I’ve been giving a lot of thought to our eating habits lately. As a family, we survive on junk: Cheetos, Lunchables, soft drinks (not so much the girls, but definitely me and J)….you get the picture. I’ve been attempting small changes in our diet (Deceptively Delicious brownies with spinach, green smoothies). We are working toward a clean(er) lifestyle. I am never one to go cold turkey on ANYTHING, so I’m not saying this will be 100% clean eating. I can already tell you that I, personally, will cheat in 2 areas– I will still be having one small (12oz) Dr. Pepper each day and I will be adding regular sugar to my coffee (I’ve tried the natural kinds and just don’t like it.)
After much studying of websites like 100 Days of Real Food and He and She Eat Clean, I think I have a good grip on what eating clean really is. The obvious foods are fruits and veggies, water, things that come straight from nature. When it comes to packaged foods (crackers, chips, etc.), the ‘5 ingredient rule’ applies–the ingredient list must be 5 or less ingredients and you must be able to pronounce those ingredients.
With this knowledge in mind, I created our menu for the week. We plan to be traveling over the weekend (as long as the weather cooperates), so I only planned for Monday-Thursday. It looks like this:
We made our grocery list and took a trip to Publix. Funny story: One of the items we purchased was whole flaxseed. Flaxseed aids digestion. As we were walking through the store with it in hand, a male employee stops me and says “You know you have to grind that up or else it’ll go right through you whole?” Yes, I did know that, but thank you for the education 🙂
To help make things easier during the week, we did prep-work over the weekend. The girls helped.
I made homemade oatmeal and raisin breakfast bars. I boiled eggs for breakfast and lunches, washed grapes, and pre-made green smoothes.
Overall, my MAIN goal is to add more fruits and veggies to our diets. If I can accomplish only that, I’ll be one happy mama.
I also HOPE to start back exercising this week. My hip still bothers me, but it hurts worse when I’m being still–sitting or at night while I’m trying to sleep. Fingers crossed that running will stretch it back out and make it A-OK 🙂
Do you eat clean? Any tips or favorite recipe’s to share?
How did you make your green smoothies?
Oh, they are delicious! I used 1 cup spinach, 1 cup mango, 1 cup pineapple, 2 bananas and 1 cup water. (I bought those Dole packages of fruit in the freezer section.) It makes 2 large smoothies or 3 small.
It turns out a yucky green color, but they are really good! Even my super-picky girls like them 🙂
I’ve been on a smoothie kick lately, so I’ve been collecting any and all ideas. Did you put the fruit in frozen?
Yes. The spinach, mango, and pineapple were frozen. I used fresh bananas though!