“Abs are made in the kitchen.”

I don’t know who said that, but damn they were right. I have no problem with getting myself to the gym and making it through a two hour workout – it’s the afterwards that gets me every time. As I get get older, I am starting to realize I don’t have the metabolism of an 18-year-old anymore. Sure 23 isn’t old, but I’m well aware that even though I workout often, I’m not going to continue to be skinny if I am eating junk food all the time.

I’ve been reading a lot on nutrition. Not diets, because I don’t believe in diets. Diets don’t work. The word diet triggers every single person on this planet to become an angry, deprived stress monster. Diet’s don’t work. What does work is clean eating. We must learn to not give food an outrageous power over us. Instead we must understand that food is here to fuel our bodies.

Yes, food is delicious, and sometimes I love nothing more than pasta and pies and gummy bears (judge me.) But I’ve also been reading about the affects that food has on us. I try to remind myself about this when I am thinking of eating something bad. I feel guilty, terrible and bloated when I eat, say a cheeseburger, rather than a salad or sandwich on whole wheat bread. It hangs over you and the sugar makes you crave more sugar. There’s been studies out there that compare quitting junk food to quitting drug addiction.

Choosing to eat clean is an important step that I have been  focused on these past two weeks. I’ve tried incorporating it into my life little by little.

I’m also always on the go, so I’ve been researching green smoothies. I found a few recipes and combined the ones I liked into one of my own. Although my smoothie didn’t come out this bright green, pretty color, it still had all the same fruits and veggies in it, and it still tasted delicious. I made one every day this week.

Not-so-green smoothie

• Two hand fulls of spinach
• Two pieces of celery, chopped as little and thin as possible
• One cup of plain Greek yogurt
• One banana
• Six strawberries
• One orange
• One apple
• Hand full of black berries
• A few slices of cucumber, chopped as little and thin as possible
• Four or five ice cubes (demands how icy you like your drink)

Monday
-Breakfast: smoothie
-Lunch: salad, lemon as dressing, apple
-Dinner: organic soup, mango
-Snacks: carrots, celery, pomegranate, Greek yogurt

Tuesday
-Breakfast: egg white omelet with veggies, avocado, smoothie
-Lunch: smoothie
-Dinner: organic soup, blackberries
-Snacks: orange, two cups of green tea, pistachios, carrots

Wednesday
-Breakfast: Greek yogurt
-Lunch: salad, lemon as dressing, smoothie
-Dinner: organic soup, hard-boiled organic egg, tomatoes
-Snacks: smoothie, pomegranate, blackberries, celery, green tea

Thursday
-Breakfast: whole wheat toast
-Post workout breakfast: egg white omelet with veggies, avocado, smoothie
-Lunch: smoothie
-Dinner: salmon (2 pieces), veggies, whole wheat rice, pistachios
-Snacks: two cups of green tea, apple, celery

Thursday big dinner (2.5 hour workout)

Friday (today)
-Breakfast: smoothie
-Lunch: salad, small amount of dressing
-Dinner: egg while omelet with veggies, avocado, salsa
-Snacks: celery, carrots, Greek yogurt, orange, green tea

My goal is to modify by a little this weekend, since we’ll probably go out to dinner and have a few drinks with friends, but still keep the concept.

What are you guys doing to eat clean? What are your thoughts and ideas on how to make it work for you?