eat clean april: done!

{source unknown}

i have eaten clean for an entire month. add that to the list of things i never thought i'd say. a few months ago, i didn't even know what "clean" meant. after starting to do some research about nutrition, i quickly learned a lot of stuff that straight up scared me. the long list of things that we put into our bodies in the form of processed food is alarming. so i set out on what was supposed to be a 2 week journey to see what this clean eating thing was all about.

well after 2 weeks, i was afraid to "eat normal" again because i had a race to run and didn't want to feel sick all week. and then when i got to race day, i figured, "hey, what's another 10 days?"

it's been hard! i have been eating six meals a day & cooking pretty much everything that i have consumed. there have been lots of fruit & veggies, lots of protein shakes, and plenty of chicken. i have drank a few times {because i've been a concert going freak this month} but have kept it limited to drinking only when i have actual plans. another important thing for me is portion control. this has always been a problem for me, as it is for most americans. so i have been measuring all of my food as well & paying very close attention to serving sizes.

a typical day looks like this:

meal 1: chocolate peanut butter protein shake
meal 2: hard boiled egg whites & banana
meal 3: sweet potatoes & quinoa
meal 4: almonds & homemade protein bars
meal 5: salsa chicken & black beans
meal 6: frozen grapes

what about when i travel? i plan ahead of time and pack a cooler. what about eating out? i haven't. the one time i did eat out this month, i asked for my scrambled egg whites to be cooked dry (without any butter or oils), a half an avocado, and fresh fruit. it was brunch, so it was pretty easy. what do i miss most? CHEESE. easy answer. but frozen yogurt is a close second. how much weight have i lost? i've lost another 10 pounds this month.

so now what? good question - i'm not sure. i have been trying to figure this one out for a few days now.   i actually don't even have the desire to eat anything "bad" for me anymore, which is pretty insane. and now that i know what i know, i will continue to be extremely cautious about what i put into my body. but i will eat cheese. i will most definitely eat cheese.

{source}