A while ago I posted about what it meant to eat clean. I may need to clarify a few things about it. Clean eating has many forms. The term is typically applied to the idea of food consumption sans processed, bleached, chemically enhanced, altered, and added-to ingredients. White refined sugars and grains and chemical-filled preservatives and colorings are big no-no's.
My choice to eat clean started over a time period of 2 years ago. I grew up fairly "normal" in the food category. I didn't have major complications when it came to eating. No allergies or intolerances. To this day I don't have a problem eating. The issue lies in the processing. I can pin point almost the exact moment I began to experience issues. 7 years ago this summer. It was my first mission trip. At that point I was 15 and summed up all my pain to traveling and weird foods. As the years continued I began to experience more issues but still summed it up to traveling, eating weird things, etc. It wasn't until about 2 years ago my symptoms began to increase to the point of not eating out, not enjoying "enjoyable" foods, and shying away from more and more. I stopped consuming soft cheeses because they were instant triggers but quickly found that even the sharper cheeses didn't do well either. I stopped drinking milk and consuming milk products on a regular basis. I had stopped eating cooked vegetables, certain meats, and white flour.
I struggled because I didn't want to be "one of those people." You know the ones I am talking about. Special diet, bring my own lunch, won't go in the room with the food, consume tofurkey, types. I put a label on it and wanted to stay away! But the more I looked into and started eliminating food the better I felt...digesting. I was loosing energy, I had a hard time focusing, my skin was a mess, and I didn't "feel" good a lot of the time.
What I found was this: My body, for some reason, has a really hard time handling certain foods and food combinations. I have never been "diagnosed" with anything, but I have spent a mess of a lot of time on the internet researching and trying to figure out why in the world I couldn't eat different things. After a few weeks of eating nothing I started to play around with how I ate. I researched different diets and used several of them. It wasn't until I found out about clean eating a year ago that I found one that stuck!
My initial clean eating began with eliminating white sugar. I stopped all together. I went to the store and looked around for some other options. I first came away with Agave Nectar thinking I had found a good option and substitute. Whereas Agave is "cleaner" than the white refined stuff it is STILL highly processed and has high levels of fructose. I finally settled on turbinado. In ingredient labels it will most likely be listed as evaporated cane juice or something similar. By substituting that one thing I began to feel loads better.
What my research had turned up was the the chemicals in the processing of certain food built a bacteria that made digesting and processing in my body next to impossible. Once I had this valuable information I began to make other changes. I eliminated white flours and refined grains. I started playing around with other grains all together. By the way, oat flour is SO good! In this elimination I was able to eat things that I really enjoyed again Pancakes, rolls for dinner, and spaghetti!
It wasn't until just after Christmas this past year that things really began to take off! I had completely changed how my "diet" looked and in doing so it changed how I felt. Over the last few months even still it has continued to change shape and some of my consumption has changed from how I initially began. I have noticed that I need to consume more fiber than most, fruits and veggies are HIGH on the important side, cooked or other wise! I still don't do fried foods...at all! I still can't do pizza well. I do eat wheat, white or red berries, however, I have played around with brown rice pastas, and breads made with oat flour, or arrowroot products and found they do much better!
My reasons to eat clean for me lied in being able to digest but over time I noticed that I liked the way it made me feel. I enjoyed having more energy! The 15 pound weight difference doesn't hurt either! In no way am I "one of those people." Because over time I have found that I am able to go out and enjoy meals in restaurants. I still have to be careful with what I order and I can't do it back to back with out paying for it later. But I do it!
I am still working hard to have a healthy life style. I have begun to increase my physical activity. I am learning how and when to eat things so that my body will continue to process correctly! In the mean time enjoy watching me learn because, lemme tell ya, it's a learning thing! In some ways I feel like I am making this up as I go along!
Here's a before and now comparison. The differences aren't as noticeable by the outside. But the way I felt in both of those pictures are night and day!
These two are just recent pictures. Like I said the differences aren't noticeable through the camera so much as I just know how I felt 2 years ago and how I feel now is oh so different!
If anyone has any helpful information please pass it along! As I mentioned I am still learning! Stay tuned. I am working on a Changes I've Made Since post. I will go into more detail about specific ingredients and I may post some recipes!
Thanks for reading and God bless!
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