My name is Tasha, The Clean Eating Mama. Welcome to my Clean Eating and healthy living blog! I live in beautiful state of Washington and call Seattle my home.
What is clean eating you ask?
The definition for clean eating differs from person to person. To me, eating clean means eating as close to Mother Earth and nature as possible. If it’s not natural then chances are we should not be eating it. I live a vegetarian/vegan life style. I find that my body feels the best on plant based food. However, you can still eat clean eating animal products – I always suggest buying organic since it cuts down on the amount of chemicals and additives.
My blog is important to me because health and nutrition are important to me. Education and awareness are invaluable and my goal is to bring these two together to help today’s society. Today’s diet is overloaded with the word "convenience". Fast food, take out, pre-packaged items… now don’t get me wrong. As a mom I am all for convenience. Especially if it makes my life easier! But understanding the good and bad of this equation is the answer.
I would be lying to say that I have never struggled with my weight or self image. I was over weight as a child; always being made fun of at school and I remember going on my first "diet" when I was 12. At age 12 a child should not be worrying about his or her weight. They should be playing with friends, wind blowing through their hair and not have a care in the world! The summer of 7th grade I did something about my image. I wanted boys to like me, I wanted to wear cute clothes, I wanted to be "cool". I started to do crunches and push up’s in my bedroom at night and watched what I ate. I started 7th grade a new person. I had confidence, friends and boys started to look at me! It was great!
In 10th grade I became serious with a boy and my weight started to come back on again. I guess I fell in that comfortable area and the pounds packed back on. Late night taco bell runs and not being very active lead me to gain at least 30 pounds. I don’t know the exact amount as I never had weighed myself during that time, but I was pretty heavy. At the time I was fine with it but eventually I started to hate the person I was becoming. So I did what all people do when they want to lose weight: I watched what I ate and started becoming more active.
I noticed results pretty quickly and I was enjoying my new life style. Unfortunately, our relationship didn’t last but my new habits did. I was becoming very self aware and started to focus on me with no other distractions in my life. I loved my new life and my new appearance.
I ended up working at the local medical center as a nutritionist and worked closely with the RD. There I learned that nutrition was my calling. I wanted to help individuals become happy and healthy!
In late 2004 my self esteem and self image dropped into a very unhealthy level. I tested numerous diet pills, viewed food as the enemy and was always working out. I let it get out of hand and it started to consume my life. I couldn’t enjoy myself when I would go out with Marc or my friends because it was always revolved around food. I was always striving to lose more weight and I became depressed when I couldn’t.
Then something magical happened: I got pregnant. 
Everyone says that getting pregnant and become a mom changes their life in some way. They are absolutely correct, but it is different for each individual.
I knew I needed a mental break from my critical inner voice and I let loose. I had no idea what to expect nor was I about to sacrifice my unborn child’s health. I ate what I wanted and what I felt like and you know what? IT WAS AWESOME! I really couldn’t help it – cravings would come on and I needed it NOW! 🙂
However, I did gain over 50 pounds which is more than I would have liked but I didn’t look back. I had a very healthy 9 months with no complications what so ever. Delivery was the same way and a lot easier than I would have expected. You can read about my birth in detail here. But don’t worry, I spared the gory details. 😉
Now I was on the road to recovery and getting my body back in check again. With a combination of nursing, being able to move again and starting to feel normal, I had lost close to 25-30 pounds at my 6 week check up. I retained A LOT of water during my pregnancy! My ankles were HUGE and I was swollen all over. Nursing helped the recovery and my ankles were back to normal in less than a week! I could finally wear shoes again! Ah, the simple things!
Even though the weight was slowly coming off I new that I needed to start going back to the gym as it had been over a year since I laced up my shoes. Not only for weight loss but for my over all health needed attention. I ended up buying 12 weeks with a personal trainer at Gold’s and it was exactly what I needed to jump start my new, healthy mentality.
You see, I have learned something very important from my little bundle of joy: I am proud of my body and I have all the respect in the world for it now! For once I am able to say that! So what if I have stretch marks and some extra skin around my mid section… I created life! And I have to stay healthy for him. I want to be a good example and teach him the importance of a balanced diet and a balanced life.
This is why I created this blog – life is hard but people from all walks of life have struggled and you know what? It’s ok. If you see a thin, beautiful woman walking down the street and you think to yourself "If only I could look like her…"; the thing is you have no idea what she is going through. Maybe she herself is struggling with her own insecurity or is unhealthy. We need to embrace our own existence and be good our bodies.
I love comments or questions so please feel free to say HI anytime! I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I love to write.
xoxox
The Clean Eating Mama 