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I'm a freelance writer, wife and mother of one from Western Massachusetts. Spending time with my family and having the honor of raising my son together with my husband is where my whole heart is. Just before our son was born we fell in love with the location of a fixer upper lake house and moved in when I was VERY pregnant. We've been renovating ever since. When I'm not writing, filling the roles of wife or mother, I enjoy a relatively new passion, boxing. It's an empowering workout like none I've ever experienced. Watch out for my right cross. I'd love to hear from you. Email me traceywrites@mass.rr.com.

Friday, May 16, 2014

# 32 - Eat Clean for One Week

   As I sit and contemplate the challenge I made for myself to eat clean for seven straight days as a part of my 40 by forty list I started thinking.  I had pre-planned and put this challenge on my calendar way back in February.  At that time the news about Subway using the same chemical used in yoga mats in their bread was making headlines.  During that same time I finally got around to watching the excellent Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips which is based on a true account.  What do those two things have in common you might ask?  Not much to tell you the truth except that this thought occurred to me.  What kind of world do we live in that the rescue effort displayed by our government and how they spared no expense to save a ship’s captain held hostage by Somalian Pirates it’s nothing short of  heroic?  Yet that same government allows food regulations that make it okay for the public to ingest harmful plastic and pesticides?  Some of which are directly linked to certain types of cancers and neurological disorders.  I guess the message is no one else can harm an American citizen or we’ll come after you, but if we want to allow our own food industry to poison them well then that’s okay. 
   So, to me, clean eating sounds ridiculous.  Essentially the term is telling us that for the most part, we’re eating dirty, and it’s right.  Yuck!  How is that okay?  The norm has become eating processed food to which we have no idea of its true ingredients. 
   I won’t go on and on about big business and how everything comes down to the almighty dollar.  We all basically know that story.  I won’t even go off on a tirade about how absurd it is that we have to petition our government representatives to force companies to label GMO foods.  Mom always told me if someone wants to hide something there must be a reason, right?
   Well, yes, but instead of heading down that road, I will focus on the challenge at hand.  Item number 32 on my 40 by Forty list.  I am planning to eat clean for an entire week. 
   Fervently, for the past few days, I’ve been searching one of my favorite websites, Pinterest for clean recipes and ideas in preparation for the challenge.  The good news is I didn’t find my search to be lacking at all.  There is so much great information out there I was swimming in it before long. 
   It didn’t take much except some time and now I have 7 full days of clean meals and snacks planned out and I’m ready to tackle this item on my list beginning Monday.  Using the coming weekend to finish my shopping and do some food preparation. 
   I have to say the recipes which I will share a few of at the end of this post sound really good.  I’m fairly excited to start this challenge and I know my body will feel better as I’ve dabbled in this arena before.  My hope is that during this year in which I will eventually turn forty years old, I will finally come to terms with the necessity of food as a means to take care of and fuel my body and not as an instant pleasure.  I know seven days won’t be enough to right all the bad habits I’ve picked up over the past four decades, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.  So, here I go to put one foot in front of the other, leaving the processed boxes and bags of unhealthy industry food behind and reaching out to local farmers and the co-op I belong to in order to cook up some real food that came directly from its source like a vine or a tree.  Imagine that.  You’d think that was the way the universe intended it to be or something, ha!

Here are a few recipes I can’t wait to try.  Clean breakfast, lunch and dinner anyone?




I’ll touch base next week with how it’s going.  Ya know, reading labels, using fresh produce and not eating out ;-)  I'll offer up some reviews as well as other recipes to try.  If you have any favorites to share, post them below. 

Here’s to a week of happy healthy eating everyone.

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