When you just can't get it together...

We all have those days, right? We just can't get it together and seems like we are DOOMED... right there... in that instant, for the rest of our days here on Earth. (Let me clear this up - it feels like that, but that is SO far from reality, it's not even funny! You are not DOOMED - tomorrow is another and a better day!) Stress is a daily obstacle for 99.9% of the world - it's also a major reason we overinduldge and stray from our normal patterns, including our eating patterns.

I recently received a text message from one of my students in an aerobics class that I teach. She has been diligently keeping a food log and trying hard to lose a few extra pounds she has put on over the years. She eats moderately clean, but life gets in the way and she is often overcome with family or work obligations and succumbs to the need for a "fast" or "convenient" meal rather than a healthy, clean meal. Her text message stated that she had gone out for her birthday and overdid it on the eating. She wanted to know if she should cry or shake it off.

MY ADVICE:

Shake it off.

Here's why

eating clean is a

lifestyle

and NOT a diet - You have to change your patterns and your thinking. Diets last for a few months (or a few days in many cases), lifestyles stick with you for a much longer extended period of time. If you mess up one day, it's okay - try again tomorrow. With food, nothing is ever final.  Don't beat yourself up if you mess up and eat your "old" favorite candybar, a bowl of ice cream or even a handful of those overly processed crackers at a SuperBowl party. IT'S OKAY! Try not to do it again and do better tomorrow!

Do one thing tomorrow better than you did today and you will be back on the right track!

Tiffany

He and She Prep: Sunday Cooking!

After a long day of cooking (and cleaning) yesterday our food has been prepped for the week!  We made salsa chicken, Jamie Eason's Monster Meatloaf, Jamie Eason's Protein Bars, black beans, brown rice, quinoa, steel cut oats, boiled eggs & cut up all of our veggies for the week!  We may have to boil some more eggs & make more brown rice & black beans towards the middle of the week but other than that we are ready to tackle the work week!  Check out our food below...it takes up our entire kitchen table!  Interested in what we eat?  Read about our daily food here.

How do you prepare for the week ahead?

Here is another example of our food prep.

* Be sure to check out our Getting Started and Food Prep eBooks here.

- Whitney

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