This summer was a journey and a learning experience for me regarding clean eating. Throughout the school year, I had always planned to change my eating habits and form a new, cleaner diet. I never got around to it with exams and stress, so I put this self-improving task in the back of my mind to follow through with on the first day of summer.
When the first day of summer came, I did not procrastinate and began my journey. After taking multiple trips to my local supermarket, seeing countless recipes, and demolishing cravings, I had learned valuable lessons that will encompass my life, and I will be mindful of them whenever I eat. To understand the differences and shift in my thinking from before making a conscious effort to eat well, I should state the primary goals I had before starting. My previous goal was simply to look leaner and were physical in nature.
Eating dictates energy.
It only makes sense that our biological human bodies thrive off of the energy our minds give it. This energy comes from food, obviously. We have more energy when we give our digestive system a "break" or when we are "gentle" on it. What I mean by this is that adding leafy greens to your diet can aid the digestion process and can make it run more smoothly. When eating clean and whole foods, I had more energy.
Marketing and the food industry are sometimes very misleading.
Many things that claim to be healthy are actually not. The ingredients list and the nutrition facts are the most essential parts when a consumer determines if a food is clean or not. Throughout this process, I had to be very articulate and detailed in finding the exact truth of what it was that I was putting into my body. It is very easy, I had learned, to pick something up with healthy-looking packaging simply out of convenience.
Cooking is always better than buying.
Cooking your own food at home may be tough and a hassle, but it is completely worth it. When you cook your own food, you know exactly what is in your food, while buying food doesn't inspire this sense of trust. Store-bought food can and usually is processed to ensure a long shelf-life.
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