Why I stopped following the doctor’s advice and started a clean eating meal plan.

For years I’ve been told; no-fat, low-fat, low-carb, count calories, low-sugar, high protein, and on and on.  A few years ago I made the decision to stop following all that advice and create a plan to start a healthy clean eating meal plan way of life.

The food choices we made usually fell on my shoulders, so I wanted to be sure I was feeding my family good healthy “clean” food. Choosing the right foods while avoiding all of the junk foods and processed foods was a real challenge.  But once I changed my mindset and started to eat off our farm, things changed for me. 

Since I’ve adopted a cleaner way of life, I’ve lost twenty pounds and have been able to keep it off for two years. It’s not a fancy diet with a ton of food restrictions; it’s just my common sense homestead diet.

• • Eat more whole food: Whole foods are foods that haven’t been tampered with, in the lab or the manufacturing plant. The foods you eat on this plan are straight from the farm: whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, grass-fed and free-range meats, dairy products, unsalted nuts, and seeds.
    • We are fortunate to raise our own chickens for eggs and meat, we butcher a cow every other year and a pig every spring, and we live in an area where fresh produce is readily available.
    • If you don’t live on a farm, you can do the same by purchasing grass-fed beef and organic poultry from your meat market. Visit your local produce market and eat what is in season, and if possible buy your fruits and vegetables straight from the farm.

• Avoid processed foods: Processed foods are any food that has a label. A label means that more than one ingredient was used to make that food. You don’t have to eliminate all processed foods (like whole-grain pasta or natural cheeses), but if you can’t pronounce an ingredient on a label, don’t put that food in your shopping basket.
  • Learn to read the labels. If you can’t pronounce or don’t recognize some of the ingredients, put the product back on the shelf! Look for items that have less than five ingredients listed.
  • By canning and preserving our own fruits and vegetables, I’ve been able to control the salt and sugar in our foods. I didn’t think that was a big thing until I started to read labels and saw how much sodium was in a simple can of green beans.
• Eliminate refined sugar. Refined sugar provides nothing but calories. Other sweeteners can be used, but with all the right foods you add to your diet, refined sugar really has no place in the clean eating plan.
  • I’ve made the switch from white sugar to raw honey. I am so thankful we raise bees. I’ve been able to replace honey for sugar in nearly all of my recipes, and my family doesn’t even notice.
  • When buying honey, make sure you are buying 100% raw honey only.
• Cook your own meals. Instead of buying meals in a box, cook meals from scratch. That’s not as hard as it sounds! Clean whole foods need little preparation beyond chopping and sautéing to make satisfying, delicious meals your family will love.
  • I have to admit portion control is my biggest problem. I like to eat, no way around it, so I’ve learned to eat on smaller plates and make sure vegetables take up half of my plate.

Here is what a typical spring day on my clean eating meal plan homestead diet looks like:

• Breakfast – Two scrambled eggs from our free-range chickens and a cup of mint tea from my herb garden sweetened with raw honey.
• Morning Snack – One ounce of pecans from my friend’s pecan tree.  She gives me a gallon size glass jar every year for Christmas and I keep them in the freezer all year long.
• Lunch – Spinach salad from our garden with fresh peas, radishes, and spring onions. Sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles and grilled chicken from our raised meat chickens. 
• Afternoon snack – Home canned peaches, fresh strawberries, and blueberries I picked and froze last year.
• Supper – Pasture-raised pork or beef, canned potatoes, and vegetables from last year’s garden and a slice of homemade bread.
• Evening Snack. I’m not much of an evening snacker, but when I do I’ll have a small bowl of homemade ice-cream made with the raw milk I get from a farmer near us.  The cream is 3 inches thick on the jug and I spoon it off and make homemade ice cream. 

Please note that I’m not a doctor and I’m not advising you to go against your doctor’s instructions; I’m only sharing that when I started to eat a cleaner diet that consisted of foods we grew on our homestead my health improved.

I’m a believer that what you eat affects how you feel. Eating whole foods and avoiding junk food – a clean-living lifestyle – can keep you healthy and help you regain your health better than any other diet plan I’ve ever tried. And God knows I have tried them all!

Just so you know I’m not perfect. If you offer me a bowl of vanilla ice cream with caramel and pineapple, I won’t turn you down. My advice is to stick with clean living and a homestead diet as much as possible, and you will feel better in the long run.

 

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