What's in the bag?? Grocery bag that is. One of the boot campers brought up a great question....what exactly is "eating clean?"

Eating clean means that you eat food primary in its most natural state. Try staying away from all the boxed, processed, pre-manufactured stuff. That's eating clean. To help some of you out, I thought I would give you a list of the most typical items you'd find in the grocery bags that I carry out of the store, say about 3 times a week! We eat A LOT in our house!

I first have to admit, I shop separately than the rest of the gang in our house....ok, I'm sort of picky.

Here's some of the items in my grocery bag (any combination of many):

Avocados
Ezikiel sprouted grain bread
Eggs
Broccoli or other veggies
Frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries for protein shakes)
Bee pollen (use it in my protein shakes)
Flax seeds (I have to grind them and put the grounds in the FREEZER)
Raw nuts
Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
Raisins
Protein Powder for shakes (from Fresh and Natural)
Apples (from Victoria Apple Orchard, 1 1/2 mile from our house!)
Peanut butter (natural kinds)
Almond butter
Brown Rice
Chicken broth (for cooking brown rice)
Salsa
Cheese
Canned beans
Chicken
Bananas
Dark chocolate bars
Salmon
Sweet potatoes (yummy roasted!)
Red potatoes
Red onion
Garlic
Lemons
Hummus
Pretzels
Other veggies in season
Other fruits in season
Low fat coconut milk (to add to protein shakes)
Olive oil
Spelt or whole grain tortillas
Balsamic vinigrette
Oatmeal

We eat a lot of venison for red meat...sometimes I buy beef, but only grass fed.

Here's a link to find all the natural food stores or co-ops in the cities:
www.localharvest.org

Here's a link to find the medicinal and nutritional information on just about ANY food:
www.whfoods.org

When I get the "hankerin'" to make a big pot of soup during this time of year...I'll just buy those additional ingredients.

Do I sit down to a nice meal every night? Nope. We all can't manage to do that no matter how hard we try, especially with kids!

But I'm convinced that a "convenient" meal doesn't have to be frozen pizza.

Scramble some eggs and throw them on whole grain toast. Grab a banana with it.

Make your own burritos. I'm addicted to making my own bean burritos in an iron skillet. Takes about 7 minutes. Just heat up the tortilla on both sides with cooking spray, add some sliced cheese, beans, salsa, avocado. Dinner done. Ok, so maybe the kids don't like beans. Maybe you have left over chicken breasts from the night before?? Chop that up instead!

So you and the kids have to run off to hockey or football or music lessons? Gotta eat quick!
Just make a whole grain grilled turkey and cheese sandwich. Throw some baby carrots on the plate with it (for the kids)....or maybe you want to add your own greens, tomato, onion, etc. That will probably take you 15 minutes max!

Need snacks for yourself? I'm a big fan of apples and peanut butter, bananas and peanut butter, raw nuts and raisens, yogurt and nuts, pretzels with hummus, etc....all this stuff never makes me feel deprived since it's good food!

Poor quality food that is very processed actually exaggerates your cravings and makes you want to eat more! The additives, colorings and artificial flavorings are not recognized in your body, so you never feel satiated! Your brain ends up sending the wrong signals as to "when" your satisfied....but usually by that point, you feel like crap.

Okey dokey, that's my soapbox! Hope this gives some ideas!