Clean Eating - The Beginning

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Well it has happened. I have fallen for a "diet" and I could not be more excited about it!

Looking back at my eating habits over the last several months, I have seen a major decline in the healthy-ish meals and habits I once consumed and maintained. This is largely do to the general increase in "stuff" that I do on a daily/weekly basis. Is that a valid excuse? It doesn't matter, I am using it anyway. The important thing, is that I recognize I am no longer where I want to be health wise and that I need to get back on track quickly.

I have done a bit of research into diets and found most results to be quite discouraging for a vegetarian like myself. I started with the popular ones:
  • Paleo - I am a vegetarian and allergic to most nuts, making this diet very difficult
  • Weight Watchers - I do not want to pay to have a phone app and count points
  • Ketogenic (Atkins, South Beach) - Again the not eating meat thing makes this one difficult
  • Juicing Diet - I like to eat solid food, end of story.
  • Clean Eating - ding, ding, ding! This one makes sense!
Clean eating will work for me because I already know and follow many of the "diet" guidelines. I wrote "diet" because eating clean, as I understand it, is really more of a life change. Here are the guidelines for the "diet" that I am familiar with or currently practice.
  1. I do not eat much processed food
  2. I try not to consume toxins and added chemicals
  3. I eat whole grains -- if the word whole is not there, something has been taken out of it
  4. I never miss a meal -- I enjoy food too much to skip a meal
  5. I try to eat small portions -- but I really enjoy sweets and bread and cheese and vegetables and, well, food
  6. I know I should drink at least 8 cups of water a day -- doing it is more difficult
  7. I know I should eat 5-6 meals a day -- again doing this is challenging
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This brings me to the point of this post. As I was researching diet options, I realized that most are not geared toward vegetarians or vegans. The clean eating "diet" is really no exception. I read the reviews for the Eat Clean Vegetarian Cookbook, and was surprised to find out that Tosca Reno, does not have a background in nutrition and does not understand vegetarianism or veganism. So here I am, attempting to show other vegetarians how to eat clean. I also do not have the nutrition background, but I understand being a vegetarian, as I have been one since I was 11 years old (that is 16 years). I am going to dive right into this life changing "diet" and I am going to document the progress with recipes, meal plans and my workout routines. I am not a pro, but I will be doing a ton of research, learning as I go, and posting everything for you all to enjoy and hopefully use.

You should know that I will be relying on the following books, blogs and websites to become the healthy person I want to be:
I noticed that having a place to post the wonderful food that I am making encourages me to make more of it! So enjoy and stumble through this lifestyle with me.

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