My “Clean Eating” Journey Continues!

Hi friends! Several of you have emailed me about my “clean eating”. Am I still doing it? What am I eating? I also posted this picture of a green smoothie on instagram and you asked for the recipe. So here’s my update and a recipe!

My-clean-eating-journey

First, yes I’m still committed to “clean eating”.  Clean eating can be different for everyone but for me, I’m trying to eat as little processed food as possible. Which means I have to cook more. Ugh!

I don’t think I will ever be 100% clean, that’s not a realistic goal for me but I would like to be 75% clean. My husband loves to ask me if our food is “dirty” or “clean”. He thinks he’s so funny!

I’ve mentioned several websites I’m using such as The Gracious Pantry, and 100 Days of Real Food. Both of them have great recipes and most of the ones I’ve tried I love!

Another thing I’ve recently signed up for is Emeals.com. Emeals meal plan arrives in my inbox every week—complete with seven simple, creative, family–friendly dinner recipes. Each meal includes an entrée and side dishes.

All you do is choose a meal plan based on your eating style (there’s paleo, clean, glutten free, low carb, slow cooker, organic and the list goes on), your family size and even your favorite grocery store.

So far, I’ve been very impressed! I joined for 3 months which was $21. You get your meals and your grocery list delivered each week! If you’d like more info. just click the button below.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY WITH EMEALS MEAL PLANS
Now for the green smoothie recipe. I got this from the blog The 2 Seasons Blog. It’s a mother/daughter blog and I’ve met them in person. The one word I would describe for both of them is elegant! I loved getting to chat with them and I’ve enjoyed reading their blog.

Green Smoothie

1 cup of coconut milk, almond milk or regular milk. (I used organic whole milk.)
2 cups of kale or swiss chard
1-2 carrots
1/2 to 1 cup of blueberries
5 big strawberries
1 frozen banana (break it into pieces before freezing)
1 tablespoon of peanut butter for protein and an extra kick.
 

I didn’t have any carrots so I didn’t add them. I also like my smoothie to have a little more of a sweet taste so I added a tablespoon of pure maple syrup.

That’s it! Super good and super healthy!

Are any of you on this journey with me? How are you doing? Have you found any great websites?

Beauty For the Heart~~Christianity isn’t about larger church attendance numbers or buildings. It’s about people being born again & changed by the power of God. -Jim Cymbala

Have a blessed day!

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  1. I am following a new healthy eating plan called Trim, Healthy Mama by Serene Allison & Pearl Barrett who are Christian sisters living in the Nashville, TN area. It has over 600 pages of their research and recipes. I met Pearl at a retreat a few years ago when they had just started eating some meat again after realizing vegan eating was not really Biblical. (They had health problems after a few years eating vegan) I had gotten to the same place they were in that my reading on nutrition as a nurse had me in a place of confusion. Think of the scientific research basis of The China Study Vs. the Paleo Diet. That is when Serene & Pearl decided to eat God’s way! They have lots of good information on health in addition to diet too.

  2. Cindy, do you have a Vitamix blender? They are quite pricey but I can honestly say it makes clean eating and cooking so much easier. I by no means follow a clean diet but I make all sorts of natural things in my Vitamix….smoothies, applesauce, salad dressing, hummus, etc. If you ever go that route I highly recommend buying from QVC.

  3. Good luck on your clean eating. The green smoothie is a great way to start. I honestly find them addicting and I have been having them every morning. I am really trying to cut out the fake sugar so I guess I am going clean. I like the idea of adding some maple syrup. I will have to give it a try! Thanks for the mention in your blog I loved hearing that we are elegant that was so sweet. Cheers!

  4. have you checked with Saving Dinner.com ??Lots of opportunities for clean eating as well as frequent updates with learning options

  5. I love the idea of clean eating. My daughter and I are meat-free and my husband recently cut gluten from his diet. We still like to eat ice cream and other goodies sometimes. We just try to eat healthy most of the time. That seems to be a realistic goal for our family. I am taking broccoli and rice to my daughter for her after school snack(: Susan

  6. My husband and I started our Clean eating this past Monday…. I find that I have more energy… Which is awesome at 50! Our morning smoothies are: coconut milk, scoop of plant based protein, tlbp of ground flax seed, handful of spinach, 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries, 1/2 cup of frozen mango and 3 -4 flesh strawberries …. It is super yummy!

  7. I am glad that you have continued your clean eating journey. I started last year and lost about 25 to 30 pounds with it and also exercising with Beachbody workouts. I felt so good. Why is it so hard to continue good habits but bad habits are so easy to do?? 2013 has really been a hard year for me. I feel like I have had one trial after another. I have asked God to tell/show me what I am doing wrong so the bad luck will go away. My best friend told me that it maybe that I am doing things right and the devil is getting after me. I don’t know, all I do know is that I am ready for all this bad luck to go away. Sorry, I seemed to have gotten off the subject of clean eating. Starting this week my family and I are going back to eating cleaner. I am like you, we will never eat 100% clean. But we can definitely do better than we have been. Thanks for the recipe and the other websites. Off to check some of them out.

  8. I have that smoothie for lunch (or afternoon snack) often. I substitute spinach for kale, and might add some protein powder. Did you know that you can freeze your kale/spinach leaves? Right about the time the leaves start turning soft/wet in your fridge – throw it in a freezer bag and freeze. Works great in these smoothies! (I switch out water for half the milk too, sometimes to lower the cals/fat. Can’t tell the difference.)

  9. Last year at this time I was doing great at Clean Eating. When I had to stop running, I also stopped my wise eating choices….. to the tune of a 25 pound weight gain. I’m grateful for a FB Group I formed last year that now has 85 women who support and encourage one another…. and I’ve started a Weigh-In Wednesday post/LinkUp on my blog. Finding community is so key when struggling with eating and exercise choices…. So that’s my focus right now. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the sites… Off to visit them now! The Smoothie looks delish!

  10. I am in such a sugar rut right now. I feel terrible and have gained weight over the summer. I just said this morning for just TODAY no sugar! I was doing really, really well this past winter but the summer makes it so hard with birthdays, holidays and vacation!