the grocery store (this always spells trouble for my wallet), I picked up a carton of organic chai.  I thought it might be a good replacement for coffee a few days a week or a nice evening "snack". I was right. Mmmm.....you mix the chai 50/50 with milk (or almond milk) and heat it in the microwave or on the stove. Chai is deliciously spicy and always reminds me faintly of pumpkin pie. I'm thinking it's found a new place on my shopping list. 

Goat Cheese & Cranberry Salad

Whenever I'm ordering a salad at a restaurant, I look no further than the one with goat cheese.  Well as I rummaged through the fridge trying to find something quick for dinner last night, I realized I had all of the fresh ingredients to make my own salad....arugula, goat cheese, dried cranberries, boiled egg, sunflower seeds, olive oil, & balsamic vinegar. I have to say...it was just as good as the restaurant's, except for the fact that I had to make it myself & put my own bowl in the dishwasher. I don't have a picture because I ate it too fast.

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Lean Protein + Complex Carbs

I am trying to eat a combination of lean protein and complex carbs at every meal.

This one has been tricky for me.  Carbs?  I'm good on carbs.  I could eat them all day long.  Oh, complex carbs?  Not as easy, but still...I can swing it. The lean protein is where I get stuck.  It's hard for me to quickly think how to work it into my meals. I'm not a big meat eater.  It's not on purpose, but I sometimes go for days and realize I haven't eaten any meat.  I know there are many other ways to get in protein, but it's something I have to stop and think about. 

So...I made myself a cheat sheet to hang on the fridge.  Hopefully this will give me (and you) some good ideas for mini meals throughout the day.

Complex Carbs & Lean Protein List

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Trying to Kick the White Powder Habit (No, not that one!)

Today my goal is to avoid white sugar and white flour.  It's amazing how many things have white sugar and flour in them! It's pretty easy to avoid these things when I'm cooking something from scratch, but when buying boxed or canned items, watch out! Here are a few sneaky names that  simple sugar goes by on ingredient lists:

• glucose
• fructose
• monosaccharides
• lactose
• maltose
• sucrose
• raw sugar
• brown sugar
• beet sugar
• cane sugar
• confectioner's (powdered) sugar
• molasses
• turbinado
• maple syrup
• sugar cane syrup
• cane juice
• invert sugar
• malt syrup
• high fructose corn syrup                          

Reference: Fit Sugar

AHHHHH!!! How am I supposed to remember all of that?  Most likely, I won't.  But I just may bring a handy reference list to the grocery store next time. If I don't let it go in my cart, I won't have to worry about it when I'm eating at home.  Even better, maybe I'll just try to eat more fresh foods.

Here are some other names for white flour:

• enriched flour
• bread flour
• bleached all-purpose flour

A good article with some interesting info: White Vs. Wheat

Flour....not so terribly hard to avoid.  But SUGAR is in everything.  I tried, but I know my day was not completely sugar free.  At least I'm more mindful of it now. Good luck!

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Eating Frequently

I get to eat 6 times a day?! This is reason enough to start eating clean. But I've found out that it's not as easy as it seems.  I'm used to eating three meals a day and mindlessly snacking in between.  Eating clean requires me to actually think about my snacks/meals and plan accordingly. It's not very easy to grab a clean snack when I'm out running errands and am starving.  I definitely don't feel like hauling my baby into the grocery store just to search for a clean snack in the produce section.  I'd much rather swing through the drive thru, grab some chicken nuggets, and call it a day. The eating clean guru, Tosca Reno, suggests packing a small cooler with clean snacks and meals to get you through the day.  (She even has a cooler meal plan in her book. ) I don't need to pack all of my meals because I am home during the day.  But I do think I need to start keeping a few ready-to-go snacks in the fridge to grab on my way out the door if I'm going to be gone for awhile.

Anyhoo...eating a small, clean meal every 2-3 hours was my focus today. (I also tried to keep guzzling my water.) Here's what it looked like for me:

7:15- oats with flaxseed, wheat germ, & almond milk/coffee with almond milk & Stevia/water
10:30-plain organic yogurt with chia seeds and nuts/water
1:15-leftover chicken lettuce wraps/natural salt & vinegar chips/water
5:00-banana with peanut butter
7:15-baked salmon/baked green beans/water
9:00-2 kiwis/water

These meals are definitely not perfect...I could use some work on getting protein & carbs in every meal...but I'll save that for another day.  

Writing down the time I ate and a quick note of what I was eating helped me to remember to eat frequently.  It also reminded me of the notes I used to keep when my son was just born...how many ounces he ate...when he ate it...when's his next feeding...  

Okay, so far I've got my breakfast, water intake, and frequent eating back on track...what will tomorrow bring?

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