CFC: Days 6 & 7

I'm home from Massachusetts and almost done with the Clean Food Challenge.  Today is day 7!  I'm happy to report that, other than one specific indulgence (more on that later), I was able to stick with the CFC while traveling.  Quite honestly, it was really easy and just proves that it's not hard to eat healthy even when you're on the road and at restaurants.


I had a great time in MA, especially since I was able to shop at both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  We don't have either where I live.  This was actually my first time at Trader Joe's and I am completely hooked. Oh, how I wish we had one closer.  I hear one is supposed to open in Albany, NY, but that's about 2 hours south of me.  I travel there often throughout the year, so I'll be able to stock up when I go, but it's not close enough for me to do my weekly grocery shopping.


Since I have two days of CFC to report, I'm going to break it down by day:

Day Six

Breakfast:

I had the orange mango banana smoothie from Starbucks, but I asked them to make it without dairy.  I also ate some mixed nuts.  I was hoping to get oatmeal at Starbucks, but they didn't have any.  So, this is what I ended up with.  It was really good.

Lunch:

I ate this in the food court at the mall.  It's Dal Makhani from the Indian restaurant.  It was really good and contained no "unclean" ingredients.  (Oops...when I just looked this up to make sure I spelled it correctly, I realized that most recipes use butter.  So, it might not have been as clean as I thought it was.  Oh, well. There's nothing I can do about it now.)




Dinner:

This was my favorite meal of the day.  It's from the salad bar at Whole Foods!  Since they list the ingredients in each item, I was able to choose things that were allowed as part of the CFC. At the bottom is a bed of greens, and on the top is kale slaw, sesame tofu, dolmas, black bean and corn salad, quinoa, cranberry and cashew salad, edamame, shredded carrots, roasted mushrooms and eggplant, roasted garlic, hummus and a falafel.  I loved this so much and wish I could eat it every day.

I didn't really have any snacks on Day 6.  We were running around so much that we didn't have the time to eat other than when we got the above meals.

Day Seven

Breakfast:

I had another smoothie for breakfast.  We went to Trader Joe's first thing this morning and then left to come home from there.  So, we stopped at Starbucks to grab breakfast for the road.  This was a perfect option!


Lunch was really just snacks in the car.  I had a tropical Lara Bar and some tortilla chips, along with orange segments and baby carrots.  It wasn't very exciting, but it held me over.


Dinner was a huge salad with tons of veggies and beans on top.  I didn't take a picture because I had two kids crawling all over me with "welcome home" excitement.


I also snacked on some cashews and dried fruit.


So, here's the part where I have to come clean (pun intended).... 


I knew going into this challenge that I was going to be traveling during the last two days of it.  I also knew that I would be traveling with one of my girlfriends and that we would want to drink wine together in the hotel room.  I mulled it over in my head in the week and half before the challenge started, and I weighed my options.  I considered postponing the challenge, but I really wanted to do it with everyone.  I wasn't concerned about eating clean during the trip because I knew I could find plenty of healthy options, and I really liked the challenge of doing it.  But, I wasn't sure I was OK with refraining from the glass or two of wine I knew we would want to drink while hanging out in our hotel room.  So, I decided that I would let myself do whatever felt right when the time came.  I didn't bring any wine with me, but my co-worker did. We didn't have any on Friday night, but last night she decided that she wanted to have some.  We were hanging out in our hotel room and enjoying some girl time, and it just felt right.  So, I decided to have a glass.  I know it's not allowed as part of the clean food challenge, but I don't feel bad about it.  I still ate clean 100% of the time I was in MA, and I still consider the CFC a success.  So, there you have it.  I'm not going to lie about my weekend and pretend that I didn't drink the wine.  After all, this blog is a reflection of my life...real life.  

CFC: Day 4

Well, another day done!  Today went just as well as the other days.  I'm so surprised about how well I'm responding to the challenge this time.  It's as if my body has been waiting for me to clean it out a little.  I feel great!  However, I did have an issue this morning.  Remember how I posted that my dinner last night was just a big garden salad and that I didn't feel like I had enough protein?  Well, I woke up this morning and a while after I was awake, I started to get that shaky, low blood sugar feeling.  I felt dizzy a couple of times and my body felt tingly all over (the only way I can describe it) and I could tell my blood sugar was low.  I was also ravenously hungry.  My overnight oats were sitting in the fridge and I didn't have time to eat them, so I just munched on some homemade granola (totally clean) and a spoonful of almond butter.  I felt off until I got to work and had the chance to eat my big container of oats.  I looked over my food list from yesterday, and I realize that my caloric intake was pretty low and I definitely didn't have enough substance.  The Clean Food Challenge isn't supposed to be a weight-loss diet.  It's meant to eliminate unhealthy foods from your system and replace them with healthy, whole foods.  Since I ran yesterday, I burned a lot of calories and I didn't take enough in.  I really felt it this morning.  I made sure to eat a lot of protein today and I feel fine tonight.

Other than early morning low blood sugar, I felt great today.  I have definitely reached the point in the challenge where I am physically noticing the difference.  I'm less bloated and sluggish and I'm not craving sugar anymore.  I was in my co-workers office today while she was eating skittles (a guilty pleasure of mine) and I didn't even feel the urge to eat any.  I wore my smallest pair of pants today.  While they always fit me, they have been snug around the waist lately.  I know it's because I have been bloated.  Today, they didn't cut into my gut at all.  It's not weight loss.  It's just the loss of unhealthy bloat.  That's why I love this challenge.  My system really feels clean after I do it.

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:  Hmmm...I wonder what it could be.  Oh yeah, overnight oats.  Like yesterday, I topped them with blueberries

Lunch:  A huge container of cut up veggies and hummus.  This is one of my favorite lunches even when I'm not doing the challenge

Dinner:  I made Mama Pea's Black Bean Burgers, which are yummy!  I ate my black bean burger topped with chopped jalapeños and salsa, alongside a salad of romaine, orange pepper, and avocado and a side of sweet potato and regular potato fries.

This dinner was excellent!  I have another burger to eat with a salad for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon I head to Boston for my girl's weekend.  I plan to stick to the challenge the whole time I'm there, and I'm actually really excited about it.  It will be a great way to show how easy it is to eat healthy even when you're on the road.  I won't have wireless internet in my hotel room, so I'll have to blog from somewhere like Barnes & Noble or Starbucks.  I'll have to figure out what to do once I get there.

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.  

Don't let the fruit deceive you.  There was a lot of chocolate frozen yogurt underneath it.

I know I can have them again in a week, but it was still a nice way to end my phase of gluttony and get ready to clean up my act.

Sugar Free Me: Moderation is Key

Well, after a week of trying to reduce my sugar intake, I'm happy to report that I have been very successful.  Does that mean that I completely eliminated sugar from my diet?  Nope!  Instead, I spent the majority of the week avoiding sugar-laden treats, but I did let myself indulge two times when I really wanted to.  One night, Paul and I took the kids out for frozen yogurt, which is one of my favorite treats.  It was a fun family outing, and I didn't want to miss out, so I had a cup with some fruit on top and I enjoyed every bite.  Tonight, we had a potluck get together at a friend's house and there were some delicious desserts there.  I knew I could say no and not eat them, but I decided that it was a worthy indulgence.  I enjoyed every bite.  So, during the week, I ate sugar three times (counting the first day).  Do I consider that a failure?  Not at all!  I drastically reduced the amount of sugar I normally eat.  I was able to get through most days without grabbing a sweet snack or mindlessly snacking on mini candy bars.  I didn't go to bed each night having consumed countless handfuls of chocolate chips.  Overall, it was a great week.  What I found was that I do best when I allow myself some leeway.  If I deny myself completely and think that I'm never going to be able to eat a sweet snack again, I just want it more.  But, by being mindful of the amount of sugar I consume and intentionally choosing to eat it only when I really want it, I was able to reduce my intake significantly.  Once again, I have learned that moderation is key.

I didn't even make it out of the gate!

Yeah, so, day one of being sugar free was a flop.  But, I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  I'm going to learn from the experience and move forward.  Actually, if I'm being honest with myself, most of the day was a huge success, it was just the end of the day that was a problem. 


I craved sweets at various times throughout the day and I was able to satisfy my cravings with dried fruit. 

After dinner, I so badly wanted to eat the double chocolate chip cookies that I baked for everyone else, but I resisted. 

It wasn't until tonight at my PTA meeting that I caved.  One of the other parents brought these incredible desserts for the group, and I felt bad saying no.  She was so excited to feed us, and I felt so bad refusing.  So, I ate some...and then I ate some more.  I will say, it was worth it.  These desserts were incredible!  But, I still feel guilty.  Although, now that I'm typing it out, I think I need to turn my thinking around.  Sure...I gave in and ate some sugar at the end of the day, but I was able to successfully avoid it the rest of the day.  For me, that is success.  Today wasn't completely sugar-free, but it was better that it could have been. 

And...tomorrow's a brand new day.

Not so sweet

Hi, my name is Willow and I'm a sugarholic.

I know, I know...it could be worse.  I could be addicted to crack.  Or, I could still be addicted to cigarettes.  But, the fact of the matter is that I eat a LOT of sugar...without even realizing it.  I don't drink soda and I don't even use any sweetner in my coffee (milk only for me).  So, I'm not consuming a lot of sugar those ways.  My issue is the need to randomly consume candy throughout the day.  Where I work, many of the offices have candy dishes, and I can't seem to visit one without helping myself to a little sweet snack.  When I finish eating lunch, I make a point to eat a little something sweet.  In the evening, I find myself consuming handfuls of chocolate chips. 

I used to think that my sugar consumption was pretty low, but when I stopped to think about it the other day, I realized that I'm actually eating a lot of sugar throughout the day.  Since I'm eating small servings of candy throughout the day, I don't think of it as really eating candy (does that even make sense?  Oh, the things we tell ourselves to justify our behaviors).  It's not like sitting down to a big piece of chocolate cake or eating a bunch of cookies (things I rarely do), but it's just as bad.  I'm putting a lot of refined sugar into my system, which I don't need.

So, in an attempt to get myself back on track, I'm going to cut refined sugar out of my life for the time being.  I really can't exercise moderation with it (the same problem I had with cigarettes).  I need to stay away from it for a while.  What does this mean?  It means no more handfuls of chocolate chips.  It means no more minature candy bars at work.  It means no more sneaking starburst from Amelia's candy stash.  It means satisfying my cravings with fresh fruit, natural sweetners (in limited amounts), unsweetened dried fruit, and homemade natural sweet treats like knock-off larabars.

Even though I'll miss my sweet friend, I know it's for the best.  Will I eat sugar again someday?  Absolutely!  After all, I believe strongly in the 80/20 rule when it comes to food choices.  However, I won't do so until I feel like I have a handle on my addiction.  This weekend I'm going to stock my cabinets and fridge with the foods listed above and starting Monday, I'll be (refined) sugar-free!