Somedays I eat salads…

I try to eat fairly healthy. Now a days there are so many interpretations of that statement but for me it meant having a balanced diet of protein and veggies and trying my very hardest not to east sweets during the week! In October I decided I would save sweets for weekends. This was a big deal for me!

Over the holidays I totally blew this rule of mine (Can ya blame me?!) and I went into December deciding that come January I needed a fresh start. I did this not because I was feeling overweight necessarily but because 1) I just wasn’t feeling good physically and mentally and 2) towards the end of December I had a moment where I literally couldn’t remember the last time I had cooked at home. The one perk of this was my kitchen was always staying clean (spoken like a true clean freak 😉 )

I decided to give myself grace through the holiday season and not to feel guilty about eating “poorly” or eating out but I firmly decided to have a clean start on January 4th! My husband and I started our “clean eating plan” which is based off of a book that we have seen close friends and family have amazing results with. I am not at all about fad diets but I read this book and the science behind it really made sense to me. If you want more details feel free to email me (rachelbarnes12@gmail.com).

Basically it’s no carb, high protein, veggies, and fruits eating plan that goes through 4 cycles of a set number of days that boosts your metabolism.  My goals were threefold, 1) loose the weight I had gained towards the latter part of 2016, 2) Just FEEL better- mentally and physically, 3) learn to enjoy cooking again and disciplining myself to cook at home.

Those of you working girls know how difficult it is at the end of work day to come home, cook a meal, and then clean up! I am not trying to complain here by any means. My husband is a great cook and is so helpful around the house but we have decided that meal planning is something that I take the lead on and I am more than okay with that. Eating healthy is so much easier eating at home so I knew that by doing this I would become more disciplined to cook from home instead of being lazy during the week and going out every night.

The goal of this post is not at all to tell you what to eat to lose weight or become a better you yada ya. This is not that kind of blog. Doing this clean eating plan (which I am still in the midst of and am going to try to maintain for the near future), taught me a lot about myself and how I view food/eating. I want to share a few of these things I learned with you:

** Just a little note, I hate the word diet so for the sake of this post, I am going to refer to “my diet” as “my plan” and “the plan.” Got it? good.

1. I re-discovered the art of craving really good food. There came a point around the holidays where I just wasn’t appreciating food at all. All the cookies I could ever want were at my fingertips and I wasn’t really practicing any self-discipline with my eating so I wasn’t appreciating that food I used to enjoy so much. Doing this plan, made me desire really good food (i.e. food that wasn’t on my plan but is so tasty), not in an unhealthy way but just in an appreciative sort of way.

I went to Atlanta a few weeks ago for a girls weekend and allowed myself to cheat (not go overboard!) that weekend. I decided early on that on the weekends, I wasn’t going to let my plan get in the way of enjoying time spent with friends and family and living life to the fullest. We went to this lovely pizza place that only served pizza and calzones. And wow that was some of the best pizza I had ever had. Now was it really the best pizza I have ever had? Probably not, but in that moment it was and I enjoyed it so much more because I had been disciplining myself to not eat it whenever I craved it or it was available to me. The next time you’re in Alpharetta, GA do yourself a favor and visit Antico Pizza! Great Atmosphere. Great pizza. Great Gelato. That is all ya need to know!

2. Clean meal cooking is easier. The less foods you can eat, the less options. Coming from someone who gets overwhelmed by too many options (the cereal aisle at Harris Teeter- Night.Mare.) this plan made it much easier for me to cook because I could easily remember the foods we were able to eat and the ways I could cook it.

3. Accountability is the key. If I was not doing this with Doug (my husband) it would’ve been impossible. So many days I wanted to cheat and I would think that he was at work eating his chicken and broccoli and immediately I put that donut down! Hehe, not exactly. but I knew we would get home at the end of the day and talk about how hard it was to resist eating this and how we had to try our best not to eat this etc. and I wasn’t going to straight up lie to the guy! Also, I made sure all of my co-workers that I eat lunch with on a weekly basis knew I was doing the plan. Not like they would’ve been mad or anything if I cheated but honestly, I would’ve been embarrassed. Maybe that is silly, but it kept me going!

4. Self-discipline is such a confident booster! I was meeting one of my co-workers/friends at a coffee shop for a meeting a couple weeks ago and she asked me how the plan was going and I literally just smiled and said “Great! I am feeling so happy! That sounds ridiculous and don’t get me wrong, I was not always happy but choosing to stick with this plan and denying myself what I wanted, when I wanted it all the time, really has made me aware of what I am able to do when I put my mind to it. So cliche, I know, but so true! Sweets and carbs are my weakness. I rarely say no to myself. This gave me the opportunity to say no to myself and learn to be okay with that!

5. I really love desserts and that is NOT a horrible terrible bad thing that I need to be ashamed about. I remember growing up at big family gatherings with my mom’s side of the family (the Italian side- we know how to eat), dessert was always (and still is) my favorite part.  My grandma always has multiple desserts. Not just a couple cakes or a few things of ice cream, it is full on Italian Creme cake (my personal fave), apple pie, pecan pie, chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, cookies, biscotti, and if it’s not on the table and you mention it, she will sure as heck have it for you next time. Dessert is the main event and I absolutely love that.  I still think there is so much value in dessert! Dessert is used to celebrate life events, to treat yourself when you’ve had a long week, and fellowship with those you love! I will never be one of those people that constantly substitutes the latest and greatest “natural sweetener” in my normal dessert recipes. That just isn’t going to happen and I am okay with that! All in moderation is my mantra.

All of that to say, I value clean eating plans but I also value splurging and eating truly delicious food (pasta, pizza, cheese, bread, you know, the good stuff).

I wanted to share 3 pinterest recipes that I really fell in love with and are healthy, delicious, and easy to make! If it fits these three criteria, it’s a winner in my book!

1. World’s Best Chicken I am a mustard fanatic. You drink maple syrup from the bottle (no joke, my husband has done this at Cracker with the little mini syrup containers- What?!), and I drink mustard. Not weird at all. But you don’t even have to love mustard to love this chicken. The name doesn’t lie. It’s that good. Moist (sorry if you hate that word, I kinda do too), flavorful, great as a leftover, easy to make (less than 5 ingredients!!), and the list goes on. Make this. NOW. You won’t regret.
2. Slow Cooker Green Chicken I ate this one for days. Also, flavorful, also moist, also easy to make. I added some other veggies and avocado and ate it over spring mix salad! Add some balsamic and olive oil and you have yourself a healthy and delicious dinner.
3. Frozen Yogurt Bark This is dessert. I love Greek yogurt. If you don’t enjoy greek yogurt, you could still possibly enjoy this. It’s sweet and refreshing. I will be making this more in the summer and adding in different fruits. I made with blueberries and raspberries!

I hope you all learned something and are encouraged by this! Sometimes, lifestyle changes are challenging but in the end can be quite rewarding.

Happy almost weekend!

Rachel