A Clean Start

A favorite photo from Scotland my sophmore year of college.

This week Keith and I are embarking on a 4-week clean-eating routine. One of my favorite things about being more intentional about what I eat is that I end up trying a lot of new foods and recipes, which I hope to share here. I also thought I'd blog about our 4-weeks for some accountability and mutual support. First, here are some things I'd like for you to know going into it.

My current relationship with food:

I have pretty much bought into the whole-food, clean eating basic idea for the past year or so. (My husband is an organic urban gardener for crying out loud). At this point, I don't feel particularly compelled to completely eliminate any entire food group from my diet permanently. In general, I think sugar, refined wheat, trans fats, processed foods, and excessive amounts of meat should be greatly limited, and I try to do that.

 I don't think healthy eating is everything, but I do think it's important. Food is not just fuel, its also something that God has given us to fellowship around, remind us of Him, and to enjoy. Having said that, I believe it glorifies him for us to be good stewards of our bodies and our family's bodies by eating, cooking, and living in a way that aims for health and balance, not JUST pleasure. It was in the context of a meal that Jesus said "do this in remembrance of me" and I believe it honors him for us to eat in a spirit of thankfulness, joy, and self-control while putting something truly good in our bodies (not in the way that I often find myself eating: out of laziness, boredom, or gluttony).

You've probably caught on to this in my years of sporadic posting and periods of blog absence, but I tend towards phases of excitement and commitment, and then swing back to apathy, rarely finishing anything I start or really making something habit. This is true in many areas of my life, and as I focus on some true discipline in the area of eating over the next few weeks, I hope to develop healthy habits in other areas as well.

What I hope to get out of this (okay fine, let's just call them goals):

• To finish something I've started
• To develop some healthy true habits, rather than phases (nutritionally, with exercise, and spiritually)
• About 8 months ago I started having some major issues with my skin, and without going into a long story about all the things I've tried to treat it, I'm hoping to either rule our or conclude whether the breakouts are food related.
• Try new vegetables and cooking methods
• Eat a vegetable with every meal and most snacks
• Run 3x weekly as I train for a half marathon in April
• Stick with a Bible reading plan
  

The basic outline of the plan: (The framework of the plan, with some of my own modifications, is from the Arbonne FreshStart plan)

• No wheat, gluten, rye, barley, or refined grains (brown rice, quinoa, and millet are some grains that are permissible.)
• No dairy
• No soy
• No sugar (small amounts of stevia or agave nectar are okay.)
• No coffee (gasp!) or alcohol or fruit juice (green tea is my new best friend)
• No pork, red meat limited to 1x weekly. 
• LOTS of vegetables
• LOTS of low-glycemic fruits such as berries
• MORE good fats found in fish and some nuts
• Run right after school twice a week and once on weekends.
• Follow the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan
  

What you can do for me:

• Comment and let me know that you're out there. I think it would be fun, and added motivation, to post recipes, tips, and track my thoughts throughout the 4 weeks. Maybe I'll even make regular posting into a habit! But I know myself, and feedback really helps keep me going in the blog world.