Officially a Blogger

Well, here it is, my first blog.  If you are following this and reading what I am writing, you'll have to bare with me for just a bit while I learn how this works :)  So this was half of my exciting news...I don't expect this to be a popular blog, just one that friends can follow about all of the clean food I am cooking.  I honestly believe that to feel my optimum, I need to eat clean.  However, eating clean can be tricky, too, as every body is different.  But if I can at least help people cook healthier, than I feel good in sharing the knowledge.

So for the second half of my exciting news, I wanted to share that I am doing a 30-day detoxification, and will be blogging daily what I am eating and how I am feeling, along with the exercise I am doing.  I feel like this will be helpful not only to the people who follow "Stef Cooks Clean," but also helpful to me, as I will have to be accountable.  The first thing I want to point out is that I am not an advocate for "fad" diets.  I do not believe in eliminating any food group from my lifestyle (of course I do advocate a vegetarian or vegan diet, when chosen, as they are cutting out animal products, not protein), but I do believe that eliminating certain food groups for a short period of time can help reset my metabolic rate, improve sleep quality, increase energy, and promote a healthy weight loss.  Therefore, I am embarking on a 30-day detoxification of sugar, alcohol, tobacco, grains, legumes and processed food.  The alcohol and tobacco are easy, the sugar and processed foods will be a bit more difficult, but I am hoping having this blog, and being accountable will help with the transition.

At the end of my 30-day detoxification I hope to have curbed all sugar cravings, and can implement back into my healthy diet legumes and grains.  This may sound like a Paleo Diet I am embarking on, but I am not really an advocate of that lifestyle, as I have said before I do not believe in completely eliminating any food group from a healthy, whole, well rounded diet (for me!  If it works for you, and you are happy, that's awesome!) I am following this strictly scientifically.  I have completely destroyed my metabolic rate through years of fad diets and yo-yoing weight.  I spent my youth chubby, my teens overweight, dropped a lot of weight after high school, only to gain back a good amount after being diagnosed hypothyroid in my late 20's.  I have tried every fad diet and have learned that while you can lose weight with every one of them, they are all so restrictive in nature and are hard to commit to as a lifestyle.  So it just becomes a viscious cycle.  Eating healthy whole foods along with physical activity is the key to maintaining weight loss.  I have been doing it and seeing results, but I still have pounds to lose and will use this blog and page as my demonstration that we don't have to give up tasty foods to live a healthy lifestyle.