Clean and Lean Diet - Week One

So this past week has seen me embark on the Clean and Lean, or the Bodyism 'diet' from James Duigan.

The basic premise of the diet (I hate calling it that...) is to basically cut out all processed food and the majority of sugar (the unnatural kind) and cut down on the carbs. I've had the cookbook for years but apart from making the occasional recipe from it I've never really got into it. There was always a million reasons why I didn't fully commit to clean eating before - either I thought it would be too expensive, or too difficult when Nick and I still lived at home, that it would impact negatively on my social life etc etc. The thing is that when you're looking for an excuse you'll always find one. So after coming back off holiday both Nick and myself decided to give it a proper go. Granted, we didn't start straight away - we waited to get my birthday out of the way first, but on 1st of June we started eating clean.

Side note: I've also decided to combine the clean eating with the 5:2 diet (which everyone and their dog knows about so I won't bore you). But sadly I don't think the two go hand in hand - primarily because clean eating is centred around eating non-processed food which often contain high calories  whereas the 5:2 diet relies wholly calorie counting and eating low fat foods. It has been do-able but it has taken a lot of prep and forward planning that I'm not sure I can commit too long term.

I wanted to document some of my 'journey' (ewww) on here as I actually found it quite difficult to find any reviews of the clean and lean / bodyism approach to healthy eating before starting. I have the books and there are lots of interviews with James Duigan online but I struggled to find anything solid in terms of review.

I'll update more over the next few weeks and months - I may even include some recipes - but for starters my first week looked a bit like this...

♥ Breakfast - On a normal day it's a coffee and a smoothie and on a 500 day it's snacking on a few nuts until lunch and lots of water / green tea

♥ Lunch - On a normal day it's a salad, usually using avocado and either chicken or smoked salmon. On a 500 day it's a home made serving of ratetouille (I use this recipe) and a tiny amount of parmesan on top.

♥ Tea - On a normal day I've been working through the recipes in the clean and lean diet cookbook. So far my particular favourites have been Cajun Chicken and Salmon en Papillote with Ginger and Lime (I've also cooked a couple of things from the Hairy Dieters books - as long as the ingredients are clean it works!). On a 500 day I've been going through some 5:2 diet books and websites, so far we've had a pickled cucumber and prawn salad (here - not so good), halloumi and vegetable skewers (from a recipe book - amazing) and a prawn and courgette pasta dish (from a recipe book - pretty good!)