Well colour me converted...

Exactly 10 months ago today I woke up, ate chicken and green beans for breakfast (which now seems normal), and swore off C.R.A.P embracing the clean and lean life.

Admittedly I fell off the 'kick start' wagon a mere 10 days later (malteaser bunnies are in fact the devil) but all this time later it's safe to say my eating habits have changed permanently, and with brilliant results. Here's what's changed...

1. I eat meat.

When I was at uni I very rarely ate meat. Part due to the cost, part down to the fact I hated cooking it, and maybe in part down to my ignorance that I thought a plain salad was better for me than one with protein. Ah foolish me. Now a meal feels incomplete without some lean meat on my plate and I regularly snack on chicken. It's very odd.

Clean & lean & delicious

2. I eat fat.

I was fat phobic. Anything with low-fat, non-fat, half-fat or fat-free on the label would make its way into the shopping basket. Say the words "good fat" to me and I'd have looked at you like you were mental. GOOD fats?! That was a contradiction in terms to my pre-clean and lean mind. Oh how that has changed. I never buy reduced fat products, knowing full well that the ingredients put in to replace the fat are ten times worse for me than a few extra calories and nutrients. And less likely to fill me up. I'm now constantly dribbling olive oil on salads, coconut oil graces all my pans, I nibble incessantly on nuts and avocados are my obsession. All in moderation of course. Speaking of nuts...

3. I eat nuts.

Never ate them before but man are they a handy, nutritious, and sustaining snack. Keep you full, and all the good fat in them has done wonders for my skin. Even my pores have shrunk. Seriously.



We love good fats.

4. I'm no longer 'skinny fat'.

Like my love of low fat I used to be a sucker for a 'health' food. Be it a breakfast cereal, a snack bar or even a yogurt (I was totally pulled in by 'bifidus actiregularis', I mean come ON, is that even a thing!?) so called health foods made up the bulk of my grocery basket. Now I won't go near them with a ten foot barge pole. Full of sugar, additives, and general yuckiness they were probably to blame for my 'skinny fat' (I'm naturally slim but was most likely dying on the inside, pumped full of sugar) state and bad skin. Much better off without them.

5. I have more energy, clearer skin, longer hair and a flatter stomach.

All of which were on the wish list when I first the bible. Specifically the flatter stomach bit. By cutting out most wheat and avoiding gluten where I can I've really felt the benefits, and the good fats alongside lean meats have done wonders for my skin and hair. WONDERS.

It might as well be me on the cover (in my head at least).

So...

I can't claim to by clean and lean 100% of the time. I have full on carb fest weeks, still like a chocolate fix and will probably never develop the will power to avoid the biscuit tray at work. But clean and lean has worked for me and it would probably work for you. Everyone I've converted so far loves it. So try it. I dare's ya'.

*Oh and notice how everything is 'I eat'? So it's not deprived, it's totally maintainable.