Serious Play

Eat Clean Changes

So, we are undergoing more than just renovation changes around here! Along with eliminating all cleaning chemicals, plastics and other toxins in our home, last week we added a new way of eating to our lifestyle! You can read more about it here.

You must understand that this is not your typical 'diet', but rather a whole new way of eating. The true goal is to become healthy inside and out. It is not a 'quick fix' diet on which you lose weight. It is about maximizing your metabolism and making it work for you. It is about eating more meals a day (6 to be exact) but smaller quantities. It is about keeping your stomach roughly 80% full all the time!  It is about pairing complex carbs + protein. It is about drinking a lot of water and tea (in fact, that is all I have been drinking for over a week now...and I'm okay with that!).

The great thing is that we are all being supported in this change, apart from just within our family. The boys at the Firehall where Sean works are also making an effort to change their eating habits. One of the guys is even running the treadmill with Sean. I told the lady that I work with about Eating Clean, she went out and bought the books and now we are checking out what each other brings for lunch! It's so great! The girls are also able to make this part of their day even at school.

Of course, we are seeing some weight changes! Sean has dropped a few pounds, I am around 5 less, Ash is leading the pack by dropping 10 pounds and Jess...well, we are hoping that this way of eating will actually help her to gain weight!

And the best part...not once have I had to ask "What should we have for supper?"

 

Eating Clean

Page Template: Cathy Zielske

Digital Papers & Corner Circles Brush: MichelleColeman_VintageDreams_RetroDiva @ Little Dreamer Designs

So, we completed our first day of eating clean! It feels good. With a new kitchen, and having purged a lot of stuff during our reno, I figured this is the time to make some changes in the way we cook and eat too. I hadn't spoken to Sean about it, I was just planning to start cooking differently and see how it goes. But when he came to me and said he was thinking about doing a cleanse, I knew that now was the time for changing our eating. It is a lot easier if we are all on board with this new way of eating.

I had never heard of Tosca Reno, or at least never paid attention. But she has quite a following and this is her 8th book! As I am reading her book Eat Clean Diet Recharged, I am learning so much about how to eat. The essence of her theory is that we need to be eating more (6 meals a day) but in much smaller portions. She also talks about pairing carbs with protein and drinking a lot of water. It all makes sense, and nothing is surprisingly new information, but her book includes a few different menus plans to choose from. This is what I needed to get started. Today was the first day and I feel satisfied.

Here's to healthier eating!

First Meal

So, I know that I already posted the pics of the night that I first was able to cook again in my kitchen. But now that I have been spending a little more time in my kitchen, I have had less time to scrapbook! And, I am also taking the online class with Cathy Zielske, so I am getting behind in that too! (As a teacher, it does not go unnoticed that the last two sentences began with 'but' and 'and'...believe me, this would not fly in my classroom!) 

Today, I am killing two birds with one stone. I am using photos and a story that I have already told, and I am using them to create a LO assignment from my online class...

 

Page template: Cathy Zielske, green & red digital papers: Shabby Princess_HappyGoLucky kit

We were learning about Repetition in this lesson and how it is 'the visual glue' for a LO. We were to find 3 things to repeat in our LO. Mine is stretching it a bit, but I repeated the green color...in the two top and bottom spaces and (here's the stretch) the green in the center pic on the LH side (the olive oil bottle and the cooking pot). I don't know if that qualifies, but if nothing else, there are 3 pics down the LH side that look like repetition to me! So there you go.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Here's to a fabulous week!