Cleaning Up Your Act

Maybe you are already into cleanliness? I hear it is next to Godliness, but this is something I know precious little about. You see, I was born a slob. Neither of my parents were slobby in the least. My father was very particular, extremely organized and fastidious. My mother keeps her home clean and neat. Always has. You should see her West Highland Terrier: pristine white as the alpine snow and beautifully groomed. Who knows what happened to me? Mr. Balancing Act insists that I was born this way. Lady Gaga would probably agree.

But my point today is about cleaning up your diet!

If you are with me on the September Whole Foods Challenge, it is likely you are going to need to do some house cleaning in advance. Not vacuuming or dusting, but cleaning out your cabinets, freezer, and fridge. Unless you are already eating a completely clean diet, you will probably discover some processed food products in your home.

If you are like my husband, it will be best to completely remove absolutely everything that could get in the way of your goal to eat clean. Mr. Balancing Act will be tempted by all kinds of things that would never appeal to me. My teenagers regularly have items like Sunchips, cheese bagels, jellybeans, wheat thins, even tubs of ice cream and frozen yogurt have recently made their way into my home! Honestly, I can routinely walk right past all of these without feeling tempted. However, if I were to bake a batch of homemade cookies or some type of cake, there is no way I could resist diving in. So there will be no baking during the month of September!

Here's where we have to get personal. First of all, exactly how hard-core are you planning to get with this Whole Foods Challenge? Baby steps are TOTALLY legitimate! You might choose to only upgrade your processed food products from white flour to whole grain. I think Sunchips might even qualify! I don't think Entenmann's makes any whole grain donuts, but you can probably find something along these lines at Whole Foods! Seriously, if you attempt to clean up your diet even in a small way, you will be taking a step in the right direction. The challenge is just to eat MORE whole foods, not necessarily to eat EXCLUSIVELY whole foods.

You might choose to go a step further, though. Another possible interpretation would be to cut out all convenience products, like meals and snacks that come in a bag or a box, made from processed grains and sugars, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. You could commit to cooking and eating more from scratch, using more fresh, wholesome vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and even whole grains.

If you already eat a very clean diet, you may even have trouble figuring out how to eat more whole foods! I have been examining everything I normally eat, trying to decide if things like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are whole foods. Although I believe these are HEALTHY foods, I'm pretty sure that my fat free Greek yogurt has been processed enough, stripped of all its fat, to no longer be considered "whole". Should I switch to a whole milk yogurt for the month of September? This would mean MORE fat, LESS protein, and I'd have to consume more of it to adhere to my Zone requirements. This will probably be one of those few "unwhole" products I will continue to consume during the Whole Foods Challenge.

So each of us will come to the Challenge from a different starting place. Each of us will need to make personal decisions about what foods to keep and what foods to annex for a month. I hope that each of us will be inspired to take this month to make positive changes in our diets, homes, attitudes, and life styles. These changes might be small, but not insignificant. Let's do this!