Clean food challenge is a step by step path to feel, be and do better in all your wellness areas. Do you have a few kilo extra, or want to put some on? Clean eating is the non-diet way to feel satisfied and get on track to a healthier new you. Are you a white toast lover who’s never had to worry about weight – but suddenly find yourself putting on? You worry that you have become sick, really sick and think the end is near? Read why you will want to change your food worries into something much less stressful: Enjoying real, easy-to-make, tasty food that increases your good health numbers and triggers side effects such as a loss of unwanted kilo. Do you have to say bye-bye to white toast forever? Nah! Clean food is not a diet but a new way of life. Get adventurous! Get inspired! Look forward to smiling from the inside out 🙂
Clean Food Challenge: From Whole Grain to White Toast
White toast lovers watch out! Your days are numbered. Not because of new laws or higher tax on toast. Quite simply the classic toast is becoming obsolete. More and more people realise that white toast is hardly bread. It is a processed mix of sugar, bleached flours and additives. The demand for white toast is going down, so your supermarket aisles will likely not stock them as easily in the future. 
A white toast lover will probably have grown up during the great economic boom that saw food products match new ways of life. The faster the world got more commercial solutions were invented to ‘help’ us. Processed food, fast food, junk food, take aways, TV dinners, deep frozen ping (microwave) food, additives, chemicals, and food colouring. Yeah!
Then – suddenly the world wakes up to realise that what we have been eating is making us sick, bloated, food intolerant, allergic and in worst case scenarios really hit by terminal illness.
Clean Food Challenge: White Toast to Whole Grain
The reaction to this economic boom food is the so-called Clean Food Revolution (Did you see this post on The GOODista?). This is a way of eating with lots of flexibility:
Clean Food and Clean Eating Guide on thegoodista.com
- You aim to eat healthier, and include real food made by Mother Nature.
You go back to cooking and thinking about what is good for you by incorporating ancient grains, lean protein, natural yoghurt and lots of fruit and vegetables into your food.- You eat mind-fully. A slower pace to match a new-found way to a healthier you. You let it take the time it needs as your body will slowly become detoxified from years of processed foods.
- You have no restrictions on food groups and certainly no longer go for fat-free, low-cal or other promising food package messages. You simply buy food from the outer aisles of the supermarket, encounter small shop owners that know their products and produce, and find your way into farmers markets. Get inspired and eat!
But – since you love white toast so much, why should you give it up?
Clean Food Challenge: 7 Reasons To Choose Clean Eating
You love your white toast, Sunday roast and cream cakes. You pick, and graze, as the day goes by, and if you feel guilty you skip a meal. The overall calorie count should be OK then right? Eh? No… There are so much more to food than calorie counting. The nutritional value in each of the calories for instance. But – I am getting ahead of myself.
There are many reasons why you might consider looking at white toast differently. First of all it is important to have health check-up to rule out any medical issues. If you do get a green card then it is time to consider what else could be the issue. Check out if any of the below speaks about you.
# 1. Do You Feel Bloated?
If food makes you feel bloated it can be painful, and quite visible. A hard protruding stomach 
is often the sign of gas build up, over eating and a diet high in fats. This site medical site explains well: Bloating 101: Why You Feel Bloated. The solution: portion control, less sugars, unhealthy fats and processed foods. Eating cleaner is easier and better than a diet. Slowly – but surely you will get back into shape and it will last. Try to also match your healthier way of eating with drinking enough. (translation: No – that’s not to say more beer, wine and spirits 🙂 )
# 2. Sudden Weight Gain After Always Being Slim?
You’ve always been thin, and have never had to think twice about an extra piece of cake, or bread. But… Suddenly you have put on weight! Metabolism, portion control and age has an impact.
If you have led a long life of eating white toast, roast and cake – you are not likely to change the way to eat, nor the size of your portions so easily.
However, more than ever it is important to consider that you do not burn calories as fast as before, nor do you need as much food as you once did. Straight speaking: You should change the way you eat and move. This article (make sure to click-through all the pages) is really good: How Stuff Works – Weight as a Senior.
For a younger person, a weight gain can be the result of a stressful lifestyle, a change in job pace, new arrivals, irregular meal times, snacking, late dinners, less sleep, more alcohol, and bigger portions. This article from the national health service is a recommended read: Hidden Causes of Weight Gain.
Basically the combination of metabolism and portion sizes play a big role. Understanding what this means is important. The conclusion of doctors and health gurus is the same: change lifestyle. Believe me – it doesn’t have to be as hard and horrible as this sounds. Don’t think that you will suddenly become a 5 am jogger panting to a dry fibre infused mini portion of heathy porridge! It is much more fun that, and from my own experience I know that you can change lifestyle step by step. Check out below for more tips.
# 3. Are You a Yo-Yo Dieter?
You’ve been down the diet road before – many times. Every time you eat you wonder how 
it will impact your weight.
Weight is but a number. What is far more important is how you feel, how much energy you have, and how much you are enjoying life.
Unhappy food thoughts can fill your life to such an extent that it takes over. Very often the yo-yo dieter doesn’t understand the basics of healthy food versus unhealthy.
As long as something promises to be low-fat, you consider it OK. Well, calories is a very deceitful number, as it is the actual content of the food that should be looked at instead. Any man-made, or altered food, will have unhealthy side effects. To reduce the fat content in yoghurt, artificial sugars are added instead. Most diets exclude food groups which in turn provoke cravings, as your body is not meant to function without all it’s building blocks.
Diets don’t work. Healthy, real food works. It builds you up in the right way, and one side effect is healthy weight loss. The combination of healthier changes such as healthy meals with walks will do wonders for someone who has tried it all.
# 4. Are You Trying To Gain Weight?
To gain weight is equally important if you are underweight, trying to build muscle or recovering from an illness. While most people assume that weight gain can hardly be an issue, it is very crucial that it is done right and in a healthy way. To add huge portions, or increase red meats, cakes, and french fries is not going to end well at all. You want to gain weight and have energy, feel good and healthy – right? This medical site is full of good advice: Healthy Ways to Gain Weight.
# 5. Has Eating Become A Habit More Than Pleasure?
Is eating more a chore than something that gives you pleasure? Has a supermarket trip become a cart full of what you always pick up, and never a source of inspiration for home cooking? Food is not always the fuel it is meant to be. For some food is part of what we do, because we must. Not necessarily because we enjoy it.
People who have a food intolerance, or allergies, can find eating out or food shopping, a real chore. You may also have been on medicine which affects appetite and taste. This will impact your relationship to food, and especially so if you are the one expected to prepare dinner every day. The way out is not buying frozen pre-prepared foods, or getting take-aways.
The solution here is to go back to basics, and learn more about real foods that you can eat. It’s Time for a New Relationship With Food, says this article and there are some very thoughtful tips to look at. The more you avoid processed foods the easier it will become, and there are so many inspirational books and websites to look at. Your clean food challenge is about learning, exploring and getting inspired.
# 6. Do You Have Trouble Sleeping?
Not sleeping through the night can be down to what you eat. “Scientists have found that our diet directly affects how well we sleep – and the resulting advice is nowhere near as obvious as simply avoiding that extra coffee before bedtime.” 
This quote come from the article ‘Is your insomnia down to what you are eating?’ found on The Daily Mirror. Real food promotes real sleep. Sleep is your body recovery time, and it helps your hormones and overall systems to rebalance. Therefore the better you eat, the better you sleep and in return the body responds with better overall health.
# 7. Is The Toilet An Issue?
Are you irregular, or running all the time? The issue is sensitive, however very much linked to the quality of your overall lifestyle. As already stated – any medical issues should be discussed with your Doctor. However – Check out this article: What Your Bathroom Schedule Can Tell You About Your Overall Health by a fellow blogger. It is well written, and the conclusion is simple. The better you eat, the better your overall system will feel and therefore your bathroom habits will become less of a stress factor. Bear in mind that as you make changes to your diet it will take a while before your body system catches up. Give it time, and you will get a regular normal bathroom rhythm going.
Clean Food Challenge: Step by Step Improves Your Health
There is a solution – Yes, You got it already! Accept the clean food challenge. White toast can be a once a week treat. Or you can have it every day. You know now that your beloved toast may have something to do with how you feel, sleep, go to the bathroom and overall lack of energy. The choice is yours.
Step by step changes to the way you eat, move, drink, sleep and think. Now – you don’t have to deal with each of these lifestyle changes separately as the body is quite amazing. If you start with one, the next seems to fall into place.
For instance: If you start with a 10 minute walk every day, you will find time to plan your day. The energy this brings will have knock on effect. More energy, feeling of happiness will inspire you to cook, and even consider new healthier recipes. This in turn will make you feel even better, and soon you will want a new routine.
Your clean food challenge is simple. Regular healthy meals, regular walks – more or less at the same time every day. This will have your body say: Thank you! You get real sleep as a reward, and the overall effect is the beginning of a new you. Happier, more energetic and more appreciative of what you have in your life.
The GOODista is full of good recipes (to fit your clean food challenge), fitness tips and mindfulness exercises that can get you on the right path. Sign up for inspiration about lifestyle changes you can do:
Recommended and Related:
- Nutrition Data, Facts, Information and Analysis – NutritionData.com
- How To Change Bad Habits and Live a Heart Healthy Lifestyle – AHA
- Making Lifestyle Changes That Last – APA.org
- Disease Prevention: Get Healthy Lifestyle Tips and Ideas – MedicineNet.com
Are you inspired to try clean food? Comment Please:
How do you do it? Bringing out that smile on my face for every blog post. You inspire with a twinkle in your eye, yet you truly know what your are talking about! And you do not moralize, thank you. We learn, we get energized, and are fully prepared to follow your advice.
Thanks for lovely comment! Look out for our next post about Common Food Craving – which is another reason why eating clean makes so much sense. Welcome back to The GOODista anyway! Cheers,