It’s time for a change up in here. Ever since our big move across country our eating has gone down the tubes. We’ve been eating out more since we have all these new places to explore. We have much easier access to restaurants and pubs than we did before. It’s awesome! But it also means we eat out way more than we should. Additionally we’ve been eating more processed foods.
I just ate some Pringles the other day. Ew. Why did I do that? Pringles are a horrible processed food!
Since our eating has tanked, I have noticed big changes. And not positive ones.
- Weight gain. (DUH, eat like crap and you retain it)
- Having trouble staying asleep and restless sleep.
- Acne.
- Moodiness and increased PMS symptoms.
- Over all feeling like a big pile of shit.
At this point I’m definitely not the same woman that I was in 2011 or even 2012. And damn it I want her back. I worked hard to get where I was and am pissed that I let that go.
I also know that I will eat junk when I feel there is a gap in my life or I’m not happy with some aspect of my life. Right now that gap is running or my lack of it. I’m working on that though.
So it’s time for a change. Not a cleanse, not a diet (because diet is a four letter word), just a little experiment to see what happens.
I’m making some big changes and sticking with it. Nothing majorly drastic, just setting up some guidelines that Scott and I will be following for 30 days.
I took a little bit from The Whole 30 and a little from Unprocessed Month and made up my own version.
HERE’S WHAT WE WILL BE DOING:
Cutting down on grains.
No breads and no pasta. Not even sprouted bread and not even whole grain pastas. No oatmeal or granola. Rice is allowed but only small portions. The occasional pancake on Sundays is also allowed. Because a Sunday with no pancakes or waffles kind of makes me sad. That said, pizza is right out. No pizza for 30 days.
Increase quality protein consumption.
Some form of protein at every meal. This can include beans. We don’t have trouble digesting beans so they can stay in. The eggs and meats that we will consume will be quality sourced meats and local as much as possible. Also increase our seafood and fatty fish consumption.
Keep eating out to a minimum.
Meals need to be made at home as much as possible. I’m realistic enough to know that something might pop up and I need to meet someone for a lunch meeting or Scott and I head out of the house while we work on Avery’s separation anxiety. Shit happens. In that case, we’ll make the best choice we can sticking to our current guidelines.
Reduce sugar intake.
We don’t eat a lot of sweets or candy as it is so this shouldn’t be too challenging. I still wanted to make it a guideline that we would only be consuming natural sugars. Honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar are all acceptable. But no cookies, quick breads, or anything like that.
Reduce dairy intake.
Right now we consume whole milk, yogurt, and cheese. Both of us are okay with this because it isn’t large quantities of dairy but I’m still making some changes. No yogurt for 30 days. If we want probiotics we can eat sauerkraut and drink kombucha.
Keep cheese to a small amount and make sure it’s high quality cheese.
Reduce the amount of milk we use in our coffee. We don’t drink milk but we do use it in coffee and for things like mashed potatoes and soups. When used in cooking it’s a very small amount and not very often so I feel this is acceptable. We do use a hefty amount as creamer in morning coffee so we’ll be working towards reducing the amount we use.
Increase fruit and veggie intake.
Just like everyone else, we could stand to add in more fruits and veggies to our diet. I’m not getting rid of fruit or limiting the amount because it’s a natural source of fiber, vitamins and minerals. I don’t care that fruit has naturally occurring sugar, I’m not worried about counting calories or spiking my blood sugar because I ate some grapes. Fruit is healthier than processed food. Period.
Corn and white potatoes are totally allowed. They are veggies which is acceptable. Polenta/grits is also acceptable.
Reduce alcohol consumption.
This should be a no brainer really but I feel like it should be officially stated. Eliminating it for 30 days is just out of the question. Sorry I’m not sorry. Instead we’re limiting the intake to a few days a week. Most likely sticking to the weekends.
Increase water consumption.
I talked briefly how I started measuring my water intake with my Fitbit. I’m sticking with that and aiming to get even more water.
Use healthy fats.
This means butter from pastured cows, coconut oil, and olive oil.
Exercise.
I can’t speak for Scott but I will be trying my hardest to exercise everyday. For me, that means running and kickboxing. Unless the weather is majorly crappy outside preventing me from running or getting to class. I’ll try to find something else to do though.
That’s it! Those are the guidelines that we will be sticking to. It all sounds pretty simple in writing but I hope this provides a healthy little jump start.
In order to also hold myself accountable I will be blogging about the journey and documenting each day. Each post will go up in the evenings (mountain time) and I will be discussing our eats along with any thoughts or feelings we are having while doing this.
Scott and I will also take measurements and weight ourselves to see if there are any physical changes. Sorry but I’m not sharing our stats because the measurements are purely personal curiosity. I’m not going in to this to lose weight or inches, I feel that will come eventually. I’m doing this to take back control of my health and my body. If anything does change, I will share that because that would be a lovely unexpected outcome!
Spring Clean Eats starts on March 17th and will run for 30 days. That means it ends on Tuesday, April 15th. That’s the last day of the Spring Clean Eats challenge. I’ll be doing a follow-up post and recap once the challenge is over.
Sure waiting until April 1st would have been easier but I don’t want to wait even longer. It’s time to jump in and do this NOW.
I would love it if you joined in! Either follow along or join us in the challenge! I’ll be Instagramming some of the meals and using the hashtag #SpringCleanEats
It’s time to stop talking and start doing! Let’s clean up our eats and get back to being healthy again!
