'Clean' Eating?

One of my favorite pastimes is Pinterest. I love to pin yummy recipes that I might one day have the energy to cook. (this usually never happens) Oh energy! How I miss you! As a mother of 2 toddling daughters, my energy level is extremely low. I'm so tired of being tired! So I stumbled across a recipe for 'clean' Nutella. Is there something wrong with plain 'ol regular Nutella? Is it 'dirty'? So I researched 'clean' eating and came across an amazing blog. www.TheGraciousPantry.com . This blog outlines just about everything you need to know about 'clean' eating. There is even a list of stores where she finds all things clean!

So what is clean eating? Eating clean means saying no to all things processed! When you look at the label on packaged food and see a grocery list of ingredients, mostly with weird scientific names that you can't pronounce, that food is processed. It has chemicals and artificial flavors, refined sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup (gasp!) and most likely added salt. If you stay along the outside perimeter of the grocery store, you will find all things 'clean'. Fruits and veggies, dairy, meats, and whole grains. The more I read about this kind of lifestyle change, the more angry I got that all my food is loaded with crap! The more I wanted to throw it all out and start over! I wanted to be healthy. 2 kids later and my hot bod is no longer. I craved energy and six pack abs! I found the change that I had no idea I was looking for. There it was....not a diet, not a quick fix, but a whole healthy lifestyle.

So I talked my super supportive, incredibly handsome husband into making the change with me. (not an easy feat due to his ENORMOUS sweet tooth). So we did it. I won't lie, it was a bit expensive to start. We replaced EVERYTHING! Goodbye brand new package of sugar, hello agave nectar and honey. Threw out the all-purpose flour and replaced it with whole wheat flour. I even had to get rid of a couple lbs of prepackaged ground beef. I learned that the USDA is not required to tell you what is in that meat. They usually add all kinds of nasty fats (parts that a butcher would just throw out) and clean it with ammonia so that it can be ready for human consumption! UMM....NO THANK YOU! So now we pick a juicy cut of beef and ask the butcher to grind it right in front of us. They usually don't have a problem with this. If they do, it's time to find a new one!

Although we've just begun, I have tons of energy! We actually started our 'clean' lifestyle in the midst of a a terrible head cold. Even with my clogged sinuses, I have more energy than when I was eating (please don't judge me) spoonfuls of nutella for my afternoon snack. I want the world to join us! Why are we mindlessly eating these terrible foods? Why are we accepting this kind of crap? Don't we deserve better for ourselves? Don't our kids deserve better? So I decided to blog about our journey. I want you to know how easy it is, how delicious it is, and how fun it is! I will track my weight loss, give you great recipes that are both easy and delicious and just keep you posted on how this change is affecting our lovely little life!