Hello Grasshoppa,
For the past few years, there is a huge trend of eating clean & it has been hitting us like a storm. It ranges from Atkins Diet to Keto Diet & many others. This trend have caught many individuals to actually adept to this & some of them even started a healthy food business to support this trend.
As a former MMA fighter & active competitor, I do have my fair share of going into clean eating mode especially during my preparation for fight. On average, I have to lose 7-10kg for me to compete at my weight class. Coming from the beautiful food haven of Penang, I never liked eating clean since Penang hawker serves the best food you can ever find. LOL. That is why after my competition, I’ll be going on a crazy food hunt that will last up to a month.
How Can You Eat Clean & Save Money?
This is something that I always look into during my eating clean period. I will be looking at minimizing my cost since clean eating can be really expensive.
1. Prepare Your Own Meal
First things that comes in your mind is “I don’t have time to prepare it or I don’t know how to cook”. Cooking is not that hard especially when it comes to clean eating. The preparation can be as easy as combining all the ingredient together such as Roast Chicken from Tesco with Fresh Veggies or cooking Salmon with Olive Oil & add Fresh Veggies. Those easy recipes or ideas are all available online.
2. Do Your Own Survey
To prepare affordable clean meal, I used to do lots of survey to find the cheapest Salmon, Chicken & Vegetables. Salmon are usually cheaper at Tesco or Giant compared to other places like Jaya Grocer or Aeon. Even for supplements, I find that bodybuilding.com (International Store) or Eji Nutrition (Malaysia Store) offer cheaper supplement compared to other Online Stores or GNC.
3. Source for Alternative Ingredient
Since many Nutritionist recommends Avocado, the trend tends to go towards including Avocado in the meal but do you know there are plenty alternative food that are out there as well? Other example includes Beef. There is Beef sold at expensive price but you can purchase it at cheaper price at your local market as well.
4. Mix & Match Your Meal
My daily clean eating includes Chicken, Salmon, Brown Rice, Eggs, Fruits, Whey Protein, Veggies, Nuts & many others. What I usually do is Mixing & Matching my cheaper & expensive meal together. Example : I will eat Chicken for lunch & Salmon for dinner. Aside from balancing my cost, I am able to enjoy different food alternative as well.
How Do I Make My Clean Eating Meal Taste Better?
Usually I will go for 4-8 weeks of strict diet to prepare for my competition. Adding extra flavors to enhance my meal is important since I need to maintain such diet for few weeks. Since we are not body builders & we are not looking to lose any fluid from our body, using Himalayan Salt is fine for our meals. Other ingredient such as Lime, Chili Powder, Curry Powder, Paprika, Pepper & many others are recommended if you are looking to do this for long term.
Am I On Any Clean Eating Plan Now?
No I’m not at this moment. I have stopped competing from any active competition since 2016 & I don’t look at competing anytime soon. Perhaps if there is any competition that interest me then I may do it again. I may not be on full clean eating mode now but I do try to control my meal portion & reduce any unhealthy food on my daily diet.
Conclusion :
Eating Clean is a Journey where it requires a commitment to do it. All I can say is, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Maybe it’s because I’m from the beautiful food heaven of Penang where all the best food are available. Anyway, if you are looking to embark your Journey to eat clean, do factor in the cost so you can save money & stay committed in the long run. Do feel free to DM me personally if you have any questions on clean eating & I will try to answer it as many as possible.
OSS!
