Day 4 - Eating Clean Mini Challenge

Day 4: Read ingredients – I challenge you to open up your cupboards and read the ingredients lists on your processed foods.  What surprises you?  What ingredients are you unsure of?  Comment in our Facebook Event  with the ingredients you are surprised to find, want more information on or want to share with the group. 

The only way to know if an item is clean/real food is to read the ingredients lists on the back of everything.  Not the Nutritional facts that tell you how many grams of this and that, the list of what's actually in the product! You know the list that comes after the word Ingredients: Why is this list more important than the list nutritional facts?  

Nutrition Facts Table Vs. Ingredients List

Nutrition Facts Table

The information in a nutrition facts table is based on the serving size. Serving size can be found at the top of the nutrition facts table.

You can use a nutrition facts table to compare the serving size to the amount of food you actually eat. For example, the serving size of bread in a nutrition facts table could be 1 slice. But if you eat 2 slices, you need to double the amount of calories and nutrients.

Ingredients List

The ingredient list shows all the ingredients in a packaged food.

Ingredients are listed in order of weight, beginning with the ingredient that weighs the most and ending with the ingredient that weighs the least. This means that a food contains more of the ingredients found at the beginning of the list, and less of the ingredients at the end of the list.

Example: The ingredient list below is for bran cereal. The ingredient that is present in the largest amount is whole wheat, and the ingredient present in the smallest amount is minerals.

Ingredients: Whole wheat, wheat bran, sugar/glucose-fructose, salt, malt (corn flour, malted barley), vitamins (thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, d-calcium pantothenate),minerals (iron, zinc oxide).

Ingredients with many names

Sometimes nutrients like saturated and trans fats, sodium, and sugar appear on ingredient lists under many different names. Here's a list of the most commonly used terms.

Commonly used terms

Nutrient	Other names
Saturated fat	Bacon Beef fat Butter Chicken fat Cocoa butter Coconut or coconut oil Hydrogenated fats and oils Lard Palm or palm kernel oil Powdered whole milk solids Shortening Suet Tallow
Trans fat	Hard margarine Hydrogenated fats and oils Partially hydrogenated fats and oils Shortening
Sodium	Baking powder Baking soda Brine Celery salt Disodium phosphate Garlic salt Monosodium glutamate (MSG) Onion salt Salt Sodium alginate Sodium benzoate Sodium bisulfate Sodium proprionate Soy sauce
Sugar	Brown sugar Cane juice extract Corn syrup Demerara or Turbinado sugar Dextrose Evaporated cane juice Fructose Galactose Glucose Glucose-fructose High-fructose corn syrup Honey Invert sugar Lactose Liquid sugar Maltose Molasses Sucrose Syrup Treacle Tip: A word ending in "ose" is usually sugar.

I did a blog post a few months back about Purging the pantry and what ingredients to look out for as well as how the ingredients are listed and how to de-code the lists. Find my Purge the Pantry Blog post here. 

Day 2 - Eating Clean Mini Challenge

Day 2: “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout a week and for the duration of the challenge, and wine will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).

As you can see this means no Splenda (or sugar) in your coffee and tea and it also means no soda pop or diet soda. Can you (and your family) do it for the duration of the challenges? Each day it will be up to you to decide if you want to take the challenge for one day, the rest of the week, or the rest of the challenge and this is definitely one of those pledges where I encourage everyone to do for the rest of the challenge! The lessons learned will be much more valuable if you do this for more than a day. Here is the reasoning behind this particular Challenge.

Sweetener Choices: The moral of the story is that all sweeteners (sugar, honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, brown sugar, etc.) are high in calories and low in nutrients. The artificial sweeteners that have no calories are just chemically created imitations invented in a lab somewhere…how’s that for appetizing? So no matter what kind of sweetener one uses I hope that it is, first of all, not an imitation and second of all, used in moderation. For todays mini Challenge I ask that you stick to honey and/or 100% pure maple syrup for your beverages for two reasons…

1. They are both (mostly) made in nature and slightly higher in nutrients than other sweeteners like refined white sugar.
2. It is hard to find highly processed foods or beverages that have been sweetened with honey or maple syrup, and if you sweeten items yourself chances are you will put in a lot less than the factory. In my opinion, sugar is way overdone in our society (seriously it's in everything!!!) so while you can still have sugar in your food during todays challenge, I hope you can commit to at least keeping it out of your beverages (baby steps!).

Please note: Honey and pure maple syrup are more concentrated sweeteners than white sugar so you can use a little less.

Juice Restriction: Just like the sweeteners mentioned above natural fruit juice contains a concentrated amount of (natural) sugars, which again should be used in moderation. And while 100% natural fruit juice offers a great deal of nutrients and is highly recommended over a soda, it is not nearly as nutritious as eating the natural, raw, whole fruit itself. There is certainly nothing “wrong” with drinking fruit juice (as long as it is 100% real fruit juice and preferably organic), but I believe it is best used in moderation. Try displacing some cups of juice with something else like water, which most of us can never seem to get enough of. Plus drinking less juice and pop can help you reduce your overall calorie consumption and there is a good chance you could lose some weight too!  Bonus!

Moderate Wine Consumption: In his book Michael Pollan suggests, “Have a glass of wine with dinner,”  But some nights one glass can turn into two (or more…), so  try to make sure your consumption averages out to one glass a day. But Pollan does go on to say, “Drinking a little every day is better than drinking a lot on the weekends.” He also says “alcohol of any kind appears to reduce the risk of heart disease, but the polyphenols in red wine appear to have unique protective qualities.” So let’s take to heart Pollan’s research showing “abundant scientific evidence for the health benefits of alcohol” and not be afraid to enjoy a glass of red wine (in moderation!) with dinner this week.

Here are some beverage alternatives to consider during this pledge since most people like to cure one addiction with another…

• Try a naturally sweetened mocha or coffee
• Make flavoured water using, lemon, mint, raspberries, cucumber or a combination to add flavor to your water. 
• Eat a few juicy grapes or oranges to help quench your thirst with something naturally sweet
• Try offering your kids some naturally sweetened cold or hot chocolate milk
• Mix a half a cup of juice with some water to help stretch your juice consumption throughout the week
• Or just put a splash of juice in your water to add some flavor and make it last the whole week (grapefruit juice is great for this!)
• Check out the recipes at the bottom of this post for Refreshing your water!

If you are addicted to Pop just think how much money you will save if you give it up since water (a far superior alternative) is free! My husband used to love pop and we would purchase a flat of it from the Superstore every few weeks!  Once we started eating only Real food we gave up pop completely and we only occasionally get a natural ginger ale from phillips brewing company!  Last summer while camping he wanted a rye and coke to drink in the evenings, so he asked me to pick up a bottle of coca cola... well I hadn't purchased POP in so long that it felt so strange.  I was almost embarrassed walking it up to the til and paying for it.  He didn't end up using the whole thing and came home with two full bottles of it. On his own he dumped the rest of it out when we got back!  I was floored but proud!

Join our Eating Clean Mini Challenge Event on Facebook and let us know how you plan to commit to today's challenge!  Are you committing to drinking clean beverages just for today or will you do it all week or for the rest of the challenge?

5 Refreshing Recipes to Flavor Your Water

Blackberry Mojito Water

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
½ cup fresh blackberries
3 slices fresh lime
4 fresh mint leaves
1¼ cups cold water

Preparation:
1. Place ice in a tall glass. Set aside.
2. Combine blackberries, lime, and mint in a large cocktail shaker. Mash well with back of a wooden spoon or muddler.
3. Add water; cover and shake.
4. Strain into ice-filled glass and enjoy.

Orange Vanilla-Cinnamon Water

Calories: 3

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
3 slices fresh orange
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
1¼ cup cold water

Preparation:
1. Place ice in tall glass; set aside.
2. Combine orange, vanilla, and cinnamon stick in large cocktail shaker. Mash well with back of a wooden spoon or muddler.
3. Stir in water; cover and shake.
4. Strain into ice-filled glass and enjoy.

Blueberry Vanilla-Lime

Calories: 5

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
½ cup blueberries
3 slices fresh lime
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1¼ cup cold water

Preparation:
1. Place ice in tall glass; set aside.
2. Combine blueberries, lime, and vanilla in large cocktail shaker. Mash well with back of a wooden spoon or muddler.
3. Stir in water; cover and shake.
4. Strain into ice-filled glass and enjoy.

Minty Watermelon-Lime Water

Calories: 6

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
½ cup diced watermelon
3 slices fresh lime
4 fresh mint leaves
1¼ cup cold water

Preparation:
1. Place ice in tall glass; set aside.
2. Combine watermelon, lime, and mint in large cocktail shaker. Mash well with back of a wooden spoon or muddler.
3. Stir in water; cover and shake.
4. Strain into ice-filled glass and enjoy.

Honeydew-Basil Water

Calories: 8

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
½ cup diced honeydew melon
4 fresh basil leaves
1¼ cup cold water

Preparation:
1. Place ice in tall glass; set aside.
2. Combine honeydew melon and basil large cocktail shaker. Mash well with back of a wooden spoon or muddler.
3. Stir in water; cover and shake.
4. Strain into ice-filled glass and enjoy.

Day 1 - Eating Clean Mini Challenge

Here we go! 

Day 1 of our Eating Clean Mini Challenges! The group participants are busy introducing them selves and getting started on the Challenge!  

Here is Today's Mini Challenge:

Day 1: Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables (preferably organic) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.

Even for our family eating two fruits or vegetables at every meal is a challenge. We usually eat at least one serving per meal but two is more of a stretch for us. At dinner time I try to get two on the plate, but the other meals are lacking for sure! So I'm excited to take part in this challenge along side everyone and see how we all do!

There are many people who don't eat any vegetables at dinner time, never mind the other meals. I get it, easy to have a BBQ burger with fries right. But try adding a salad instead or even a veggie tray to the mix.

I would really like you to try for organic produce during our 2 weeks together, this is because there are more nutrients in organic, as the soil has more nutrients in it, additionally you won't be adding the extra chemical pesticides and fertilizers that are used on conventional produce. Plus it just tastes better (carrots are sweeter, peppers too!)

The whole point of this challenge is for you to displace something else that you would normally eat (like chips or fries or even crackers) with some colorful produce. So for those that are worried about the extra expense of organic fruits and vegetables try buying more produce INSTEAD of something else that you would normally buy. And also consider buying frozen organic produce, which is a wonderful alternative to fresh and usually much cheaper (although it is unfortunately not always as tasty). You can find lots of fresh organic produce this time of year at Costco and frozen produce there all year around too! Or check out your Farmers Market!

Take a photo of your yummy produce today and share it in our 14 Days of Eating Clean Mini Challenge Event!  We would love to hear where you found your organic fruit and veg!

What doesn't count as Fruit for this Challenge:
Dried fruit (like raisins)
Fruit juice

This challenge is great for involving the whole family especially the kids! If you tell them that we are all supposed to eat two fruits or veggies at each meal they will probably remind you and and hold you accountable too!  I know Asher will hold us accountable for sure!

If you want to participate in our Facebook Event to help keep you motivated and accountable to these mini challenges Click here and hit "Going" on the event to get the daily updates, post your own photos and share your success with us!

Each Day will be a new mini challenge, and each day the participants will gain more knowledge about clean eating and eating locally!  I'm so excited for this challenge and I hope you are too!