Clean Eating

My weight is something I have always struggled with.  Since having my daughter three years ago, I have really struggled to get my weight down.  I have tried many diets over the years....weight watchers, calorie counting, shake diets.  The thing I found about those diets is that I was always hungry.  Recently, I came across something called 'clean eating'.  The basic philosophy of clean eating is minimise/eliminate the amount of processed foods, preservatives, additives, artificial colours and flavours and sugar consumed in your diet.  Instead focusing on unprocessed, whole foods that are rich in nutritional value and will keep you fuller for longer.

Since starting clean eating 5 weeks ago, not only have I lost 5kgs, I am also feeling a lot healthier and have more energy.  (I have also increased the amount of exercise I have been doing but I will cover this in another post). The best thing about this clean eating diet is that I never feel hungry. 

My typical day consists of:

Upon waking:

• glass of water with a squeeze of lemon juice (this is great for kickstarting your metabolism)
• 45 minute walk - I get up at 5am to get this done before my daughter wakes up and before my husband leaves for work so that he is here to tend to her if she does wake early.  If not, I am fortunate enough to have a treadmill so I can do it at home, however I do like to get out in the fresh air if I can.

Breakfast
Protein Shake - this keeps me full until lunchtime although I do have a small snack at morning tea to help keep my metabolism going

• 50g of oats blitzed to a fine powder (I use my Thermomix)
• 2 scoups of protein powder (I use BNRG Pepti-1 Ultra Burn)
• 1 cup of water
• 0.5 - 1 cup of frozen mixed berries
• 2 tbs natural greek yoghurt
• handful of ice
• Blitz in Thermomix or food processor for 1 min....Delish!

Morning Tea

• small amont of almonds or brail nuts (no more than will fit on three fingers)

Lunch

• Clean sausage rolls with salad (recipe to follow in future post) or meat and salad

Afternoon Tea

• 150 - 200g Natural Greek Yoghurt

Dinner
100-150g meat with veges - usually a stirfy however sometimes I try and get creative and turn regular meals (eg spaghetti) into clean versions (I will also blog about this at a future date).

If I have time I might try and squeeze in a short (20min) afternoon workout while my daughter is playing in the yard.

For more information on clean eating, I recommend checking out the Ashy Bines Clean Eating Plan.