Clean Eating

So, I am sure I have blasted it enough- I AM A CLEAN EATER (with the occasional cheat!)

I know that I could clean up my ‘clean eating’ a lot more but the way I eat now, and the way I used to eat is seriously black and white. I used to eat McDonald's #10 (chicken nuggets) with a huge dr pepper and still want more! That was an everyday occurrence. I don’t eat out now, I have not had fast food in months, and when I do have to have it I don’t get the worst thing on the menu (“Well, I have to cheat and eat fast food so I might as well get something really fatty, greasy, sugary, and unhealthy”----yeah, that is never a good excuse!), I get the best thing on the menu! There are actually some really decent and semi-healthy meals you can get from fast food and other restaurants but, that’s another story!

Clean eating is a lot of work; it takes a lot of planning at home, and at the grocery store. It can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. This week I went grocery shopping for 2 weeks worth of food for my whole family (3) and I spent just over $30.  Trust me that doesn't always happen, but when it does I really feel even better about my lifestyle choice of diet.

I feel like a lot of clean recipes call for weirdo stuff, or take an ‘unhealthy’ amount of time ;) so I like to keep it simple. I eat a lot of grilled chicken and (insert vegetable here).

Here are a couple…I don’t even know if you could call them recipes because they are so simple, but these are some of my favorite meals to make!

Lettuce Wraps

2 chicken tenderloins/  ½ chicken breast

Fajita seasoning sodium free (other sodium free seasonings are fine!)

2 -4 mushrooms (depending on size)
¼ of a bell pepper (depending on size)

2-3 full leaves of lettuce (depending on size)

Cut the chicken up into really tiny pieces  (the size of 2-3 peas), sprinkle the seasoning on and cook it in a non stick skillet on MED with a lid on so it stays moist.
Cut up the mushrooms and bell pepper into tiny pieces as well, when the chicken is done cooking throw the veggies  in with the chicken and cook it all together (with lid on ) for another couple minutes to help soften the veggies ( I don’t add any butter, oil, or water, the steam/water from the chicken is enough to get these sautéed).
All done! Get your lettuce and make them into a lettuce wrap burrito, Oh, Yumm! And so easy! You can add other veggies if desired! Make it work for you.

Taco Salad

1 cup cooked brown rice

½ cup cooked bison hamburger (season with any sodium free seasoning)

¼ cup plain black beans

¼ cup salsa (be careful and check the ingredients, no sugar or other things you can’t even pronounce!)

1 T  shredded cheese (only if you can afford to have this in your diet!)

Mix all these together, and voila! A tasty meal! You can add some ‘healthy’ baked corn chips, again, only if you can afford to have a few in your diet (this is not even an option for me right now!)

That is all I am sharing today, Sorry its not much! I would like to do this once a week but…don’t hold me to it! ;)

Some of my favorite substitutes-- you can boil cauliflower extra long to make it extra soft, and mash it and it is so much healthier than mashed potatoes but you will not be missing mashed potatoes after switching to cauliflower! Greek yogurt is a great substitute as well for things like sour cream and butter!

You still need to check calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc. and make sure it is tailored to YOU and YOUR diet.

I am not a health coach by any means, these are just some things that work for me at different stages in my lifestyle ;)

I have some more favorites I will share next week, as well as some more easy substitutes I want to share!!