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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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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H2O

Do you know how much 2-3 liters is??!!!  2 liters is about 68 ounces or about 8 cups. 3 liters is about 101 ounces or about 13 cups. Let me tell you, that is a lot of water. Today my goal was to focus on getting in my water, so first thing in the morning I filled up my big 30 oz. water jug.  It is now 8:00 PM and I've filled it about 2 and a half times and I've been to the bathroom about 15 times...no joke. I started with the water principle because I thought it would be easy. Well I overestimated how much water I already drink each day...apparently not enough. I had to purposely make myself pick up the cup and drink, even if I didn't feel thirsty.  I think the only way I'll get used to drinking this much is if I carry around my big souvenir hospital jug marked with ounce measurements. So that is what I plan to do.

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Back to Basics

So this weekend included a lot of compromises on my part...too many.

• Friday: You know, I'll just have a couple of margaritas because it is margarita night with the girls.  I guess I'll also throw in a cheese & chicken quesadilla...because that's what I eat with margaritas.  
• Saturday: I'll just have one burger because my dad did grill it and it would be rude not to eat it.
• Sunday: Okay, I'll have just a small glass of wine because my friend doesn't want to drink alone!

So....I'm thinking it's time to get back to the basics.  That is what Mondays are all about, after all. Now I'm not opposed to compromising once in awhile, but I can't do it every. single. day. of the weekend.

So here are the basic principles of eating clean.  Everyone's different and some people have more or less guidelines for themselves.  These are the ones I'm focusing on:

• Eat breakfast every day 
• Eat every 2-3 hours/6 small meals a day
• Drink 2-3 liters of water a day
• Eat lean protein & complex carbs at every meal
• Avoid over-processed food, eat fresh, whole foods (in general, avoid labels with ingredients you don't recognize or with more than 5 ingredients)
• Avoid white flour and sugar
• Limit alcohol

I think I'll take a day to focus on each one.  I've gotten pretty good at eating breakfast every day (usually oats, egg whites, and coffee), so I'm going to start with getting in my water.  

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