So, You've Agreed to the Food Challenge

Now what?

If you're like me and have never done a food challenge before, you're probably a little nervous. What will you eat for ten days?

In life you can approach things two ways: with a positive outlook or a negative one. Instead of dwelling on all the things that you can't eat during this Michi's Ladder Challenge, focus on all the things you can eat. There are hundreds of combinations of great meals you can fix with the vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains, and meat on the list. To help spark your creativity, I'm going to be posting some ideas over the next few days of things you can eat for breakfast, snacks, lunch, and dinner.

I'm going to explore breakfast and snacks today, but I wanted to clear up a few things first.

Here is what clean eating is NOT:

• Cheap. $3 will buy you one acorn squash, or two dozen doughnuts. I'm not politically or agriculturally astute enough to understand farm subsidies and food lobbyists, but I do know that when it costs more to buy an apple than a pack of sticky buns, there is something wrong with our priorities. Healthy eating should not be a luxury, in my opinion.
  
  
• Easy. Is it quicker to put a pop tart in the toaster rather than cook some oatmeal for breakfast? You bet. But clean eating is about making an investment in your health. Do you want to save 10 minutes today in exchange for a few years off your life in the future? (Yes, that's dramatic, but the choices you make today will compound to create something terrible or something great in your future. Which do you want?)
  
  For this challenge you're going to need to develop a meal plan, grocery list, and have plenty of tupperware on hand to hold large batches of food and containers to take to work.
  
  
• Popular. People will ask you why you're undertaking such a ridiculous challenge. When they do, think of this visual: We're all crabs, hanging out in a bucket. You make a choice to try to climb up out of that bucket. To do something different. All those other crabs don't want to leave the bucket -- they like the status quo. So when they see you trying to crawl up and out of there, they're going to grab at you and try to pull you back down with their claws. Don't let 'em do it! If you want out of the bucket, just keep on crawling! 

So here are some ideas of things to eat during the challenge.

Breakfast

• Yogurt parfait: plain yogurt (not fruit flavored!), Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal, fruit of your choice. Right now we thaw frozen strawberries and blueberries and mix them in.
• Kashi cereal with skim milk.
• Oatmeal: not the instant kind in the packets! You gotta cook it, baby. Skim milk, raisins, nuts. Use agave nectar for sweetness. Tip: make a big old batch of oatmeal. It keeps well in the fridge - just add milk or water and microwave it for a minute or so.
• Eggs: scramble the egg whites, or hard boil them and toss the yolk. Or get fancy and make a veggie omelet.
• Buckwheat pancakes: I found a mix for these at Brookshire's yesterday. Serve with fruit, not syrup.
• Toast with natural peanut butter and fruit on the side.
• Shakeology!

Snacks

• Natural almonds and Cheerios
• Fruit: apple, banana, etc. Put natural peanut butter on it if you want to.
• Veggies and hummus dip
• Plain yogurt and fruit
• Cottage cheese
• Granola bar or energy bar
• Celery with non-fat cream cheese

I think one of the greatest benefits of this challenge will be learning about new food and how to make healthy food taste good. I know that I had preconceived notions about all kinds of food before I actually tried it. I'm continually pleasantly surprised how good healthy food can taste! I hope you have the same experience.