Clean Eating Challenge

Kelly, you read my mind! I’m currently doing a “behavior change project” for my health class in which we have to commit for the next 8 weeks to changing a certain behavior. I’ve chosen to change to the Paleo diet.

Awesome, I’d love to participate, and for the class I already have to keep a journal. Tomorrow is day one! And we had to write down 2 people who we were going to use as mentors to help us achieve this behavior change, and I wrote your name down, hehe

And at CrossFit Portland we’re also doing a Paleo challenge for the month of November, so it’s all working out!

Thanks!
Angel

P.S. it was GREAT seeing you in Curacao

I’m in

Hi Kelly,

So, I’ve been doing the “clean eating” thing since Sept 22 (before we officially started), and I’ve actually been pretty good about keeping on track.

I am willing to commit to 95%, in the sense that I may have the *very* occasional piece of toast for breakfast, and the odd time I eat out I *might* have a bit (1/4-1/2 cup) of rice or potato that comes with my meal. I’m not buying anything with sugar/honey/syrup in the ingredients (I’m even making my own salad dressings from scratch), and I’m not making any grains at home, so the only time I might inadvertently get some sugar in my diet is if it’s in a sauce on something I eat at a restaurant — though I’m avoiding anything I think will be sweet, so that amount should be negligible. I am allowing myself one junk food cheat per week.

Basically, from Sep 22 to Oct 7 (my “detox” period), I did 100% – no cheats. Oct 8 I had two choc. chip cookies and Oct 9 I had a wrap for lunch and two choc. chip cookies (I had no choice with the meal – I was at a conference).

Oct 10-12 I was at my parents’ house in Toronto and was a very bad girl. Um… raisin challah bread and potatoes Friday night… can’t even remember what I had Saturday… oh yeah, sushi (with rice). Sunday I had some apple caramel pie, chocolate… yes, all bad that weekend. I didn’t have the will to resist, what can I say?

Since Thanksgiving, I have been pretty good. Had a tiny bit of brown rice with lunch on Tuesday (probably 1/4 cup), and a few tablespoons of coconut rice with my dinner tonight. I allowed myself something really decadent on Friday night (Oct 17) as my cheat. I also had a small pumpkin spice latte on Thursday night that was supposed to have been totally unsweetened, but there was definitely sugar/sweetener in there, and some caramel drizzle on top.

I will get a recent picture for you this week.

As to how I am feeling, the first week honestly was hell. Some serious withdrawal there, and I was feeling really anxious about not being allowed to have any sugar. The weekend at my parents’ was hard too, because my mom always buys my childhood favourite foods. On the whole, though, I feel really good now, and I don’t have many cravings anymore. I find that by managing my appetite (i.e. if I don’t allow myself to get to the point of being starving), I don’t crave the garbage. I’m eating waaaay more fruits and veggies than I used to, since I have to get my carbs from somewhere! Before, I used to use lots of my carbs blocks for my junk food, so now that it’s not an option, I think I’m getting a lot more good stuff in me.

Two questions: Is squash/pumpkin okay to be eating? I can’t remember if you specifically mentioned those (I know no potatoes), but they’re in season, and I like to eat local in-season produce when possible. Also, what are our parameters with dairy products?

As to my favourite “clean” recipes, I’ve got a dessert that I used a lot in the first week to help fill the sweet cravings. It’s a poor substitute for junk food but it did the trick.

What I do is use 1 block worth of sweet fruit (generally raspberries) and top it with coconut milk. Then I sprinkle a small amount (~ 1 tbsp) of organic unsweetened cacao nibs, which you can buy at Capers or Whole Foods. The cacao is really bitter on its own, but when combined with the sweet fruit and the fat from the coconut milk, it’s actually pretty yummy.

For lunch, I make bread-free wraps, using lettuce, turkey slices and cheese slices and rolling them into wraps.

For the food log, do you just want one day’s worth of food each week?

I think that covers everything you asked.

Carli

Very Cool Carli,

Would love to get some of your salad dressing recipes. I’m the same way with sauces. I’ve completely cut out the sugar at home, but eating out, you really don’t know what’s in what your eating. But I’ve been lazy with creating my own sauces and just tend to use olive oil (exciting I know ? )

And I definitely agree, it was a lot harder at the beginning. Crazy thing is I went to angels wedding in Curacao and was staying at an all inclusive resort with limited options (but still managed to eat pretty clean) and was actually craving baby carrots and broccoli. Had no problems resisting all the deserts, but was having crazy cravings for veggies. Who would of thought that I would crave veggies?

As for the pumpkin/squash I think its all good. You need some starchy vegetables in there to help make up for everything else your cutting out and they are lower glycemic than potatoes. I think Yams would be Ok as well. Probably not ideal, but you have to keep it realistic.

I love the lettuce wraps. I’ll typically take a leaf of lettuce put a slice of turkey breast, swiss cheese, sliced avocado and chopped tomatoes and role it all up! Used to do it without the lettuce and just use the turkey breast to role it all up in, but then amy convinced me I should at least wrap it in lettuce.

My favourite desert right now is just frozen bananas and blueberries. Something about chewing frozen stuff makes it seem like a treat! I like the idea of the coconut milk. Maybe I could make some coconut milk icecream blending it with fruit and freezing it….

As for the dairy…this is where Im still in a debate. Some people cut it out completely, and a whole lot of people are allergic or sensitive to it and have difficulties processing it, but its an easy source of protein and fat. I think I would be hesitant suggesting it to people, but would go as far as banning it. I completely cut it out, and then let it slowly integrate back in. Cheese makes things taste better and I love cottage cheese and berries. But I have switched to goat milk and goat yogurt and am going to cut out cheese for the next 7 weeks.

And ya, one day of the food log is what I’m asking for. If you have more, you can send more, just wanted to keep it manageable.

kel

Kellys last blog post..Clean Eating Challenge

I’ll make my post public just for fun.

1) 95%. My house is 99% clean of all bad stuff, so eating elsewhere and booze are the only ways I can really cheat.
2) From the CF Van site:
http://www.crossfit.ca/site/images/uploads/albums/pod/img_9069_medium.jpg

I’ll get a food log some other time this week, but the typical day might look like this:
- 4-8 eggs
- 5-10 plums/pears/apples
- About 1 pound of beef, pork, or some other tasty animal
- 4-8 cups of broccoli, or many bowls of salad, or a heaping serving of vegetables somewhere
- Half a container (about 375ml) of high-fat plain yogurt with a ton of frozen blueberries
- Waaay too much cheese
- And a gallon of whole milk (that will go down in a couple weeks to 2L)

Cheats in the last 3 weeks:
-Some rice with sushi two weekends ago, followed by a bit too much wine + beer :\
-Thanksgiving weekend was surprisingly not too bad. My buddy came up from Seattle and made buttertarts for a potluck we were going to (that jerk!) and I had to have two of those. Otherwise I only ate a bit of potato, and some cranberry stuff that clearly has added sugar. Overall not terrible, but not perfect.

Oh, and for (5), I’m feeling just dandy. Thanks

Hi Kelly, It’s funny, I drafted an email to you weeks ago and never sent it,thinking that cutting out all grains is too unrealistic for me. Inreality, it’s cutting out the treat food that is “unrealistic” for me soI’m going to give your plan a shot. I was initially thinking that thezone would be better for me for portion control, but again, I don’tthink that’s my issue. I tend to choose good food: veggies, lean meats,fruit etc but have serious sugar cravings so will “zone” all day andthen eat a whole dark chocolate bar before bed. Anyways, I’ve been putting off curbing the treats even though I signedup for the flab challenge, I’m ready to start now. My husband is out oftown so it’s good timing. I will commit to 90-95%. I will likely havea treat once a week and may have the occasional tortilla for a wrap or aslice of toast with breakfast. We tend to eat out a fair bit so willhave to do my best in those situations. What kind of picture are you looking for? Just a face or more for bodytype?

This coming week should be fun! Can’t wait for the the withdrawalheadaches

See you in the morning.Jenn

As far as the picture goes, Patty wants to create a collauge of the teams so as longas the the head shot is in there that is all that matters, although a full body picture wouldnt hurt!

Kellys last blog post..Clean Eating Challenge

Hi Kelly I would like to participate.

#1. Now I don’t have a recent picture I do but it is a tacky tourist type and I lost my camera when I was in Las Vegas if you can take the picture I can provide the “pose”
#2. I will commit for the whole challenge or longer if you like.
#3. I will document my food log since i just follow whatever plan I am on and trust me I have a database of plans.
#4. I can provide my clean recipe of the week I have many…week? I can do clean recipe of the day…LOL
#5. No problem on how I “feel” I have been thru many years of therapy…LOL
#6. Yes if I have any questions I will contact you
#7.Interesteing nutritional article that I came across today….
http://www.canadianliving.com/health/nutrition/5_sneaky_things_that_make_you_gain_weight.php

SJ

I tend to eat a mixture of oats, spelt, kamut & red river cereal for breakfast with a scoop of protein powder thrown in and a splash of milk on top.
The grains are all organic and I soak them for 8 hours minimum resulting in a much higher absorption of the nutrients in the grains.

I know that you say “no grains” however i believe that these grains are healthy complex carbs that do not spike my insulin level. Especially since there’s fats & protein in the mix.

Would this still be considered a no-no under your diet plan??

i eat no refined or processed grains such as breads or pastas.
However, from my understanding, whole grains that have been properly prepared through soaking and cooking do not give the same insulin spike and therefore are actually healthy food choices.
Personally i love this breakfast because it fills me up and keeps me full for a while and also cause I don’t want to OD on dairy ie. eggs….
However, if you still consider this a no-no, then i’ll try changing breakfasts during this challenge.

thanks
rosita

I just read something about soaking grains to increase there absorption, but now I cant find the article it came from. Do you remember where you got the idea from?

All in all it doesnt sound horrible, the one other thing to think about other than the absorption component is that Because whole grains and milk maintain the next to the lowest nutrient density rankings, displacement of fruit, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood by these staple food groups lowers the overall micronutrient density in the diet. (from Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

But if that is the worst thing you are doing, your not doing too bad at all!

As far as the eggs go, I have no limits on eggs, I think they are great. Not much processing goes on there!

kel

Kellys last blog post..Clean Eating Challenge

Hi Kelly,

I don’t really have any “recipes” per se with the salad dressing – I usually just throw about 1/2 cup of fruit in a cup with oil and vinegar (or lemon or lime juice) and blend it all up with the stick blender. I like using different kinds of vinegars – I’ve found some really neat fruit vinegars at Urban Fare. For the fruit part, I mostly use berries or mangoes because the natural sweetness balances out the acidity of the vinegar. Sometimes I roll a pomegranate around on the counter to burst all the seeds inside, then poke a hole and drain the juice. At Urban Fare, you can get this reusable salad dressing jar for about $7, and it has some healthy recipes printed on the outside.

I like the suggestion of frozen bananas and blueberries. I think if you blended them (from frozen) with a little coconut milk, you’d probably get a really tasty semi-frozen dessert, maybe something like soft serve frozen yogurt. Freezing the mixture might make it too hard to eat, but you could always make popsicles! I’ve always really liked frozen grapes – my mom used to give them to us for dessert. Red and Concord grapes work best. Buy smaller ones or else you have to slice them all in half before freezing (or they are too hard to eat).

Interesting points about the dairy products. I actually used to be allergic to milk as a kid, but I re-introduced it into my diet a couple of years ago and seem to have outgrown the allergy. I probabaly eat too much dairy at this point, and it’s been on my list of things to test out on an elimination diet, but for now I think I’m trying to focus on the big things: sugar and other refined carbs. I will definitely give goats yogurt a try, though. I noticed it is higher in protein than regular yogurt.

I do have some more questions for you, though:

1. With regard to grains, I know we don’t want to eat refined/processed grains, and I understand why. But why should we avoid grains that are still in their natural form, i.e. brown rices, quinoa, millet, etc? Or am I naive in thinking they are still in their natural form? What about buying whole cereal grains (i.e. whole, uncut, unrolled oats) and soaking them overnight?

2. On that same vein (and your answer to the above may actually cover this question), what is your thought on those flourless sprouted grain breads (i.e. Squirrelly Bread, etc.)

3. Why are peanuts and peanut butter not recommended?

4. Is tofu and soy beverage (unsweetened type with only two ingredients: soy and water) part of clean eating?

5. Where can I get high quality deli meats with no sugar, low sodium and no preservatives? I just read somewhere that sliced turkey contains a fair amount of sugar. I didn’t realize this and have been eating a fair amount of it.

Lastly, here is my food log for today:

Breakfast: Smoothie made from 1 small banana, 50 mL coconut milk, 1 scoop whey powder, 1 tbsp psyllium powder and 1 cup 2 % milk. Drank half before CrossFit and half afterwards.

Lunch: 2 eggs + 2 egg whites scrambled. 1 large grapefruit. 1 cup raspberries. 10 almonds.

Snack: 2 mozza cheese strings. 1 small apple. 6 almonds.

Snack: Small, unsweetened, unflavoured 2% latte.

Dinner: 1 large chicken breast with lime and fajita spice. 1 cup squash. 1 persimmon. 10 almonds.

~ 14 blocks protein
~ 11 blocks carbs
~ 15 blocks fat

Hi Kel,

I’m following your recommendations pretty closely, well sort of. I’m going to Thailand for 2 week so I anticipate a bit more rice/noodles in my diet.

I blogged essentially all my food daily on http://www.mostlygeek.com, but my friends were getting irritated so I moved it to: http://mmmyummy.wordpress.com. Following your advice this is essentially what I eat:

Breakfast: 2 eggs + meat of some kind. Sometimes I eat it in a wrap. Usually with some salsa and a fruit.

Snack: Nuts. I portioned out snack bags of nuts, about 40g to 50g of fat. And i eat this slowly throughout the day at work.

Lunch: A salad with meat. And a fruit. I’m going through one farm animal a week, chicken, pork, beef, and that is usually the protein I have. Usually followed with a fruit. Last week was beef week so I ate a lot of lean ground beef (special veggie patty mix I created. Will share recipe), roast beef, and chili that my sister made. Beans are ok right?

Dinner: Usually more of the theme animal for the week. And a salad.

Protein Shake: 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 cup milk, 1 scoop (24g) chocolate whey protein powder.

As for results, it’s been about 3.5 weeks now and I’ve noticed that I am slimmer. My strength has gone up and I think I’m putting on muscle. I’m pretty bad at visually judging these things. The change in eating has definitely helped at Crossfit. I haven’t felt nauseous, tired or felt like throwing up for the last month!

I do have carb cravings… I’ve never looked at oranges and apples with such lust before. So far your suggestions are working for me.

I’d like to make one suggestion regarding yogurt and/or cheeses.

Try to eat the unpasteurized kind if you can. If I remember correctly what I learned in my nutrition class, pasteurization oxidizes (I believe that’s the word) the good fats which are contained in dairy products like yogurt, cheese & milk. OXIDIZED fats are what damage our bodies not the fats themselves. Fats can be easily damaged by heat, light & other processing. Pasteurization is the process of heating in order to kill bacteria & other bad little buggers. However, the heating also damages the fats. Fat is essential for every single cell in our body so very important in our diet. It’s the damaged fats that damage our bodies.

So, if you can, it’s best to avoid Pasteurized dairy products. I believe it’s impossible to find unpasteurized milk in a regular grocery store cause N. American regulations just don’t allow it.

But there are 2 companies that i know of that make unpasteurized yougurt. SauGeen & Jerseyland. Both are plain, use unpasteurized milk and contain nothing but milk & bacteria in them. About as clean as you can get when it comes to yogurt. Careful with the Jerseyland cause i believe they actually make a number of diff’t yogurts. You need to look for the one that specifically says Plain, & Unpasteurized.

Unpasteurized cheeses can be hard to find if your grocery store doesn’t bother to label them. Urban Fare has just started labeling all their cheeses with whether it’s raw milk (good) or pasteurized milk (bad). Parmesan cheese for example is made from Raw Milk.

OH, and Max, if you’re drinking that much milk, i pray that you’re drinking organic.

Good luck all.

Interesting thing on soy on Crossfit.ca right now: http://www.crossfit.ca/index.php/Mainpage/index-single/crossfit_performance_evidence_against_soy/ although there are still many supporters of soy and people who say for the negative affects to occur you have to be eatin EXCESSIVE amounts but regardless, if you can cut it out then why risk it?

This quote from the article supports my clean eating theory nicely:
“Even if you know better than to gulp down large amounts of soy milk, slabs of tofu, and other soy snacks, you are still consuming soy if you’re eating processed food, in the form of soybean oil and lecithin. So depending on your dietary habits, your (unfermented) soy consumption could really add up…Because soy is so pervasive in the U.S. food supply, avoiding it is not an easy task. The best way to completely avoid soy in the food supply is to buy whole foods and prepare them yourself. This may also be your only option if you’ve developed a soy allergy and need to eliminate soy from your diet entirely.”

sigh……

I want to be good …really I do …. I will try to eat clean but i think Yoda once said ..”there is no try nly DO”

my weaknesses are pita bread
sugar in my tea
gin and tonic
chocolates that patients give us at work

amongst others

Shep wants me to drink milk to ‘muscle up ‘… i will drink a bit more but I will also up my fat intake and see what happens

I am back on high dose fish oil as of this week as well I will also resume my fit day profile

keep me posted Kell

Zola

Hey Zola, a gallon of whole milk a day works wonders for weight gain. So says good ol’ Rippetoe.

Of course, that might be a bit much

-Max-

i implore you both…. if you’re drinking that much milk….. please please drink organic!!

[...] Clean Eating Challenge [...]

Here are my updates for the week:

1. Food log for today:

Brunch – 4 oz beef tenderloin
1/4 cup squash
1 cup strawberries with 60mL coconut milk
1 small apple

Snack – 1 oz chocolate cheese fudge (mmmm….)

Snack – medium 2% cafe latte (unsweetened)

Dinner – 3 eggs (1 yolk)
1/2 avocado
1/2 tomato
1 oz cheese
1 medium banana w/ coconut milk

2. How I’m feeling: I was perhaps not so well behaved this week, on account of the fact that I was working out of town, visiting old friends and had a work dinner function to attend. I managed to maintain excellent consistency with breakfasts and lunches, but not so much with the dinners. I also drank a lot this week, which is pretty rare for me. So I’m a little disappointed, but I’ll get over it I am increasingly learning the importance of planning ahead, in other words, having “clean” food available so I don’t let myself get to the point of being so hungry that I just crave empty calories. On Saturday, I packed a lunch and snacks for work (I knew we would have a catered lunch), and it proved to be really helpful in allowing me to avoid the doughnuts and muffins mid-morning, and the nice dessert spread at lunch. I was so close to eating a rocky road brownie at lunchtime, but then I went into my office and ate my packed lunch, and afterwards decided I didn’t really need to have the brownie after all!

3. My cheats for this week (AKA the truth comes out):
Tuesday – had about 1lb of wings after working out at DPL CrossFit in Victoria. I actually ordered a nice “clean” chicken breast with brie and roasted pepper, and a side salad, but the chicken breast was so tiny and I was starving when I finished it. It was “wing night” and there were lots of wings on the table. I couldn’t bring myself to spend another $15 on another miniscule chicken breast, so I had lemon pepper wings. The lemon pepper coating was definitely loaded with sugar.
Thursday – reunion with old friends. Had about 3 beer with dinner. Salad had maple roasted squash in it (and a sweet dressing). Cheese platter had dried apricot bread (3 slices) and a pile of fig spread. On the whole, other than the beer, it actually wasn’t such a bad meal, I guess, but then I ruined it by having fried bananas and ice cream for dessert. So I counted Thursday’s meal as my official cheat meal, until…
Saturday – dinner function at work. Booze was free and so I had about 2-3 glasses of wine and a glass of port. I had a few baby potatoes with dinner, and also had the chocolate mousse dessert.
Sunday – was shopping at Urban Fare and they had samples of this chocolate raspberry fudge cheese. Tasted it and couldn’t resist buying a small piece.

Next week will be better, I promise…

Count me in!

Yogurt Makers last blog post..Tribest Yolife Yogurt Maker

Detox is also use for weight loss. Never tried it myself but very curious to find out more.

Hi just figured i will let you know that i had a issue with your blog coming up frozen also. Must be monkeys in the system.

Its always fun reading your blog. Thanks for posting this!