Let Her Eat Clean

Last week I did a round trip of nearly 800 miles to visit a friend and her new baby. It involved being awake for 23 hours of the day. But some folks are worth going the distance for, aren’t they? This friend isn’t the one from uni, the one from school days or even the one that made the cut to play a ‘part’ in my wedding. She’s just one that’s played an important part in other ways.

Essential new baby shot – well worth travelling 40o miles and back for, right?

This was someone I worked with. Someone I also worked out with. Someone that would tell me my clothes were ill fitting, my bra straps were too loose, commend my efforts when I attempted to lean out a bit (rather than provide some painful “oh but you don’t need to” obligatory rubbish), pushed me to go on a date with the guy I wasn’t overly sure about (yet am now married to…), sent a long gossipy and distracting email at a time when I needed it most. She also LOVED to wax lyrical about Paleo and clean eating.

And that’s where the connection in this post comes… So many clean eating journeys are met with resistance from our social circles at that time.

What do you mean you don’t want to go out on all night benders anymore?

Since when did cupcakes (and gluten free at that) become a rare treat?

Are you seriously running to the restaurant?

And the one so, so many clean eaters will identify with.. You can’t possibly eat THAT for breakfast, that’s just $%@£-ing weird!, normally said whilst cradling a spoon over a bowl of diabetes-inducing Special K… 

You’re the product of the people around you. Why let others throw you off track? Don’t apologise for your own drive, motivation and determination to do something different. Stick with it. Those that respect you will back you every inch of the way.

I have the friend that totally gets why at an all you can eat pancake restaurant in the Caribbean I pay over the odds for scrambled egg instead; the girls that book restaurants starting their email with “is it a cheat meal or not?”; the work colleague that ate a microscopic fillet of white fish and some steamed greens when I invited her round for a meal once; the husband that has gladly amused himself whilst I’ve made trips to the gym – including on honeymoon; the Twitter pal that compares notes on Tupperware contents as if it were a game of top trumps.

Often people judge what they don’t always understand. Take time to tell people why you’re doing what you’re doing (and this doesn’t have to be just clean eating) and you’ll often be surprised to see their attitude change. But above all, surround yourself with the supportive folk, stay strong, determined and don’t let anyone stray you off track*

*unless it’s your breast feeding new Mummy friend who tells you cake with tea is her religion these days so you’d better darn well have a piece…