Eating Clean

      A few weeks ago I made the decision to start eating clean by simply avoiding processed and refined foods and implement more whole foods into my diet.  I base a lot of my nutrition and fitness routines off of the Body for Life philosophy.  It's a regimen that I know works for me.  The main reason I love Body for Life is because it forces you to plan out your day in advance and set goals for yourself.  I am much more motivated to eat right and exercise deliberately when I have a plan.  I do this six days a week.  On the seventh day I have a free day.  On my free day I can eat whenever and whatever I want ... guilt free!  No planning, no recording, I love it!!    

      So this last Sunday (my free day) the boys and I came home from church and were trying to decide on what to eat for lunch.  I don't know about others, but when I get home from church I want to eat everything in sight.  I feel ravished!  So after taking suggestions from the boys on what we should eat, it was unanimous they wanted top ramen.  So top ramen it was, as well as 1/2 a can of Diet Dr. Pepper, I really went crazy! ;-)  A half hour later, I was so SICK!   I was on sodium and carb overload.  That's when it hit me.  If I feel like this now, after nearly three weeks of getting all that garbage out of my system, how are my kids feeling?  It can't be good.  That's when I decided to make a change in our household.  The next day I did a lot of purging.  I gathered up a lot of our processed snacks and got rid of them.  Shhh...Spencer doesn't know this!     

      I then went to the store and replaced it with healthier versions.  I thought it would be a lot harder to do then it was.  I read labels on the food and made sure that neither flour, enriched flour, sugar or high fructose corn syrup were listed in the first four ingredients.  The other thing I am trying harder to focus on is having healthy snacks ready for the kids as soon as they walk through the door after school.  I have always been way too lenient when it comes to snacking.  Not only does that allow the kids unnecessary eating but it gets expensive too.  Well time for a change!  Lately I've been putting out a plate with cubes of cheese, whole grain crackers, and carrot sticks, and low and behold it's gone.  I also have them drinking smoothies in the morning before school instead of eating sugary cereal.  Victory!  Slowly but surely I am trying to implement more healthy habits into our household. 

      Eating healthier definitely takes more planning, but the pay off will be so worth it!