How to Eat During a Clean Eating Challenge

I barely wanted to share with y’all that I’m doing a clean eating challenge and now look at me putting up the second post in the same week about the topic. Yep, that sounds like me…

This first week was rough! After Friday, I can eat anything that isn’t processed, but this week is supposed to just be fruits, vegetables, and nuts/seeds. Monday I did well. Two huge salads and smoothies, a couple homemade Larabars, and a ton of water kept me full. Then Tuesday rolled around and I could barely stomach the thought of another green salad or smoothie. I still had one of each, but that was about it. When you tell me I can only eat roughage, I’m not that hungry all of a sudden.

I spoke with my coach Tuesday night, who suggested I just try a vegan diet for the rest of the week to ensure I got enough calories. On Wednesday, I had a lunch of quinoa, corn, tomatoes and basil and holy Christmas, was it delicious. Hot food is amazing after two days without it!!

I’m sure I’ll have a lot more of these as the summer wears on, but to get us started, here are four tips I suggest if you’re trying to keep healthy AND full.

Maggie’s Tips for a Clean Eating Challenge

1. Keep cherry tomatoes, blueberries, and fruits and veggies you can eat by the handful washed and ready to go for snacking. It’s harder to reach for the crackers if you have a better option available.

2. We aren’t even supposed to use dressings on our salads this week. Instead, the coaches suggested salsa, a squeeze of lemon or a scoop of guacamole. I tried all that, but it didn’t give me the same mouth feel as my beloved ranch. Instead, I blended leftover fruit salad down to a similar consistency. Since I normally go for all things sweet, this was a delicious “dressing” for Monday’s salads. Easy and pretty darn near calorie-free!

3. I’ve talked at length about the chocolate smoothies I have every morning on a normal basis, so I thought that adding a few more (fruit-based, of course) to the daily routine wouldn’t be that big a deal. Then I made my first one without the typical addition of yogurt. ***Record screeches.*** Fruit and water mashed up is just as “eh” as it sounds. I needed something to smooth out the texture. (Sidebar – looks like I really do have texture issues when it comes to food!) Instead of yogurt, folks in our private Facebook group suggested a half of an avocado. It works! Just like the spinach I normally add, you can’t taste it at all, but the consistency is back to milkshake-like.

4. I don’t have to go without ice cream this summer and neither do you! I’m going to try this chocolate coconut “ice cream” tonight. Yum! Dessert for vegans, who knew?!?

Those are my tips, but I need your help, too.

What are you best tricks to cut out the bad stuff?