clean eating...

i'm not one for fad diets...grapefruit anyone??  actually, i haven't ever tried a true "fad" diet!  in the past i have attempted dieting (ie. smaller portions, low-fat, etc).  i am not good at being hungry!  or never eating something i love, so, for me...it never lasts long.  but i'm not sad about it, in general, dieting isn't a healthy thing, our bodies need to be feed!

here is the thing, how are we feeding our bodies??  this might just be the key to it!

a few years back, i had a really bad run of health...there was loads going on (ice storm '08, fire, er on christmas morning, 6 rounds of strep in 12 weeks, clogged stink pipe, furnace fire, and then health issues thanks to the run of antibiotics)  yup, it was a year to remember :)  but really, we were all fine, and we didn't complain, we took it in stride as a family!  but i did learn loads about my insides!!  the yeast that over ran my body took it's toll on so very many aspects, my memory, energy, skin, etc.  something had to be done!  i took the bull by the horns and learned all i could about how my food was effecting it.  i went on a VERY strict candida diet.  this time, i had no choice, i stuck with it because i didn't have a choice!  well, i healed my insides!  i also lost a lot of weight (at that point i didn't really need to and was a little too small).  after 9 months i added some small things back into my diet and waited to see what would happen...in small amounts i was able to tolerate almost everything!

now we fast forward to today, this is me 15 lbs. above my "normal" weight.  after my injury, exercise wasn't in my life for 1.5 years...that adds up :(  our family is very healthy when it comes to our food, so i was at a loss (ok, little pun there, as clearly i pointed out my gain)

in comes game on!  yup, it's a healthy lifestyle game that works like a diet/workout game!  i am competitive and so the idea works well for me.  i also have a few dear friends who have had great success with it, so...game on!

this is not a post about the game (it is going well so far, my team has lead both weeks of our 4!) so, jenna, what is all this for then??  it's about my process towards clean eating...

the food that is best for our game is a list that is actually very similar to the candida diet i needed before.  so i know it works!  but the best part is, there are more foods!  and there are options for treats and time off (taking care of my deprivation complaint) so, as i began look around for recipes and food ideas that involve my whole family, i kept coming bake to the same few blogs...all based on a clean eating philosophy.  with only a little tweaking, it changes our family's healthy food, into even better food! 

my study of this is just beginning...i will share!  do you eat clean?  whole foods?  please share!