Clean Eating for Dinner

A few clean eating recipes

Below are a few clean eating meals that I love. Last night I made the Thai Stir-Fry, and it was delish! It's hard to find one of the main ingredients, fresh pimentos, in the winter. Pimentos are a variety of larger-sized spicy pepper, also known as cherry peppers, that can be found fresh in the summer and early fall, and after searching around at a few stores, I finally some...in a jar of course, at this time of year. I was beginning to think it was spring, since we've had a few days where I only needed a light jacket, but then this morning it was winter again. I had to scrape the windshield for the first time in weeks!

Thai Stir-Fry with Pork and Green Beans
bigoven.com
4 Servings

Ingredients:

-1 lb green beans, trimmed (you can also use frozen)
-1 whole pimento (experiment with how much jarred to use, depending on the spice that you want)
-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
-2 Tbsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
-1 Tbsp. fresh ginger (I keep mine in the freezer to make it last, then grate what I need)
-1 tsp. sugar (I don't like using sugar very often when clean eating, so you could substitute with 1/4 tsp. honey, instead)
-1 tsp. paprika
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
-3/4 lb pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I went ahead and used olive oil, but you could substitute with coconut oil, peanut oil, etc.)
-1 Tbsp. fresh basil (I had some frozen from my garden, but you could also substitute with 1 tsp. dried)
-1 Tbsp. fresh mint
-1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro
-3 Tbsp. dry-roasted peanuts

Directions: 

Cook green beans in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Drain; rinse beans under cold water to stop the cooking.
Combine pimento, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, sugar, paprika, salt, and red pepper flakes in a food processor/blender. Whirl until mixture is a smooth puree.
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a very large non-stick wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until no longer pink. Remove pork from pan. Add remaining 1 Tbsp.oil to pan and heat. Add green beans to the pan, stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add 2 Tbsp. water; cover and cook for 2 minutes or until beans are just tender.
Return pork to the skillet. Add pimento puree; stir to mix and stir-fry for 1 minute. Mix in the basil, mint, and cilantro. Sprinkle with peanuts.

I serve this dish with quinoa, but it's great with brown rice, as well!

Chicken Stew
Taste for Life
6 Servings

Ingredients:

-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-3 carrots, peeled & chopped
-2 celery stalks, chopped
-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
-Salt & pepper
-1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
-1 Tbsp. tomato paste
-3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
-1 tsp. dried basil leaves
-1 bay leaf
-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
-1 (15-oz.) can white cannellini beans, rinsed & drained

Directions:

 Heat oil in large, heavy pot set over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, & garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to turn golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Season w/ salt & pepper to taste.
Stir in tomatoes w/ juices, tomato paste, broth, basil, & bay leaf. Add chicken.
Bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low & simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
Add beans & simmer until liquid has thickened, approx. 10 to 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf before serving.

Clean Eating 101

Clean Eating Groups

As you've heard me talk about before, I'm a Team Beachbody coach, & I'm out to help others to achieve their fitness and nutrition goals! I'm about supporting and motivating others, even if they don't choose to purchase any Beachbody products through me (although, that is nice when that happens). I simply want to see lives changed! One way that I've been seeing lives changed is through free clean eating groups. I've talked a little about these in a past blog post, and I wanted to tell you a little more about what we have been calling clean eating, as well as the successes that my clean eating group members have been experiencing in about 30 days' time. These groups are amazing! If you have been wondering what the clean eating hype as been all about, I would love to answer your questions, and to have you join us!

What's the Clean Eating Hype About?

If you were like me about 1-1/2 years ago, you may think that you are already eating pretty healthy. You may try to limit how often you eat fast food, pizza, hot dogs, donuts, candy, milk shakes, etc. Maybe you eat these types of food only 2 or 3 times a week, but maybe you don't know that they can still be too often. Little things can build up, and eating only about 500 extra calories per week can add up too: to about 1 lb of weight gain for that week! But, it's not just the weight gain that you should be worried about by eating these types of food-period! Since I began hosting clean eating challenges, I have learned quite a bit more about clean eating, & am now extremely passionate about what I purchase at the store. In fact, last night I spent about 45 minutes at the store, and walked away with only about ten items! I get a little fed up with all the preservatives, fake fillers, food coloring, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), so I'm getting pretty picky about what I spend my money (and my health) on!

I've gotten pickier about what I eat, because as I do more research, and as I feel the effects when I revert back every now and then to eating junk, I want to eat the junk less and less. It does bad things to the body, and since I've chosen to eat less junk, I've begun to feel better! When you find out what certain preservatives are used for, in addition to what they're used for in food, you begin to wonder why you would put it in your body. For example, azodicarbonamide is used to bleach flour and plastic, used in shoe soles and yoga mats, and is also found in breads, frozen dinners, boxed pasta mixes, and packaged baked goods. Unfortunately, it may cause respiratory problems and allergic reactions.

Another example is brominated vegetable oil, which allows food dye to stick to liquid, and can be found in sports drinks and soda pop. This additive may cause birth defects and major organ damage, not to mention the allergic reactions, possible inhibition of nerve cell development, and ADD/ADHD aggravation that may be attributed to the food dye that the oil sticks to. I often will type in a search engine just about any ingredient that I don't recognize. That's how I've been able to find out the majority of what I've learned. I still take the information I found out with a grain of sand, but when I find the same information over and over again, as well as experiencing the symptoms first-hand (usually prior to finding out that they are possible side effects), I believe it!

I'd rather not risk my, or my family's, health on junk. My body, and your body, deserves to be fed quality fuel. Much of what is put into food is not utilized very well by our bodies. Ever wonder why you can't lose weight? Maybe you exercise five or six days per week, but the scale and measuring tape around your waist aren't moving; It just might be what you are eating that is keeping you from losing weight and inches. I've seen this over the past few months, as the combined total, from 11 members, in the first clean eating group that I hosted lost over 50 lbs in 30 days! True, some of the members were working out during those 30 days, but guess what, you can't out workout a poor diet! These members cut out processed foods, HFCS, white flour and white sugar, among other things, and chose to make healthy meals at home.

So far, in the two clean eating groups going on right now, over 3 weeks' time, there has been a total loss of 23 lbs from 7 members! One group still has one more STAT-urday (or weigh-in on Saturday) to go, while the other group has two more. Through clean eating, these members are regaining their health and taking back their lives! They are telling me things like "I have felt so much better physically," and "I only had 2 slices [of pizza], but I felt like I ate the entire thing to myself. I felt so bloated, and was dragging all afternoon. It's amazing the difference I can feel after cutting out that kind of food for only a couple days! I won't be cheating again any time soon!" That is why I'm passionate about clean eating, and about passing my knowledge about it on to others!

Interested in Clean Eating?

Soon, I will be hosting a clean eating group here on my blog. I will provide 30 days' worth of clean eating recipes (including snacks and a few desserts) and shopping lists to those who want to sign up for a free Team Beachbody account, which will also give you a place to track your weight loss and other measurements, as well as give you a place to track your workouts. You can also use your account to reach out via the message boards to others who may be facing the same struggles, or who may have answers to the same fitness or nutrition questions that you may have. Throughout the month, starting February 22, I will be providing information (did you know that corn is actually as grass; so when you see "grass-fed" beef, you might want to think twice?), a few recipes, and tips and tools that I've been accumulating involving clean eating.

I look forward to the opportunity to support and motivate, since I know how hard it was to begin changing my own eating habits (it has taken me about 10 years to completely cut soda pop out of my diet). I also look forward to learning more from you about clean eating! If you are ready to join me for a journey to cleaner eating, please go to teambeachbody.com/signup to get your FREE account, and use my coach referral id:      i i b 4   Once I'm your coach, I will send you the recipes and shopping lists via the e-mail address that you provide through your account. Thank you, in advance, for your desire to regain (or maybe gain, for the first time) your health!

                                                          Let's do this together!