The Importance of Creating Your Own Personalized Clean Eating Chart

In getting ready for my 21 Day Fix journey that starts next Monday, I'm making it my mission to come up with some 21 Day Fix Menu Plans.  For me, it's definitely best to plan ahead so I can get the proper container counts.  If I don't, I tend to veer off track.  This way,  I know I'll have the right balance of nutrition during the days and weeks.

So, I had this idea to come up with my own clean eating Chart.  You can download a complete list HERE.  My thinking is that it's a long list and I don't even like all of the foods on that list.  So I decided to do a spreadsheet and create my own!  There are a couple things to consider:

1.  What foods do you actually like to eat?

2.  Portion sizes of foods you like.  Example:  healthy Fats = 2 pieces of string cheese 

3.  What foods fit your budget.

While most people think that eating healthy is more expensive, it's not totally true.  Yes sometimes it costs a little more per item, especially pre-packaged stuff.  However think of all of the money you save by drinking filtered water instead of soda.  I'm seriously saving $50 a month of Gatorade (kind of embarrassed to admit it).  Instead I spend about $12 a month on unsweetened tea.  You also have to balance the more expensive food with foods that really are frugal like frozen veggies, carrots, eggs, and other foods that literally cost 25-50 cents per snack.

That being said, I created my own foods based on the 21 Day Fix foods list to make my eating a little easier.  The easier something is and the more organized you are, the more likely you are to succeed.   Here is what mine looks like:

Now everyone's chart would look different because it's based on what you like to eat.  Plus you can add to it any time you want and print it out for meal planning reference.

I'm also thinking on making another spreadsheet chart with my favorite recipes for snacks and meals.  Those would go in the grey column down the side, and then I can reference my own chart instead of trying to figure out serving sizes every single time I make a recipe.  That would get old really fast.

Follow my entire journey into clean eating including my recipes HERE.