Clean Eating June Challenge!

I hope all you fab fit people had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

I also hope you aren’t kicking yourself for having one too many burgers and sweets. Holidays shouldn’t be defined by splurging, including but not limited to, bucket loads of sugar, but alas, they are. And hell, ain’t nobody going to tell me I’m not going to enjoy several glasses of margaritas on a hot summer day every once in awhile!

The post splurge feeling sucks. Especially if you keep up a healthy diet on the regular, your body will attack and remind you that you fueled it with crap. 

In the past, I had the awful habit of binging on (most) weekends, especially during the holidays and starved myself the following three days, thinking, in my mind, that that would even out the high calorie intake and my body would be restored to optimal health. How I wish I could go back in time and slap that Sarah. 

There are no shortcuts to living a healthy lifestyle. It takes time, dedication and serious work. Sometimes we need to take a step back and really discover what it really is that has us repeating our bad habits. 

About three years ago, I was introduced to clean eating. What is clean eating? Depends on who you are talking to. For me, it means eating real, unprocessed food with no added sugar and that includes alcohol. I heard nothing but good things and it wasn’t really a diet, it was a guide to becoming healthier You are feeding your body the healthiest of foods in it’s most natural state. It’s simple! I went “clean” for about two months and at the time I was not weighing myself, as the scale is the devil, but I noticably lost weight and soon had to buy new clothes with a smaller number. 

Three years later, I still eat 80% clean and try to keep my processed snacks/sugar/alcohol for the weekend. Of course, slowly, I’ve found myself adding more sugar to my diet. It is easy to have it sneak in and I must admit, I have a serious sweet tooth. 

When I first started eating clean, five days in I had a total sugar meltdown. All I could think of was running down to the bodega and grabbing my favorite strawberry sour straws. Why can’t I treat myself!? AGH! I woke up the next day terrified after my 5 days of no sugar post apocalyptic breakdown and realized I had a problem and was apparently not alone. The average American eats 19 teaspoons of added sugar a day. That’s 570 teaspoons a month and about 6,840 teaspoons a year. What are the side effects of this problem? You name it: diabetes, heart disease, depression, migraines, auto immune diseases, elevated triglycerides, low (good) cholesterol and oh yeah, weight gain. 

So to kick the Summer off right as well as starting my newest chapter in life, I am going to go CLEAN for the June with the exception of two cheat days ’cause, we can’t let a diet get in the way of living our life (Plus I’m hoping the Rangers win the Stanley cup and will definitely have a celebratory beverage or two WHEN that happens).

Want to join me and feel extra fabulous in that bikini/trunks?

Here’s how you do it:

Clean out the fridge and cabinets and buy clean!: This is annoying and tedious, but it is important to go through the food you have and see if it is CLEAN or needs to be tossed. Packaged foods are the biggest culprit. Unless you regularly shop at health food stores and diligently read labels, most of the packaged food you will have will not be clean. The ingredients should list no more than 5 items and none of which can have sugar. That includes (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate evaporated cane sugar, agave, stevia, and more. Sugar is in everything, especially packaged things like bread. ALWAYS check the ingredient list and cook/bake whenever possible.

Food Prep: Essential to maintaining a clean eating lifestyle long term. I used to cook 75% of all my meals for the week on Sunday. This is super helpful because it is not easy to find clean eating “fast food”. “If you fail to plan you plan to fail”. Think of your favorite meals, almost all of them can be altered to made clean. Chop up carrots and celery to munch on. Make a fruit salad. Prep will save you time and keep you on track. If your lunch and dinner are already planned for the day, you have no reason to grab that burger and milkshake for dinner.  

WATER WATER WATER: You will need to make sure to drink tons of water. You should aim to drink no less than 2 liters of water per day and certainly more of if you are exercising. Keeping your body hydrated is essential to optimal health. *For very active people, I suggest Nuun an elecryolyte tablet that uses natural ingredients while still replenishing the minerals lost through perspiration. Also tasty, that helps (At JackRabbit!)

Swap Happy Hour for Spin Class: The most difficult obstacle I encountered while eating clean was my social life. I found myself staying home to avoid the temptations of having beer and bar food all around me. Unfortunately, our society is used to going to a bar to catch up, date, or just because it’s Tuesday and there are $3 drafts. While hitting the bar is great and I enjoy it like the best of them, it is time to break that habit. Why not get a workout it AND hang out with your friends? You can catch up after class and bitch about how brutal the instructor was over fresh pressed juices afterwards. 

I’ll be providing more tips as we go along. I myself will be cutting out flour as it is a simple carbohydrate, like sugar, and I also have a problem with it. If this is your first time eating clean, don’t omit flour, it will be too much of an undertaking and I want you all to succeed! You can surely try it in July should you want to continue. 

I always suggest to give yourself one cheat meal/day a week. If you feel like doing less, go for it, you’re a star, but this isn’t supposed to be misery, it is supposed to be a step in the right direction. 

As always, contact me with any questions and I hope you can join me on this Clean Eating June Challenge!