Clean Eating - A Good Cheat

For the month of May we've been challenged to practice cleaning eating. Luckily for me, my husband and I have been practicing clean eating for the past three months. We do it the cheater's way, though. We were directed to a site via Dave Ramsey called Emeals.com. It is a great resource for those who would like to make delicious meals but don't have a lot of time to create a menu. On Emeals you can select a type of menu (gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, low-carb, clean eating, etc.) and then you receive a weekly meal plan each week. They also send you a grocery list of items needed for your meals. I love this part. I hate being in the middle of making dinner and realizing I have to run to the store for an ingredient.

We chose the Clean Eating option because the recipes looked the yummiest. Admittedly, we didn't do it for our health. However, we have noticed a huge difference in our energy levels and moods. The clean living recipes are low in gluten, sugars, and processed ingredients. We don't feel like we go into what we have coined as "food coma" after meals anymore (you know the feeling, like someone has just drugged you and you stare off into a daze at work and can't seem to think or move). We end up buying a ton of produce when we do our weekly grocery shopping, but we are pleasantly surprised when we use it all up by the end of the week. It's been fun to learn how to make salad dressings and marinades from scratch and to try out some new foods that I didn't even know existed (like, what the heck are cornichons?). Often, while grocery shopping, we have had to google a food item and pull up a picture so we know what to buy. I'm  learning a lot about different cheeses, lettuces, and cabbages.

We've enjoyed saving money and eating healthier. It makes us feel all growed up and we feel a little more reassured that some day we could cultivate a happy home for children and keep them well fed.

Here is one of our favorite recipes from Emeals:


Main Dish: Spicy Lemon Chicken

Side Dish: Couscous with Spinach, Pine
Nuts and Goat Cheese


2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 skinless, bone-in chicken breasts
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 green onion, chopped
---------------------------------------------------------------
⅔ cup whole wheat couscous (½ of 7.6 oz box)
1½ teaspoons olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts (1 oz)
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
2 cups baby spinach
¼ cup crumbled goat cheese (1 oz)
1 tablespoon lemon juice


Instructions:

Heat oil and butter in a 10-inch skillet over
medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and
cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.
In a small bowl, combine Worcestershire sauce,
lemon juice and red pepper flakes, stirring with
a whisk. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook
over low heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is
done. Sprinkle with green onions before
serving.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cook couscous according to package
directions. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over
medium heat. Add pine nuts and garlic; cook 2
minutes. Combine cooked couscous, pine nut
mixture, spinach, goat cheese and lemon juice
in a large bowl, tossing to coat. Season to taste
with salt and pepper.

Yummersmith!

Try out some clean eating through Emeals.com! I fully endorse their services. :)

Becoming a Better Woman: An Introduction

In response to a friend's invitation to try a year-long experiment with her and a group of other outstanding women, I have created this blog to record my experiences, goals, progress, failures, and successes. I will also be using this blog as a notebook of sorts for specific assignments from this experiment as well as a blank canvas for introspection. 

The experiment is called "The Thirty Day Challenge to Becoming a Better Woman" and has been created as a positive response to a similar challenge for men found on theartofmanliness.com, a spectacular website with great life lessons and insights for men. 

This experiment will last a year and will be broken up into month long assignments. Each month we will be given a list of challenges, one for each day. We have been asked to record our progress and share it with others.

This month's daily challenges are as follows:

Day 1: Define your core values

Day 2: Get your diamond ring polished (or an important piece of gold or silver that needs it!)

Day 3: Find a mentor

Day 4: Increase your endorphins

Day 5: Cultivate your gratitude

Day 6: Start a Journal

Day 7: Update your resume

Day 8: Reconnect with an old friend

Day 9: Take a man on a date

Day 10: Find your VULVA (Values Unaltered by Life’s Varying Adjustments)

Day 11: Memorize a poem

Day 12: Give yourself a breast exam

Day 13: Create/Revise your bucket list

Day 14: Declutter your life

Day 15: Write a letter to your Mother

Day 16: Make a meal

Day 17: Create a budget

Day 18: Start a debt reduction plan

Day 19: Talk to 3 strangers

Day 20: Schedule a physical exam

Day 21: Perform an act of service

Day 22: Write your own eulogy

Day 23: Improve your posture

Day 24: Learn a Manual Skill

Day 25: PLAY!

Day 26: Take the Army Physical Training test

Day 27: Start a book

Day 28: Write a love letter

Day 29: Conquer a fear

Day 30: Have an “old-fashioned” girl’s night out

** If you are doing the 12 month “Becoming a Better Woman” project, then Month 1 also includes the goal of exercising daily and clean eating! **

I'm grateful for the invitation to begin this challenge and I'm glad to set aside some constructive "me-time" each day. I know that self-improvement helps not only me, but those around me--my husband, family, friends, co-workers, and clients. 

The goal of becoming a better women is different than becoming more feminine. Tiffani, the creator of this project describes it beautifully: 

I think womanliness is different from the concept of femininity. Femininity brings to mind the characteristics that are generally associated with being a woman, such as softness and tenderness. However, femininity is a human characteristic. Men can be feminine. Womanliness on the other hand conjures a greater picture, which may include femininity. Womanliness includes characteristics that are needed to perform beautifully as a woman in society, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a grandmother. Each of these is separate from another and each has specific types of characteristics that make them unique. The characteristics required to be a wife are different from the ones needed to be a great sister (there may be some overlap of course). But the concept itself says that womanliness is a deep concept that needs to be developed and honed, like a block of clay or a blank canvas. For each of us to discover our inner womanliness we need to put in the work to become diverse, adaptable, educated, and ever seeking to become a better woman.

I would like to encourage anyone else out there who would like to join us in self-improvement to follow our progress and share your own experiences as well. For more information about this program, click HERE.

Before I begin the project myself, because I have an irrational fear that people are 1) actually reading what I write and 2) judging what I think and say and 3) critiquing my methods I need to list a few disclaimers. 

DISCLAIMERS:
1 - I will try my best to post each day on each daily goal, and to actually complete that goal on that day, but there are no guarantees. I function in what has been coined "real-time." Real-time is a natural rhythm of life - going to bed and waking up when you are ready to do so, giving your wife flowers because you were thinking of her and you love her and not because it is Valentine's Day, scheduling your life and decisions outside of the definitions and deadlines that the world throws at you. I get heat all the time because I show up late to an event or gift a birthday present a month late. I don't do well within the confines of man-made time. Obviously, I do my best to work with it so I can be a functioning member of society, but it does not bode well with me naturally. Consequently, I will do my best to accomplish the daily goals listed in a timely manner, but I will not be angry with myself if it does not happen when it has been assigned. I will breathe easy knowing that I accomplished it in good time, in real time.
2 - I will be writing as honestly as I can. I believe that there is a significant difference between good writers and great writers, and the difference is honesty. I have often felt that my writing has suffered because I have been dishonest in an attempt to please others, to fit it, to conceal my oft times crazy moments. I have created this blog for this project to initially gain some anonymity from those who I fear criticism. I have also created this blog to keep my thoughts organized and to act as a journal of sorts. It will be my own little secret, until I feel ready to share it with others. It is so strange--I was so outspoken once and unfortunately received some heavy reprimands because of it. I hope to heal from those lashes through this experiment and feel comfortable sharing all of the genuine parts of me again with people I care about. It is also my goal to be OK with myself when those I care about disagree with these things. I will overcome my people pleasing tendencies. All in good time. :)
3 - I believe that I am a good person, but I am also fully aware that I am nowhere near being a perfect person. I am acknowledging now that while I expect to have some successfully stellar experiences with this project, I am also aware that I will likely encounter some failures. I will happily describe these here and you can laugh with me as I try to figure out this life and what it means to be a woman, and human, and sister, wife, friend, and daughter.

I'm looking forward to this project. It officially begins on Wednesday.

:)