I’ve been thinking about doing a post on this, but Heidi has inspired me. There seems to be this trend among bloggers to make ourselves look perfect. I’d like to say that I haven’t fallen into that trap, but at the same time, I’m not always honest about my imperfections. And trust me, there are many.
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about clean eating. And you know what? Clean eating is an awesome idea. I just struggle with it. I don’t eat a ton of processed foods, but trust me, they’re there. Here’s a sample of what I ate one day last week:
Breakfast: Coffee (black), chocolate protein shake with added blueberries and strawberries
Lunch: Amy’s Light and Lean Soft Taco, Triple Chocolate VitaTop
Snacks: Blood Orange Chobani, apple, carrots, hummus, black tea
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast, Green Giant Steamed Veggies w/ Cheese Sauce
Yum.
So it looks relatively healthy, right? But lunch was all packaged meals, as were the veggies at dinner. And while Amy’s meals are on the healthier side of packaged meals, I often go for a Lean Cuisine as well. I picked a day at random, but this particular day was neither my best nor my worst of the week.
One of the perils of eating packaged foods is the risk of too much sodium. But I watch the numbers and I’m doing just fine. I would love to be able to cook more often, but as a super busy single lady, it’s just not happening. I try to do a big batch cook on the weekends, but it doesn’t always happen, and when it does, I either eat that for dinner or lunch, never both. Well, sometimes both if it’s something super delicious.
For me, a big part of the problem is finding time. And yes, I know that if I rearranged my priorities, I could find more time to cook. But I like my priorities where they are and I don’t feel the need to rearrange them.
See, there I go, defending my decision to keep some processed foods in my diet. I shouldn’t have to. I have made the choice and I should stick with it. It’s my decision what I eat. I work on eating a balanced diet, getting in enough veggies and protein to fuel my body. But I also eat for enjoyment. And I don’t really enjoy cooking after a long day at work.
I have made other positive changes in my diet. I used to be a huge fan of 100 calorie snack packs. Those have been completely dropped. I also used to drink a diet soda every day. While I haven’t cut diet soda completely, it’s now a rarity for me rather than something I have every single day. I also try to avoid artificial sweeteners, but that’s mainly because some of them upset my stomach.
But there you have it. I’m not perfect. I’m not at home every night crafting a beautiful meal. I have no problem with people who do, and if they want to come to my house and feed me, I would be all about it. But it’s just not something that works in my life right now.
Thus ends the first in what may be a series on “Why I’m not perfect, and why that’s okay.”
I can definitely relate to this.
I would love nothing more than to eat whole, non-processed foods all the time, and I do try to as much as possible. I’ve added more fruits and veggies to my life and have been trying to stay away from packaged meals for lunch. I was doing a good job about it until this week actually. I couldn’t decide on what to eat for lunch at work, so I ended up buying a week’s worth of Smart Ones meals and Amy’s burritos.
I totally agree with you on these points. Ideally I’d eat clean too, but some weeks I do need to rely heavily on frozen dinners. I don’t like it (and they definitely don’t fill me up as well) but they are better than eating out all the time.
I also use them as a way to ease back in to healthy eating. I think it really helps me to have the portion control.
YES do that series! but also actually I was thinking about this more since I jumped back on the MyFitnessPal wagon – it’s SO much easier to input food when it’s not home made and I can just can in a barcode! otherwise you have to get out the scales and count slices and whatever and it’s a total pain. it actually makes me more inclined to eat pre-packaged meals! yargh.
I like this post. I do eat pretty clean, but you’re right – it takes time. Time not everyone has, and I get that. I like to think of what I do more as “informed” eating. I’m less concerned with never eating something that comes in a package and more concerned with making sure I understand what I’m eating – whether it’s packaged or homemade.