What is the difference between clean eating and dieting?

Here is a book that you will want to check out! Click the image below to see a sample of the info and recipes that you can find inside.

I have always thought of myself as a healthier eater. Salads were always my favorite. I drank plenty of water. I didn’t drink soda, but I loved sweets! I didn’t really think that sweets would hurt as long as the other things I are were good for me!

In college I started my switch to eating healthier.

When I was living at home, my mom loved to cook. Pasta was a main meal, and you had to eat everything!

But when I went to college I started to change my diet a bit. Although, beer probably was not much of a better choice…and as a college student in the back woods, beer was part of the culture!

I started to have panic attacks more often. I struggled with my weight going up and down like a roller coaster.

Like any college student I put in a lot of hours.

I had full class schedules all day everyday. I worked in the barns and the fish hatchery.  I worked three jobs throughout the week. Oh! …and of course I spent time at the campus club and out partying at bon fires in the middle of the woods with my friends.

In the beginning I could go three days without sleeping and I ran like the energizer bunny!

I wanted to lose some weight, so I started walking more. I tried going to the gym, but I enjoyed hiking and running on the track more than sitting in a stuffy gym.

I have always been the outdoor type.

I kept a 4.0 my entire time in college. My anxiety went crazy and by the time graduation came around I was on anxiety meds and I was a mess.

It didn’t help that I had a relationship that ended badly with physical abuse.

I went into a downward spiral. I started to fast to get rid of the weight that I had gained. I put myself on a calorie restricted diet…and I hated myself.

When I graduated, I moved back in with my parents.

I continued to run everyday, taking our dog Beanz with me.

I decided I wanted to try to get back into eating healthier again.

I controlled portion size, and I continued to eat the salads that I loved so much.

Even though I was eating a bit more, I continued to lose weight.

I realized that there was a difference between a true calorie restricted diet, and choosing to eat foods that were better for me.

Of course…I still loved my sweets.

Fast forward about 7 years.

I had moved to Tennessee, Joe and I got married, I was working constantly between my full time job, the horse rescue and my online job.

I had fallen back into enjoying sweets and fried foods because that is the culture in the south.

I didn’t really put weight on, but I was super active. I took the dogs walking or hiking three miles everyday. I rode the horses for two hours a day. I also walked about four to six miles a day at work.

I was not stationary by any means.

One day I was working out in the pasture ripping the vegetation off the fence with some friends so that I could put electric fence up.

The next day I was covered in poison oak.

Over a few weeks it turned into the worst care that the ER had ever seen…and then I was soon diagnosed with Lyme disease.

My whole world started to fall apart.

The joint pain. The fatigue that confined me to the couch. The headaches. My arm turned purple and the nerves went crazy. My throat began to swell so bad that for two months I could not eat solid food. I started dissolving cookies in milk, drinking tons of protein shakes, and melting down chocolate just to get calories in me. I felt nothing except worse and 8 different doctors could not help me. You can learn more about my story in a previous post I did here.

Then I learned about a holistic practitioner in Georgia.

They opened my eyes to what was happening with my body.

This is where I learned the difference between clean eating and dieting.

Clean eating is about making better choices and removing foods that are harming your body.

Processed sugar, additives, soda, syrups, gluten and so many other foods actually can make illness worse, or even cause illness.

I think removing sweets from my diet was the hardest.

A couple times I have tried to eat some on the holidays only to realize how much they make my stomach upset and my skin break out.

One of the things that I do love about clean eating is that you are not forcing myself to restrict calories.

Just through eating foods that are better for me, I’m not as hungry.

Some of the things that I consume more of now are:

• Protein
• Fiber
• fruits
• veggies
• Oatmeal… there are so many ways to make it!
• Almond milk

The difference between clean eating and dieting is that you are forming better habits.

Along with these better habits I have seen some great things happen with my health:

• I came off of all the prescription medications
• I have the energy to take the dogs for a three mile walk when I get home from work and then I go out and work with the horses.
• My joints no longer feel like they are exploding.
• I lost about two inches off my waist and I am starting to see definition in my abs and arms.
• Allergies are a thing of the past for me (check out this blog post if you are struggling with allergies)

Honestly if you are thinking about trying clean eating, I highly recommend trying it for at least 30 days so you can see the results start to happen.

Keep a journal and track it!

If you want to try out an easy 7 day plan to see what it looks like, click here to get your free starter kit.