Clean Eating 101...

I love finding success stories of people who have battled weight and then lost it, BIG TIME. Megan is one of those chicks who is a bonafide rock star for her weight loss journey. She continues to get stronger, and I love reading her blog. I am inspired to keep going on this health and wellness journey like her.

Megan from Miss Madison's Charmed Life blog

In her latest blog post, she wrote down her clean-eating list. I am consciously setting this as a goal in 2013 to get rid of the crap and get down to business of losing body fat. Two years ago when I started running, I quit buying all processed, frozen meals for dinners, which was a big step in the right direction. I am now working on lunches (ahem, the infamous Lean Cuisine and canned soups).

I menu-plan for a whole month at a time for dinner, which has made life so much easier and provides a real savings in our budget. I wouldn't be able to put some variety in there without Pinterest, though.

I would love to start incorporating some of Megan's tips from her list in my menu planning and lunches. With that said, I am not a fan of organic/natural foods, for the most part. There is a lot of hype surrounding it, and I know how hard our farmers work to produce our food that do not fall in either category. I am just fine with eating things on this list that are "normal". I am happy to say we LOVE using lean cuts of beef and deer burger for most of our recipes. Those are lean sources of protein so I'm good with those, too. I also would have a very hard time letting go of my milk. I use it in my protein shakes, and it is an excellent balance of good carbs/vitamins/protein after a workout and for breakfast. Other than that, I am working on buying more from the list.

Here is a sample of her list:


Oils

• sunflower oil

• coconut oil

• walnut oil

•  avocado oil

•  olive oil

•  grape seed oil 

•  pumpkin seed oil

Fatty Proteins

• avocado

• coconut

• nuts

• nut meal/flour 

• seeds 

• all natural peanut butter 

• salmon 

• bluefish

• trout

• mussels

Lean proteins

• most types of fish

• egg whites

• chicken breast

• extra lean ground turkey

• top round

• turkey

• pork chops

• game meat

• bison

• tofu

• shellfish

• scallops 

Sweeteners

• sugar free maple syrup use sparingly

• coconut sugar

• applesauce (no sugar added) 

• birch sugar Ideal(xylitol)

• Stevia in the Raw or Truvia

Dairy

• Unsweetened almond Milk

• Unsweetened rice milk

• Greek Yogurt

• Cottage Cheese 

Condiments

• Sauerkraut

• Kim Chee

• Tempeh

• Apple Cider Vinegar

• Balsamic or Raspberry Vinaigrette

• Red Wine Vinegar

• White Vinegar

• Rice Vinegar

• Ketchup Heinz Reduced Sugar or Wholefoods Organic

• Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce

• Reduced sodium Teriyaki sauce

• Salsa 

• Hot sauce 

• Steak sauce (low sugar)

• Chili Paste

• Herb Pastes  ginger, garlic, cilantro, etc

• Tomato paste

• Tomato sauce 

• Mustard Yellow or dijon

• Broth Low sodium fat free beef, vegetable, and chicken

• Worcestershire Sauce  no high fructose corn syrup

• Fat free cooking spray 

Carbs/Starches

• barley

• corn tortilla (Food for Life brand is best)

• Cream of Wheat/Rice or Rye

• Ezekial bread (made by Food for Life)

• lentils

• oats

• whole wheat pasta

• potato (white, only occasionally)

• brown rice

• rice cakes

• Sweet Potato

• Pinto

• Chickpea

• Kidney

• White Beans

• Black Beans

• Quinoa

• Couscous

Misc
*coffee, teas, all flours except white, spices, fruits and veggies.

Pretty big list, huh?!

*~*Anyone out there have other ideas for clean eating ingredients?*~*