Down 4 pounds!

Dear Friends,

One thing I’m trying hard to do with healthy living is clean eating.  But wow, there are so many different ideas as to what clean eating is.  Some say no wheat or grain, some say no dairy, some say no meat.  Makes my head spin.  There are more books on clean eating than you can shake a stick at.

One thing I’ve learned in my life is that most everything should be in moderation.  Any time we swing the pendulum to one extreme or the other we are usually asking for problems.  Of course there are exceptions to this.

My definition of clean eating is that if it came from God, then it is good for me.  I’m all about fruits and vegetables and trying to get more of them in my diet and to make them the majority of what is on my plate.  I’m also for meat and dairy products.  Finally I am for healthy carbohydrates but in moderation.  No more of the food pyramid where we have been encouraged to eat 6 to 11 servings of grains.  I’m personally limiting myself to one serving of a healthy carbohydrate a day.  I’m also ok with healthy fats and oils but again sparingly or in moderation.

I’m also ok with one cup of coffee a day and stevia as a sweetener in it.  Limiting myself to 1 cup, not 1/2 pot due to the atrial fibrillation.  Yep, that was me.

I’m ok if my food is not organic.  Costco sells quite a bit of organic fruits and vegetables and many times all they offer of a certain food is organic which is fine.  I’m just not going out of my way to buy only organic or free range or all those other ‘supposed to be good for me’ foods at twice the price.

What I’m not ok with is sweets.  This is an addiction of mine.  I’m telling myself I can have one desert a week.  Not one after every meal which I had been having.  And if that one a week fires up my sweet tooth, I may have to consider eliminating it completely.

I’m not ok with processed or pre-made food with the exception of condiments.  I’m not going to the trouble to make my own ketchup, mayonnaise, or barbeque sauce as an example.  I am, however, making my own Thousand Island salad dressing.  Recipe below as it is easy peasy.  I’m also personally ok with milk, yogurt, cheese and butter in moderation.

I’m not ok with deep fried anything.  I love French fries so this is another tough one.  Boy-oh-boy my eating habits were just out of control.

I think we all need to look at what works best for our own bodies and take that into account when deciding what we will or won’t put on our plate.

And here is my Country Style Thousand Island Recipe I told you about.  Just click on the picture to enlarge and then print it out to add to your recipe box.

Make healthy choices friends.

Nancy

be creative daily and live life beautifully