Clean Eating: 1st week is in the books!

And the verdict is: I'm really liking it!

I kept a food journal for the entire week to record everything thing that I shoved in my mouth, and that keeps some level of accountability because I hate the thought of having to write down something unhealthy when the majority of what I have eaten is healthy. It's almost like a math equation. Healthy + Healthy=AMAZING. Healthy+Crap=CRAP.
Here's a little highlight of what I ate this week:

Salmon with a honey dijon glaze and lentils. Honey Dijon and salmon is one of the yummiest things EVER.

Homemade pico & kale chips!

"Summer" wraps: Chicken, apples, grapes, honey, and almond butter

I think I did pretty good! There was a few things I ate this week that aren't pictured here, but these are some of the highlights. I went shopping last Sunday and purchased all the items necessary for the entire week. It cost me around $50 for an entire week's worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinners. However, today when I went to the store it cost me $89 for this weeks food. I think that it's probabley because this time I paid a little bit more attention to the products I was buying.

The whole point of clean eating is to actually eat clean. This means eating things that have no preservatives, hormones, additives, ect. For things that are packaged, the rule is 5 or less ingredients on the box. I've been reading up on clean eating here and there, and that knowledge has made my shopping choices change just in the past week of reading. I purchased free range, organic chicken today as opposed to the regular chicken I usually purchase. The meat alone threw my bill way off today. In the two weeks that I've started shopping clean I've realized some things I want to work on.

• Write a meal plan for each week prior to starting the week (I'll do up my plan on Sundays)
• Write my shopping list down in an organized way by breaking it up by area: Dairy, Produce, ect
• CHECK INGREDIENTS!! Don't just believe that something is clean because it states it has no preservatives
• Read ads from different grocery stores to get the best deals 

I don't want to spend a lot of time planning, buying, and cooking my meals. I have a short attention span and I'm a busy girl with my job so I am determined to keep it that way. I'll tell you one thing: having done all the work on Sunday and reaping the benefits all week is SO awesome. 

I also did cardio five times this week and lifted three days. Next week I'm shooting for four to five cardio days, and four lift days.

I'm also constantly on the hunt for easy and delicious clean eating recipes. Shout it out if you got some or know of some good blogs that have 'em!