To begin again ...

Well, I have to say it's been an interesting week although not a great one eating wise, well at least not Clean Eating wise! :( So today, I will begin anew.

The twins birthday was this week and ever since making their birthday cake, I can't seem to stay away from the sugar. I'm not quite sure why I'm having a problem right now but there it is. They say that you need to look behind the reason your eating and find out the emotion behind it. I have to say that is one thing I find pretty hard to do. I do know I tend to eat more when I'm bored, how about you? Do you find any specific reason why you eat when or what you do?

If anyone has been following the nutrition news lately, you've probably heard the controversy over High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). If you are like me, you didn't really know why it is suppose to be so bad for you as I thought it was a natural substance. Then I received this email from Stonyfield Farms that lays it all out. Have a quick read and tell me what you think about it now.

http://www.stonyfield.com/Wellness/MooslettersDisplay.cfm?moos_id=118

I for one, think I will be trying to bypass this product if at all possible.

How was every one's week? Did anyone try anything new that seems to be working? My goal was to try to get back on my exercise path but I seem to be having a bit of problem with that too!

I did manage to kick my butt enough to make it to my Tuesday night step class and it did actually feel great to be there but then missed Friday night boot camp. Does anyone else like classes?? When I first started out, I did find them a tad intimidating but I simply started with a "how to" class to learn the moves and went from there. Now I can honestly say, I do love it.

A great motivator for me to get clean eating was something I read in one of Tosca's books. She said that the "beautiful body" formula is this:

80% nutrition
10% training
10% genes

Are you surprised by those numbers?? I know I was. I thought that exercise would be a way WAY higher percentage than that. It gave me hope that if I could just manage to eat clean, I would see the kind of body I have always wanted.

When I first started on my weight loss journey, I did not exercise at all. It wasn't until about 8 - 9 months later that I felt I was ready to begin doing more. So don't give up if you feel that you aren't ready to get into the gym just yet. Start off with the eating and I think that like me, you will get to a point where you just feel like starting to move your body more.

Last post I gave you 10 clean eating principles. I thought you might find the following "10 instant kitchen makeovers" helpful.

Substitute:

1. Sea salt for regular salt
2. Agave nectar for sugar
3. Unrefined whole wheat flour for white flour
4. Brown rice for white rice
5. Oatmeal for sugary cereals
6. Water for juice and pop
7. 75% or more dark chocolate for milk chocolate
8. Olive oil for vegetable oil
9. Egg whites for whole eggs
10. Natural nut butters for commercial peanut butter

As always, if you have any questions, let me know. If anyone has anything specific they would like some help with such as menu planning, tips, setting a goal ... you can either post a comment or send me an email to creithaug@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until then, keep eating ... clean that is!