Helpful Hints & Tips!

Interested in eating clean?  Read this post first and then come back and read these helpful hints & tips!

We will be posting more hints & tips along the way but here are a few to get you started! 

Helpful Hints & Tips to Start Your Clean Eating Lifestyle

• Get a Costco or Sam’s Club Membership (we have found that Costco sells more “clean” food than Sam’s but check out both in your area before you purchase a membership).  Click here to view our shopping list for Costco.
• Utilize your Amazon Account!  Check out their Subscribe & Save discount for items you purchase on a regular basis or for items that are hard to find where you live.  Click here to view our shopping list for online retailers.
• This was mentioned in a previous post but it is important to point out again…as soon as you get home from the grocery store, wash, chop & divide your vegetables otherwise you may not eat them!
• Buy a food scale and weigh everything you eat.
• Buy multiple sets of measuring cups (and spoons) & leave them in the containers of the food you eat often. This makes portion control very easy!  We leave measuring cups in our rice, beans & oat flour!
• After you have weighed & measured everything, pack your meals in BPA-free containers the night before so you can just put them in your cooler in the morning.  Grab & Go!

Remember, this is a lifestyle and not a diet.

- Scott & Whitney

Clean Eating: Getting Started

You are interested in clean eating but you don’t know where to start?  We will try and help you with some simple, easy tips!

Clean Eating: Getting Started

• Check out our eBooks and workout plans.
• Go through your pantry and throw away all processed food (do not GIVE it away, THROW it away...no one needs to eat it).
• Read the ingredient label and nutrition facts on everything you purchase.  If it has more than 5 ingredients, you probably shouldn’t buy it (there are exceptions, of course).
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store…this will ensure that you are buying fresh produce and meats that are not loaded with preservatives and unhealthy ingredients added to “enhance” the flavor.
• Kick your sugar addiction (again, read ingredient labels!  You may be surprised at what products contain added sugar)!
• Find recipes that are easy to make…prepare your food in bulk and store in your refrigerator or freezer for convenience. 
  • We will be posting more recipes on this blog but there are also a lot of cookbooks on clean eating.  Tip: Make a trip to your local library if you just want to try a few recipes or you can purchase the cookbooks here.
• Eat every 2 - 3 hours.  Eat lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal.  This will boost your metabolism and guarantee the results you are seeking.  Read more about your metabolism here.
• Drink water!  To help measure the amount of water you are drinking, buy a CamelBak bottle or large Nalgene so that you can keep track of your consumption.  Read more about water intake here.

Eating clean is common sense, it is not rocket science, nor does it have to include bland foods and short-lived diets, but it has been lost in our society today.  In our opinion, society has placed too much emphasis on convenience, pleasure, and entitlement that healthy living has become unimportant.  Basically, just think about what your grandparents ate when they were your age. 

Let’s face it – there are no shortcuts or magic diets to get that body that you’ve always wanted; it takes time and effort and there will be speed bumps (lack of motivation, life events, etc.), but when times get tough, work harder!  It will make you stronger and boost your confidence.

“This isn’t a complicated message.  In fact, Eating Clean is as simple as it can get.  So what’s the bottom line?  Eat a variety of wholesome, natural foods by combining lean protein with complex carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  Kick out the crap, invite in the good, throw in some water and you are on your way to excellent health and a better body than you’ve ever imagined.  Is this information new?  No. It’s the same information we’ve heard from our ancestors time and time again.” Just the Rules by Tosco Reno

Be sure to read these helpful hints & tips!

Remember, this is a lifestyle and not a diet!

Good luck with your journey and keep eating clean!

- Scott & Whitney

Our Story: Scott & Whitney

We are very excited to finally be able to put all of our information and thoughts into one place and hopefully help others! We are often asked what we eat or what workouts we do, so what better way than a blog to help as many couples (and individuals) as possible discover the joys of eating clean?!

We decided for our first post we would basically just tell our story. So, here it goes….

We are Scott and Whitney and we are high school sweethearts. We got married in December of 2007. We were both at a healthy weight when we got married; however,

We gained a lot of weight in the first year we were married

(around 20 lbs each) by dining out frequently at places like On The Border, Chick-Fil-A, Zaxby’s, and McDonald’s, just to name a few.  In September of 2008, we took a trip to see the Cubs in Chicago and once we saw the pictures from that trip we knew that something had to change. Scott started going to the gym in the evenings and after making it part of his daily routine – he was then hooked. Typical of anything he becomes interested in...

He started reading EVERYTHING he could about nutrition and weightlifting.

A few years later, Whitney started paying attention to what she was eating but still was not eating clean enough or following a consistent workout routine. She would do workout videos at home because she was too shy to go to the gym. 

He finally convinced her to the gym and she has been hooked ever since!

What have we been able to accomplish with eating clean (combined with lifting weights)?

• He went from a waist size of 38” to a waist size of 32”
• She went from a size 10 to a size 4

The most important results are that we are both much happier, much stronger, and have much more energy.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What do you eat?

The best (and easiest) way to describe it is that we eat clean, natural, whole foods that have not been modified or altered once they have been harvested or slaughtered. No fried foods, no GMO foods, no chemical preservatives, no refined or added sugars, and no highly processed foods (limited processing is sometimes necessary – e.g. Greek yogurt). Or, for those familiar with the concept,

We eat clean.

Both of us eat every 2-3 hours (6-8 meals a day). Our meals consist of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and vegetables. You can view a sample of our meals here.

The second most common question we are asked is...

What workouts do you do?

We do weight training with a mix of cardio & HIIT. Excessive cardio is not the answer if you want a lean body...you MUST lift weights!  

UPDATE: We now have our very own 12-week transformation plan available!

Eating clean is definitely a team effort for us and the mission is to help other couples (and individuals) with tips and tricks to achieve this lifestyle. 

Both of us work full time and spend about an hour in the gym five days a week and several hours in the kitchen each week. We don’t watch much television but to us, it’s worth it! Whitney does most of the cooking and Scott does most of the cleaning. ;-)

Sundays are the days that we normally prepare all of our food for the week. Remember, this is a lifestyle and not a diet! Good luck with your journey!

- Scott & Whitney