June Clean Eating Challenge

In June, the Black Women Losing Weight sisterhood will focus on cleaning up our eating.  To do that, we will do what is commonly called “clean eating”.  So you may ask, “What is Eating Clean?“.

When you eat clean you will be eating unprocessed, whole foods that are prepared or cooked in ways that don’t add extra chemicals and toxins.  We are talking  about fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, lean meats, meat substitutes like tofu, soy, whole grains, lots of water, healthy dairy and fresh juice.  We will avoid fried food, fast food, junk food, bleached white flour, artificial ingredients, soda, commercial juice and sugary drinks, processed sugar (white sugar, corn syrup), and foods with preservatives, toxins, dyes, saturated fat, and trans fat.  You will likely be cooking at lot of food at home, making green smoothies, eating salads, looking for healthy snacks, and really realizing just how healthy you’ve really been eating.

Need more info?  I’ve created a downloadable e-book guide to help you navigate clean eating, “Clean Eating for Wellness and Weight Loss“.  Get your copy today for just $6.00.

How do you join us? – You join the challenge by committing clean eating and by checking-in each weekend.  How do you check-in?  By posting a status message to Facebook or our online community…or by posting a blog post to our online community.  The goal is to be accountable with other BWLW Ladies.  Post during the week to our Facebook wall and online community for support.  You can also post meal ideas, recipes, etc.

Goals for June:

• Keep meals simple and ingredients to a minimum.
• Cook or prepare your meals at home as much as possible so that you can control what you eat.
• Avoid foods that are highly processed, full of preservatives to keep them fresh on a shelf, or colored with dyes.  If you don’t buy it, you will be less likely to eat it.
• Eat 4-5 meals per day – 3 meals and 2 snacks is a great way to split these meals up.  Your goal is to not go more than 4 hours between meals.
• Stop eating at least 2 hours before bed time.
• No fast food.  If you have to eat in restaurants, you will read the menu and seek out whole food options like salads, lean meats and veggies that aren’t cooked in butter and covered in salt.
• No sugary drinks.  This includes artificial sugars in diet drinks like Crystal Light and Diet Coke.

You can eat ANY fresh fruits or veggies you like (fresh or frozen).  Don’t worry about carbs from these whole and healthy foods.

NEW: “Clean Eating for Wellness and Weight Loss“.  This e-book covers:

• Benefits of Eating Clean
• What Foods are Clean
• How to Eat Clean
• Importance of Hydration
• Eating Clean on the Go and at Work
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Exercising While Eating Clean
• Recipes and Quick Meals
• …and More

Download this PDF e-book and read it on your computer (on on your mobile device with the Adobe Reader app).  If you have any questions about the book, email me at info@blackwomenlosingweight.com.  The Kindle version is also available on Amazon.com

Ladies, You CAN NOT out exercise a bad diet.  You have to clean up the highly processed food, sugary drinks, fatty meats, fast food, etc. from your diet so that your exercise efforts are not sabotaged.  Food is 70-80% of the weight loss equation.  You have to eat a healthy diet and commit to doing so as a lifestyle change to lose the weight for good.  Starving yourself or using quick fix solutions will work in the short term, but they can cause health issues in the long run and/or will lead to the pounds coming right back.  Eating clean is very popular and there are tons of free resources online.  Here are some resources to help you:

• Here is a list of approved Clean Eating foods that we will use for the challenge.
• Great Recipes:  I suggest that you visit www.thegraciouspantry.com, eatcleandiet.com and cleaneatingmag.com for hundreds of free recipes and information on the clean eating lifestyle.
• Clean Eating Shopping List for for Beginners and Food Substitution Chart from Gracious Pantry
• HeandSheEatClean is a great source of recipes and tips.

Exercise: I would suggest that you continue with our May Exercise Challenge routines for another month if you are seeing results.  You can do them in addition to weight training and high intensity interval training.

Disclaimer: Before starting any new diet and exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise and/or diet changes with them before beginning. I am not a doctor or registered dietitian. I do not claim to cure any cause, condition or disease. I do not provide medical or nutrition advice for the purpose of health or disease nor claim to be a doctor or dietitian.