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Friday, January 31, 2014

Clean Eating: The Benefits

Last week I started a series on eating clean.
Did you miss it?
You can find the first post here.



Today I want to share a little bit more of my story.
When I was in second grade, I started getting headaches.
I had my eyes checked and they were fine.
In fact, I didn't get glasses until I was 21.
Happy Birthday to me...

The headaches just became part of my life.
In 6th grade, I was taking so much ib profen for these dang headaches, I remember my mom telling me that I couldn't have anymore.
She was afraid that I had become addicted or immune to it.
Those next couple of weeks were painful.

I got my first migraine in 6th grade...I started seeing fuzzy stuff and then I could only see half of things.

I remember being at Walmart and asking my mom why I could only see half of her face.
She immediately knew that I was going to have a migraine.

A large part for changing my eating habits were to see if I could rid the headaches.
I was so tired of getting them...and there was never any point of taking painkillers.
They didn't really work.
I did lots of research and read lots of testimonials about getting rid of the headaches, and how having a cleaner diet helped tremendously. 
So, I thought I'd try this "clean eating" lifestyle for a bit.
Like I said before, I cut processed foods out of my diet, including gluten and dairy.

After four weeks of this lifestyle, here are my benefits to eating this way:

1.  No more headaches!  I'm not kidding.  I really got rid of them this time.  I used to carry Excedrin in my purse because I never knew when I'd get a migraine, but I no longer carry any kinds of pain killers with me.  This was the BIGGEST improvement for me!  Life has been so much better since I didn't have that "nagging headache" to carry around with me.  Even if I didn't feel any other benefits from eating this way, living without headaches has been totally worth it.

2.  I lost weight and most importantly, inches!!  In just the 4 weeks, I lost 10 lbs and 11 total inches.  I felt SO much better in my clothes because my body was shrinking.  It's really not about what that number on the scales says, but rather how you feel in your own skin.  And I feel fabulous!  I got through my plateau that I had been on for 6 weeks, which was a great feeling!

3.  No more naps!  I don't feel like I need a mid-day nap in the afternoon.  I have a lot more energy, and I'm not prone to getting that "mid-afternoon slump" each day.  I can come home from work each day and feel like I have enough energy to do the chores, make supper, and workout.  That was huge for me.

4.  No more bloating.  A lot of times, after eating, I just felt really full.  I may not have even eaten that much.  I really noticed this after eating ice cream a lot.  My tummy would hurt and I'd feel like I needed to go put sweats on.  After cutting gluten and diary out of my diet, I really realized how crummy I was feeling and how much better I felt without it.

5.  I know exactly what I am putting into my body.  Before, I never really cared about what went into my body.  But after doing my research, I found that the foods with the least amount of ingredients, the better.  

6.  My brain fog has been lifted.  Do you ever feel like you are just in a daze?  I felt like that all the time before the switch.  Eating real, unprocessed foods helped lift that daze.  I am more alert and can think clearer now. 

I love the way my body feels.  I have learned to feed my body to nourish it, rather than to just eat because I want to or am bored.  It's a different way of eating, since not many talk about eating to nourish.  I haven't felt this good in a long time, and all of those benefits that I listed above are completely worth giving up processed foods. 

Questions?
Leave them in the comments and I'd be happy to answer them!

1 comment:

  1. Hey Beth! So clearly I am way behind on your posts, but I'm catching up :) I love following along your healthy journey and I'm so super proud of you! I can really relate to the head ache/migraine issues. The better I eat, the better I feel. Keep up the good work! :)

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