Back to Eating Clean & SLEEP

This year I'm back to eating clean, and after a few weeks I am feeling so much better. OK, so I am currently getting over some kind of crud... I think my entire office has been out sick at some point the last couple of weeks. I tried to avoid it, even denied it, but got sick anyway. But besides the sniffles, sneezing, coughing, headaches, and fever... I feel great! :)

I set off the new year by getting back to clean eating - which means I cut out processed foods, ditch the sugar (except for some treats here and there), balance my carbs and protein, and have been getting back in the habit of taking vitamins. The result? I FEEL better! It's hard to explain, I just feel like my body is back in balance. The best part? For the past 3 or 4 nights I've actually had really good full nights of glorious SLEEP - which is a rare celebratory event for me. Sad I know, but you have no idea how important sleep is, until you are not able to... I really think I got sick last week because I wasn't sleeping well while I was waiting for the clean eating/vitamins to take effect (it had only been a couple of weeks) and being stubborn about not taking a sleeping aid.

I credit my improvement in sleep mostly to taking a Calcium/Magnesium/D supplement. I had no idea how important magnesium is for you until I read YOU: The Owner's Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger and You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty by Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz which led me to look more into this mineral.

Here is a list of the vitamins I take:

• Alive Multi-Vitamin by Nature's Way
• Calcium, Mag, & D Complex by Nature's Way
• Fisol Enteric-Coated Fish Oil by Nature's Way
• Iron 28 mg

Most of them recommend taking them 3 times a day. I am lucky if I remember to take them twice! Better than not taking them at all! Plus, eating clean, I don't feel like I have to take them so often... I see them more as an insurance policy. Except for the Cal/Mag/D complex which I know I need everyday.

If you're curious about what eating clean is about and other stuff I mentioned above... check out the list of resources below (though a lot of these are listed on the right hand side of this page too). A simple explanation of clean eating, directly from the Clean Eating Magazine website is,

Clean Eating? It's simple, really. Consuming food in it's most natural state -- or as close as possible to it -- is the soul of clean eating. It's not a diet; it's a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to health, well-being and a lean look.

The Eat Clean Diet (I swear it's not a fad diet, not matter what this website makes it look like)
Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Blog
Eating Clean Works Blog
Clean Eating Magazine
Health Benifits of Magnesium
What's your Real Age?