>You cannnn dooooo itttttt

>I loved reading your comments and e-mails from yesterday’s post on my switch to Clean Eating. One comment in particular definitely needs clarification:

I‘m definitely intrigued. Do you ever allow yourself “non-clean” treats? For example, if you really want to meet friends for cupcakes at Sprinkles or Georgetown Cupcake, would you do it? I’m just curious because I feel like I generally eat clean (at home I eat very clean and feel great!), but occasionally when I’m out or with friends, it’s hard to stick to it, and it feels good to indulge. What do you think?

I am definitely not perfect! I truly believe Clean Eating is one of the best (and easiest!) things we can do for ourselves in life but I also believe in living your life: going out to restaurants with friends, eating your grandma’s homemade spaghetti n’ meatballs,  sipping [skinny] margaritas on girls’ nights, etc.

I aim to eat clean when I can (that is about 90% of the time) and leave about 10% for fun. I am human, you know 😉

I think so many people forget that a healthy lifestyle (among other things in life) is not an “all or nothing approach“. If you eat clean 50% of the time it’s better than 0%, if you can shoot for 80% that’s even better, etc. Make small changes and over time you’ll realize you’re getting closer and closer to 90-100%.

I took a picture of last night’s dinner to show you how easy going clean is. Enter our (our = me, manfriend, sister) all-time favorite dinner..

Turkey meatloaf, sweet potato fries, salad, and red sangria!

 Ingredients (using an all natural version of each)

Meatloaf (recipe here)

1 pack lean ground turkey breast 

rolled oats

Worcestershire sauce

ketchup (Hunt’s all-natural version in the background, haha)

tomato/veggie juice (V8)

sea salt

pepper

yellow onion

garlic

1 egg

Sweet potato fries (recipe here)

sweet potatoes

olive oil

sea salt 

black pepper

Salad

Spinach

tomatoes

avocado

carrots

cucumbers

1:1 mix of Goddess dressing and balsamic vinegar

Sangria (recipe here)

Red wine (I try to choose those without added sulfates when I can)

all-natural triple sec

lime juice

OJ (or fresh squeezed oranges)

stevia

frozen fruit

You cannnnn dooooo ittttt! Once you’ve cleaned out your fridge/cabinets and replaced commonly used items such as balsamic vinegar, salad dressings, citrus juice, ketchup, you don’t even have to think about how to make the meal clean!  

Make the switch already. Mmmm K?

* * *

Whelp, the last several days I’ve been incredibly busy. I flew home to New Hampshire for Easter, returned to work several long shifts in a row, and I’m applying to Physician Assistant programs. Therefore, my meals have been quick, fresh, and nutrient dense to keep me going!

2 refreshing breakfasts consumed lately…

Smoothie Bowl 

(a smoothie so thick it’s better eaten with a spoon)

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 c frozen blueberries

3-4 frozen strawberries

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (SunWarrior brand, yo!)

1 T raw almond butter

1/2 c almond milk

1/2 c h20

1 t xanthan gum (optional; to thicken)

stevia, 1 serving

pinch sea salt (brings out sweetness)

Blended and topped with a Magical Biscotti..

(I don’t know how they do it, but these babies are all-natural and 20 calories per biscotti. Whatttt?!

Raw Smoothie Dough Boy  (adapted from KERF’s recipe)

 Combined and soaked overnight

1/3 c raw oat groats (can substitute for regular rolled oats)

1/2 c almond milk

1 /2 c water

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (raw SunWarrior for meee)

pinch cinnamon, nutmeg

1 t xanthan gum (optional; to thicken)

stevia, 1 serving

pinch sea salt

Next morning, add mixture and following to food processor:

1/2  frozen banana

3-4 frozen strawberries

1/3 c frozen bananas

Speaking of mornings, guess who’s successfully downgraded from two venti (large) coffees to ONE SMALL per day??

(Kids, it can be done)

Spring = heat = Return of KOMBUCHA!!!!

Which pairs nicely with a fresh salad + side of sun and outdoor deck..

Spinach

1 serving Tempeh

broccoli

baby carrots

tomatoes

garbanzo beans

raw cashews

sunflower seeds

(dressed in a 1:1 mixture of Goddess dressing and balsamic vinegar) <–My favorite dressing ever! 

* * *

Alright, it’s crunch time. Today’s agenda:

– Run (in the rain!)

– Essay writing

– Work 3-12am

(Sooooo excited to get moving)

Have a great day!

Questions:

What small changes have you made to your diet to go Clean?

Any advice you can offer someone completely new to Clean Eating?

How badly do I need a tan? 😉 

>The [diet] book that changed my life

>In college I suffered from terrible migraines. My sophomore year in particular, I was in and out of the hospital what seemed like more days than not. I was told I probably had anything from viral meningitis to an aneurysm. Fortunately I found a fantastic neurologist and was prescribed 2 preventative medicines and 1 pain killer. The migraines subsided considerably but I still had at least 1-2 per week which greatly interfered with my life. This pattern continued until my 2nd year of graduate school when I realized something else (beyond prescription medicine) had to be done. For those of you that suffer from migraines, you know they are not headaches. Headaches are not debilitating and (for the most part) don’t completely hinder your daily routine (work, studying, hanging out with friends) and force you to lay down in a dark room until the pain goes away (can be a couple of hours or the rest of the day).

A friend of mine from college (who also has a blog, btw and is a super fast ultra marathoner now), introduced me to the Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno and raved about her increased energy, glowing skin, silky hair, and overall fitness improvement. Amazed by her results, I decided to give it a try. I was also looking to rid my poor college eating habits and learn how to eat like a grown up.

source

I quickly read the book and gave my pantry a complete makeover. I threw out (or donated) all canned goods, condiments, sweeteners, juices, sodas, etc. that contained artificial ingredients (dyes, preservatives, additives). I replaced these items with their clean counterparts (which I found to be all similar priced) and made two new recipes from the book per week.

Pretty soon (actually, very soon) my migraines vanished (almost completely!), I was able to finally call myself a “morning runner” due to the energy surge, my skin cleared up, my nails stopped breaking, and I lost about 10 lbs. Today I am 100% off prescription migraine medicine (it will be 6 months next week!) and rarely ever get a migraine (maybe 1 every 2-3 months).

What’s also changed? My taste buds! Now that I eat only real food, I can’t even stomach the fake stuff. If it has artificial anything in it – I swear I can tell (I’ve actually tried this blindfolded, haha). To me, it tastes like there’s added chemicals – not flavor.

Friends often ask me how I stick to such a diet. I always answer back “what diet?” Before we invented preservatives and food dyes, was everyone on a diet? There is no food (or meal) I can’t make or find – I just buy the all natural version. Don’t believe me?

Let’s say I’m craving a McDonald’s burger? I’ll make these
French fries? Here
Oreos? I’ll grab a box of the all-natural version at Whole Foods
Chinese Food? I’ll either make my own or order from an all-natural restaurant
Margaritas? Check out these babies
Cupcakes? I have these for breakfast
Taco salad? Bet you like this version better
Pancakes? I have more recipes than I know what to do with

How about commonly found items in most family cabinets? You can find ALL of these in an average grocery store at comparable prices to their chemical cousins

– Ketchup
– Mayonnaise
– Salad dressing
– Milk
– Yogurt
– Frozen pizza
– Canned soup
– Boxed Mac N’ Cheese
– Beans
– Peanut Butter
– Jelly
– Bread
– Sweeteners
– Cereal
– Granola bars

There really is no excuse! You’ll reap the health benefits, energy will surge, pants will fit better and you’re taste buds will dance!

If you’re new (or intrigued by) the Eating Clean diet and want to ask me any questions, feel free to contact me at Biochemista@gmail.com. I’m more than happy to help you get started!

>Let’s play catch-up

>Whew – this week has been crazy. I’ve spend a considerable bit most of my time at the hospital (hospital = work), and let me tell you, 5:45am wake-ups are not my thang. Last night however, I did manage to get 10 hours of sleep. Maybe it was due to the fact I was a walking corpse for the last few days, or I had a great time with these two ladies at a local DC food blogger happy hour.

Either way, I slept like a babe.

* * * 

I suppose a catch-up is in order, since working 13 hour days = no blogging. Sorry kids. Here are some recent [healthy] meals worth posting:

Butternut squash & Flax soup

(vegan, gluten-free, and SO EASY!)

 (Adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet)

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, cubed

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, diced

4 cups organic vegetable broth (gluten-free variety if required)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 T flax seeds

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 t basil

1 t oregano

1/2 t cumin

pinch cayenne

sea salt, pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Satay carrots, celery, garlic, onions in a little water until onions are soft

2. Boil squash until soft. 

3. Combine drained squash, veggies, and remaining ingredients and use mixer, food processor, or in my case blender to puree

4. Enjoy

* * *

 Chocolate protein pancakes topped with raspberry puree

Pancake mix:

1.5 scoops Chocolate protein powder (Chocolate SunWarrior is the best, in my opinion)

1/3 cup egg whites

1 T diced pecans 

1 T apple sauce, unsweetened

1/4 cup frozen raspberries

pinch baking powder

pinch sea salt

Raspberry glaze:

1/4 cup frozen raspberries, microwaved & mashed

stevia, to taste

 * * *

Sweet Potato & Peanut Butter <—Amazing savory/sweet combo

(Thanks Naomi for the suggestion!)

Quick Sweet potato cooking directions:

Stab sweet potato several times with knife

Microwave in bowl (with a little H20) for ~10 mins, 5 mins on each side

* * *

What are you dying to cook that you haven’t tried? 

I reeeeally want to break out my slow cooker but am somewhat intimidated, despite the face I know you just “throw stuff in and let it cook”. Any recipe suggestions?

>LUCKY 7 GIVEAWAY!!!

>Hiiii,

How was your Monday after the weekend’s Superbowl festivities? Here’s something exciting to start your week off right!

My FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!! Here are the goods (some of my favorites):

1. Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Cookbook (!)

2. Maca Powder (High in Vitamin C, Fiber, and promotes energy. Great to add to smoothies)

3. Magic soup starter

4. Better N Peanut Butter

5. Acai powder (A superfruit rich in antioxidants and omegas 3,6,9)

6. Organic dark chocolate

7. TBD

*To enter, you must:

1) Answer one of the following questions in the comments section:

What’s your favorite science, and why?

If you could be a professional athlete, which sport would you play?

What’s your favorite guilt-free comfort food?

2) Add me to your blogroll (post the link and let me know you did).

3) Tweet “I want to win the LUCKY 7 GIVEAWAY by @LaurBiochemista!”

The giveaway officially ends on Thursday Feb 11th at 9:00pm. A random number generator will choose and I’ll announce the winner that night!

GOOD LUCK and thanks for entering!!!!

-Lauren

>Wicked great weekend (I’m from NH okay…)

>Hey Hey Hey,

How was your weekend? Mine was glorious. As I told ya before, the manfriend was visiting. He flew in Thursday night and stayed until this morning. For some reason neither of us looked at his flight time and assumed it was today at 1:45pm…however, we soon found out we were 40mins off. But after a morning of rushing (more on his part) he made it to his flight and arrived safely home 🙂 I’m so used to seeing him every 2-3 months (ugh, I know) that this last month of TWICE in one month has been fantastic!

Well the weekend started off great, spent Thursday night catching up/enjoying some vino on the couch with Seth and the roomies. Friday night was my program’s holiday party. Let me just say there are few things more entertaining than seeing your professors, dean, chair of the department (more than) tipsy. How I love holiday parties…

After my program’s party we (manfriend, me, and sis) headed to another holiday party, this one for the Georgetown MBA program, at a swanky bar (en route pic of Setho)..

We met up some a few other friends and danced the night away..

LOVE this pic! Me (on the right) and my friend Ally gettin our dance on.

Saturday was quite lazy as the weather wasn’t helping. Spent most of the day on the couch 🙂 Seth got a little antsy so went to get some work done, but me and Kels (sis/roomie) happily watched a couple (ok more like 4) re-runs of 90210 😉 Aaah, love that show.

In the evening, Seth had the pleasure of accompanying me to lab for a couple of hours. Scienceland can be great but one area where it falls short is timing. If drug X needs to be added exactly 36 hours after drug Y then there is little room for flexibility and it will be added exactly 36 hours later. So yep, we were in lab til 9pm on a Saturday night. Cool, I know 😛
(I was testing how efficently 4 new kill leukemic cells)

After lab we made a quick trip to Heaven (aka Whole Foods), blasted Holiday music, and cooked up a fiesta! Seth made clams in a garlic/lemon/butter sauce (vegan Earth Balance butter…was actually very similar to butter. I highly recommend it):

I spiralized 2 raw zucchinis (as the “pasta”) then made a pesto sauce (inspired by Fitnessista) made of handful of fresh basil, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp pine nuts, dollop of Greek yogurt (I’m allergic to Parmesan. Sad, I know):

Both were delish! We paired this with a spring mix salad topped with balsamic. And obviously great wine alongside.

Anddd then some dessert (dark chocolate covered strawberries, also from Heaven):

Ah, such a great date night 🙂

On Sunday morning I was in the cooking mood again. Kels had worked the night shift (she’s an RN) so her bfast was delivered in bed. Yes, I know I’m quite the sister. Wink Wink Kels..

I made these protein pancakes adapted from Tosca’s Reno’s Clean Eat Cookbook. As much as I love to cook, cookbooks have never been my thing. However, this books is AMAZING. Everything is 100% Natural (hence the name ‘clean’), made with minimal ingredients (aka college student friendly) and of items that you’ve probably heard of. I highly recommend it!

The recipe called for 1 tbsp. canola oil (I substituted this with unsweetened apple sauce) and wheat germ (which I didn’t have, so also gluten-free..aka roomie-friendly)

Pancakes were made of rolled oats, whipped egg whites, apple sauce, vanilla whey protein powder, cottage cheese, cinnamon, stevia (an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener), and flax seeds. I made a fruit topping by microwaving some frozen fruit (Trader Joe’s berry blend) and adding some stevia. Delish!

And yes, I sometimes drink OJ out of a wine/champagne glass..

Well I’ve gotta run back to this experiment…Happy Monday! Have a great week!!!

-Lauren

Note: Check out my brother’s new blog. He was trained as a division one college athlete and is studying exercise physiology. Anything questions fitness-related, he’s a pro!