Cleaning up my act

I've found the most wonderful magazine in the history of printed word. It's called Clean Eating. The magazine is less than a year old, but one I know from now on will occupy a special spot on my bookshelf, and my purse.

What is "clean eating," you may ask. Clean eating, as simple a concept as it is, is eating foods as close to their "natural" state as possible. No additives or preservatives, fruits, vegetables, low or no sugar, etc. It's about changing how one looks at food, and at eating. Tosca Reno does a much better job of explaining it at the eat clean website, so I'll let her. I've found wonderful healthy recipes, my kids actually EAT the food I cook, and I know I'm doing wonderful things for my body by putting good things into it instead of the garbage I've been shoving into my pie hole for so many years.

The other wonderful thing I've found about clean eating is that I don't feel like a failure. I'm not overwhelmed with the recipes, nor do I spend most of my time searching for ingredients that I not only can't find in my grocery store, but couldn't pronounce even if I could find them.

Today, for example, I started following the menu plan in the May/June Clean Eating magazine. I had tofu scramble for breakfast, fruit for a mid morning snack, mixed greens with tuna and vinagrette dressing for lunch with cantaloupe, some more tofu scramble for an afternoon snack (by the way, it's delicious... don't let the word "tofu" scare you), and for dinner I'm making the family penne, spaghetti sauce, steamed brocolli and mozarella cheese with Ezekiel bread (can be found in the grocery refrigerator section of the health section) with olive oil dip. I'm eating more than I ever have, and enjoying the smells, colors, tastes and experiences that I'm having in my kitchen.

I can see the clean eating style easily fitting into a Weight Watchers plan if I decided to return. Tosca Reno, the gal I mentioned earlier, has some great books out right now that I've picked up that contain recipes with the calorie, fat and fiber listings for each recipe by serving. The Clean Eating book she wrote is a great start if anyone is looking to find out more about the difference between clean eating and "dieting."

I'm looking forward to dinner... and to tomorrow! I've really enjoyed feeling like I'm producing good tasting, healthy meals for my family. I think my family is enjoying the new choices too... even if they have more dishes to do now!

In a few weeks, I'll post where I'm at in the weight loss curve. Until then, I'll just rave about how great I'm eating!