Challenge Time: Clean Eating

Last month I participated in the 30 Day Abs Challenge and you can read my DailyMile posts for each and every workout here. I was thrilled with the work I put in and the results I now feel. The before and after pictures don’t show exactly a huge visual change but it was a definite beginning to good things to come. I’m confident and I trust in these workouts enough to continue with the abs challenge this month in conjunction to the new Clean Eating Challenge.

Before:

After:

In my second round of the abs challenge I will not be going all out with the 3 day on 1 day rest schedule as with the first month, but I will be for sure adding multiple workouts per week. Through this challenge Susan, the trainer who put the workouts together, reiterated the truths of getting a solid core. She explained the importance of:

• a healthy diet being 80% of results
• keeping a consistent workout schedule
• working in some intense focused abs exercises into your workout schedule
• cardio with resistance or weights – you can not just target areas without burning fat

With the biggest part of getting a solid core being what goes into your body I was excited to see the new challenge from Amanda at RunToTheFinish:

I’m not unfamiliar with the eat clean diet. I started following this lifestyle eating plan back in the Fall of 2009. Over that time I saw great results and then a year ago I moved to a more gluten free diet in which I lost focus on clean eating.  In a post I wrote back on June 19, 2010 I found the following results:

Other good news that came from last week’s health coach meeting was comparing “the numbers”.

November 2009 to June 2010

• Weight down 12 pounds
• Pounds of fat down 7
• Body comp improved 2.4%
• BMI improved 2.2

I try very hard to not think of my health as just a bunch of numbers, but I believe these numbers taken every month are guidelines to determine how my diet and fitness choices are or are not working.

Eating Clean is all about choosing options that are fresh, unprocessed or in their most natural state.  Its all about fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and using natural sugars like sucanat, honey, maple syrup or stevia when necessary.  Another important detail would be making sure that you are eating 5-6 smaller meals per day and each meal is the duo of a quality lean protein and a whole grain or complex carb.

As I familiarize myself again with the core principles of eating clean I find myself struggling with one thing. Finding a lean protein that is neither a nut or dairy that I can add to either veggies or fruit for a snack.  I have turkey, chicken, beans and quinoa in mind, but what I am I missing?  Any ideas?