Beginning

Over the last year a lot of people have asked me what I am doing, as in "OMG Eva! You look great! What are you doing?!" I have been surprised at the geniune interest people have expressed when I say I'm doing Clean Eating. No one has yet NOT asked, "What's that?" And when I begin my lithurgy of clean eating commandants, they actually follow intently. It could be that they remembered seeing me a year ago, a size 14, bulges loosely hid behind "forgiving" styles and my "now" size 8, (60 lbs later) healthy, trim (and do I dare say muscular:) physique may seem like some type of transformative magic. Or it could be that they are intuitively drawn to hearing about a modern day lifestyle that tries to rise beyond the saturation of fast fake food and goes back to a from the garden approach to eating.

 I finally took it upon myself to hold a Clean Eating boot camp for a few close friends and my parents. It seems to have good results for everybody, but whether or not you can fully adapt depends on how bad you want it. We're not talking a few weeks of dieting, we're talking about changing the way you see food at every level. It can be truly metamorphic, but the best thing about any effort you make to clean up your diet, is that your body will thank you for it. And you can make that change as slow (or fast) as you want. When I first started, I used the 2 week meal plan from CE magazine very loosely. I had no idea how my family would react to this so I didn't even attempt the dinners, but just started with breakfast thru lunch. When I lost my first 10 lbs in 2 weeks I thought I might be on to something. When it happened again and again I was as astonished as everyone else. And then I found, I couldn't go back. The "bad" foods I use to love actually didn't taste as good anymore and even made me physically ill if I tried to eat them the way I use to. (Oh don't think I didn't try!;)

So there I was, (happily) stuck in a better place, slowly conditioning myself to never look back. I didn't set out to try and change anyone else, but change sort of gravitated others toward me. My husband lost weight just watching me eat clean:)hahaha And so I find myself explaining this journey a lot, which I love! So I thought I would add my 2 cents to the clean eating blogosphere, because while I love the idea of eating fresh from the farmer's market 6 times a day, dabbling in new recipes every night... a girl gets busy, esp. with teaching part-time, and 2 little ones (ages 4 and 2) in tow. So its been helpful to know what ready made foods I can stock my pantry with (beyond brown rice cakes) and even what fast food restaurants I can look to for a rescue-me meal. And how bout some recipes for left-overs? And what about the holidays? And the kids? And many people have asked how I use the 2 week menu plan from the Clean Eating magazine. And how about working out? Of course being active is part of it too.

It may take a while, but I plan to jot it all down, 1 week at a time. I hope you will follow and share your story too, or ask me anything! Thanks for reading!

BEFORE-March2010

AFTER-Sept.2011