My Clean Eating Experience

It's no secret to people who know me that I was very overweight after having my second baby. I put on 50kg whilst pregnant, and retained about 20kg of it afterward. I weighed 100kg. I was unhappy with that, so I set myself a weightloss goal in October of 2009 to lose 10kg by Christmas. I did that, and kept going losing around 25kg by the end of the following year using the CSIRO diet. 

I felt great! But there was that last 5kg I wanted to budge, and a bit of a baby belly still there that I didn't like. We all have our body hangups. Mine is my stomach. It really bothers me emensely, but I'm slowly accepting it now. Anyway, I digress. I wanted to lose the last 5kg, but couldn't. So, after a bit of googling, I discovered clean eating. 

I was a clean eating convert overnight. I switched my morning weetbix to a smoothie made with water and a little fruit, stopped having all dairy, only ate whole grains, and started surviving on 1200 calories per day. I preached about my new eating habits, and amazed people by the fact that I didn't eat bread or eat any sweets. And you know what? I lost the weight. I got down to 72kg and started wearing size 10 clothes which was a huge achievement for me. I was happy with my weight loss. I was achieving what I wanted and that was exciting for me.

But you know what? I was afraid of food. I was afraid that if I ate dairy (other than Greek yoghurt) I would turn into a balloon. I was afraid that if I ate bread, I would feel bloated. I was afraid that if I didn't eat every 2 hours, I would ruin my metabolism. I never had massive bingey cheat  days because I didn't want to ruin my progress. So I chugged on at my clean eating journey (we'll call it a journey, everyone else does). 

In May 2013 I started to feel really tired, I was the thinnest I'd ever been, and I loved what my body looked like, even my tummy was going away, and baby abs were starting to show. I never got 'too thin', but I missed feeling good about food. I missed eating vegemite on toast for breakfast, and I missed being able to fit food in to my daily plan and run with it, like I'd learned when I originally lost weight. I didn't want to binge out. But I did want to eat a cookie, made with real flour, without feeling bad. I have so many limitations to my diet already due to allergies, and I was restricting myself further and I was miserable!!

It was at this time that I discovered how to count my macronutrients, and a way of eating that would not cost me my goals, but would allow me to work toward them by fitting my foods into my daily allowance. I sat down and worked out what I was supposed to eat, and discovered that I should be eating a minimum of 1600 calories a day (with no activity). No wonder I was exhausted!! I put on weight to start with. It was only a few kilos, but I noticed. I started to notice my body leaning down again after a few months though, and I'm really quite happy with my body and it's progress now.

I'm glad I made the change. For the first time in my life, I am in control of what goes in my mouth, and I know that I am eating correctly for my body's needs and my body goals. It's okay to eat bread, and milk, and Ice Cream and cake. It can be made to fit into my daily intake and still be balanced to suit my body's needs. We need a balanced diet to stay healthy. You might ask, how does cake fuel my body for the better? Well it probably doesn't, but... You feel happier knowing you are allowed to eat it of you can make it fit. After all, no one can survive on broccoli, chicken breasts, and brown rice alone. Although these foods are part of a balanced healthy diet, so is cheese and bread and lollies!

Do I regret my experience with clean eating? Not for a second. I learned that I am very stubborn and have more dedication than I knew I did. I learned about new foods, and how I can fill my nutrient requirements with them. I learned to cook with new ingredients, and I discovered Hulk Pancakes! I know now, however, that there is more to being healthy than the food you eat and that depriving yourself from certain kinds of foods, even if it is in the best intent, is not healthy. Because having a healthy relationship with food and your body starts with feeling good about food, not being afraid of it. 

Now, if you are a clean eater, and that works for you that is fine. This is my own experience, and I'm not saying you should change. But think about this... Why restrict yourself with food when it isn't poison, and you aren't allergic to it?

Cooking with Amy: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I know.... this looks A-MAZ-ING!! This is a pizza I had for lunch the other day. I love, love, love pizza, but unfortunately it is not really very healthy, and for some people it is just plain old off the menu due to gluten intolerance.

This pizza is made with cauliflower as a base, something that I discovered whilst surfing instagram one day. I have tried lots of different cauliflower base recipes, but this one actually stays together, and you can pick up the slices with your hands rather than having it fall to pieces. This pizza base also has an added bonus of an optional protein boost, if you are protein powder inclined.

What you'll need:

1 x head of cauliflower

1 x egg

1 x tblsp cheese of choice

2 x scoops of protein powder (optional)

Toppings of choice.

How to do it:

For this recipe, your cauliflower is going to act as a flour for your pizza base, so you need to make cauliflower rice. When I first heard of cauliflower rice, I was quite overwhelmed, but it really is as simple as putting your cauliflower florets in a food processor, or as I have done, grate it. You'll need about 2 cups to make a one person sized pizza.

Put your cauliflower rice on a plate, cover it with cling wrap, and microwave for about 3 minutes. You want to cook it. Don't add any water, because the cauliflower contains water in itself, and you actually will be drying it out in the following steps and adding water just makes the process longer.

Once it is cooked, lay out a clean tea towel and pour the rice out on it. You want it to cool down enough so that you can handle it comfortably.

Once it is cool enough to handle, pick up the tea towel with the cauliflower inside and squeeze all of the water out. You want it to be really quite dry as, like I said, it is acting like a flour.

 

Put your squeezed out cauliflower in a bowl with your other ingredients and give it a good stir until it is combined. I use a fork or a desert spoon, as it helps you get it all together (and saves on big dishes!). 

**a note on the protein powder** I add two scoops of whey protein to my cauliflower pizza base, as this fits my macronutrient requirements. If you don't want to add protein powder, and you feel like your mix is really sloppy, you can add a bit of flour to the mix (oat, rice, wheat etc.).

**a note about the cheese** Use whatever cheese you have in the fridge. In this instance I used tasty cheese, but I often use ricotta, cottage cheese, mozzarella, or Parmesan.

Pour your mix onto a pizza tray covered in baking paper. You can see from my picture that it is still a bit mushy. This will change when you cook it so don't stress out about that. Put your base in the oven at about 180 degrees for 20 minutes or until it is brown on top.

Pull it out and top with whatever you feel like. On this day I was feeling in need of vegetables, so I mashed some avocado and put on some sliced capsicum, grated zucchini, and some baby spinach. But I often just put tomato paste and a little cheese on top.

Cook it again for around 10 minutes, or until your toppings are cooked. Slice up, move to a plate, and ENJOY!!

Try it! You know you want to!

Green - Power Pancakes

I am a big fan of eating food that is nutritious, delicious and satisfies my nutrient needs for the day. I had seen a lot of people making spinach pancakes on Instagram, and while I had been putting spinach in my smoothies for a while, I had never tried it in pancakes, so I thought I would give it a crack and see if I could make some green pancakes of my own.

I must say these pancakes ROCK. I have tried them a few times now, and they are really yummy. My kids will even eat them up, and they don't even know how good they are for them!! The awesome thing about these pancakes (besides how good they taste) is that because they have spinach in them, they turn bright green when you cook them! Very cool for a little man who likes super heroes!

These pancakes have a lot of protein in them. I use protein powder most of the time when I cook pancakes post-workout, but for this recipe I have used egg whites. You can separate your eggs if you like, otherwise you can buy cartons of just egg whites from the supermarket. They are usually in the egg section, or frozen (with the frozen berries).

I know, I know, shut up and give us the recipe already! So here it is! I'm sorry it isn't super printable and such, I am sure I will figure out how to do those things at some point in the future.

Green - Power Pancakes!
 
Ingredients:

Pancakes
3/4 cup Egg Whites
1 1/2 cups Baby Spinach
1/2 cup Oats or Oat flour
1tblsp Greek Yoghurt
4 Sticks of Stevia (or other sugar alternative)
1/2tsp Baking Powder
Coconut Oil Spray

Topping
Greek Yoghurt
Cinnamon

Method:

 
1. Put all of your pancake ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until it is really smooth. Lumps are not your friend here.

2. In a fry pan on medium heat, put spoonfuls of mixture, wait until the edges start to look cooked and there are a few bubbles on top and then flip them over. You don't want to overcook your pancakes, you want them nice and soft and fluffy.

3. Stack your pancakes on a plate as they are finished and top with Greek Yoghurt and a sprinkling of Cinnamon. You could add bananas too, but I didn't have any this particular day.

4. Enjoy... YUMMMM!!