My Own Trail: I'm Ready to Get Clean!

OK, so tomorrow is the day I start the Clean Food Challenge. This will be my third time doing it, but only my second time doing it as part of an organized group. The first time I participated was in June, which is also when I started this blog. I love this challenge, and I might have nagged Emilie a little bit to organize another one. After weeks (OK, really months) of not eating as healthy as I should - I guess this is where I should admit that my attempt to go sugar-free was a complete flop - I am in desperate need of a clean food challenge. I feel bloated, sluggish and just generally yucky. My pants are snug, my skin is a mess, and I am on edge most of the time. Sure, some of it is because of work stress and general life stuff, but a lot of it is because I have been overdoing it with handfuls of chocolate chips at night (what, you don't eat handfuls of chocolate chips at night as a snack?) and the random snacking on chips and cheese sticks and my kids cheddar bunnies. As someone who prides myself on my healthy diet, this isn't really a great way to function. Honestly, how can I be a healthy living blogger if I'm not practicing what I preach. Just to clarify, I totally believe in living a healthy, balanced life which includes the occasional indulgences. I'm not an extremist when it comes to what I eat. I have no problem eating the occasional bag of Doritos or Taco Bell bean and cheese burrito. After all, I subscribe to the 80/20 rule. Unfortunately, in the past few months, this has been more like the 50/50 rule, which I'm not comfortable with.

So, in an attempt to get myself back on track, I'm committing to the Clean Food Challenge for one week. What does this mean? It means that I can't consume dairy, sugar, gluten, processed foods or alcohol. I will only eat clean foods (i.e. whole foods), and I will drink 120 ounces of water each day. Some people cut out coffee, but that's not an option for me. I fear for my husband and children if I don't have coffee in my system. After all, cutting out wine is hard enough.

This challenge is going to be especially challenging because I am going to Boston with my friend next weekend (Friday - Sunday). It's going to be just the two of us, which means two days of me time. No kids, no work, no responsibilities. I love Boston and all it has to offer (especially the food), and I really think it's going to be fun to experience it while I'm participating in the clean food challenge. I will have to try to find healthy food places to visit that will allow me to stick to the challenge while still enjoying yummy food. We're planning to visit Whole Foods and Trader Joe's (sadly, my town doesn't have either) while we're there, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

So, tomorrow will be day one of the challenge. I will blog about my experience each day with recaps of what I'm eating and how I feel. I'm excited for tomorrow, but today I enjoyed these.