I’ve never really had a food philosophy before, other than “I like it a lot.”

Over the last year, I’ve read about other bloggers who are developing their own food philosophy. One friend is pursuing pescetarianism. Another friend is a vegetarian. I flirted with becoming a vegetarian when I was in high school, but I only went to so far as to cut out red meat, which I’ve recently introduced back into my diet (in small amounts, of course).

Other than giving up red meat, I never really had an idea of what I should or shouldn’t eat. My philosophy toward food was “If I like it, I’ll eat it.” Honestly. Diabetes be damned. Once I went on an insulin pump, that’s when hell really broke loose. That whole “flexibility” aspect of an insulin pump, you know, the part where you can “eat anything as long as you take insulin for it,” really came back to bite me in the ass. Because I did eat anything, as long as I took insulin for it. Boy did I ever.

My insulin pump was my crutch, but it wasn’t a crutch I was willing to give up. I spent four months a few years ago on Lantus and man oh man, did I hate it. Shots? No thank you! Give me my “purple pager” any day of the week. It gave me the flexibility that I needed, being a twentysomething living in a large metropolis, with an unpredictable work and social schedule.

But the thing they don’t tell you is that even with an insulin pump, you really can’t eat anything. Well, maybe you can eat anything, but certainly not all the bloody time! Anyway, you mix poor eating habits with a total disinterest in exercise and what do you get? A fat type 1 diabetic. That is me. Me it is.

So last week, Ginger Vieira sent me her new book “Your Diabetes Science Experiment.” I’m actually going to be reviewing it for my job, so I’m not going to get into it. On Sunday, after a disasterous shopping excursion in which I nearly broke down in tears at The Loft because of how big my spare tire has become in the last year, I decided to flip through to book to see what it said about diet and exercise. In her “diet and diabetes” section, she discussed “clean eating.” I hadn’t ever heard of it before, at least not phrased that way. I decided to google it and I found a whole bunch of resources on cleaning eating. A website, a magazine, and a handful of blogs all dedicated to clean eating.

Now, you might be wondering, what is clean eating? Is that where you wash your food before you eat it? The easiest thing I can think of is to compare it to the “cave man diet” that circulated awhile back. The premise that you eat solely foods that are found in nature: vegetables, fruits, lean meats and grains. Nothing processed. Nothing artificial. Nothing chemical. Nothing in boxes or bags. No hydrogenated oils or words you can pronounce because they’re not real. It also means no more diet Coke (heavens!), so I’ve been filling up on water (with a spritz of lemon) and an occasional glass of skim milk. Unlike other diets, this doesn’t ask you to eat excessive amounts of a particular type of food or have crazy limitations, or require that everything be cooked (or not cooked) a particular way. It’s actually pretty, well, normal sounding.

Although I’ve tried losing weight on and off for awhile now, nothing as really clicked. I know they say that it isn’t good to deprive yourself of things, but going by the “moderation” principle is really difficult. And who has time to count calories anyway? I have a hard enough time counting carbohydrates and most of the time, I’m just guessing anyway. While I don’t think I’ve been eating poorly, my diet routinely consists of frozen meals from Trader Joe’s, pre-packaged entrees, and occasionally a salad. The revolving thing: packaged, packaged, packaged. The clean eating diet basically dumps everything packaged from your diet and forces you to eat things nature intended.

So yesterday, Erik and I decided to embark on a clean eating diet (well, mostly me, I’m sure Erik will continue eating some of his junk food at work). But at home, it’s all clean eating. Last night, we made our own homemade chicken nuggets that included flaxseed, oat bran and almonds and they were dee-lish! This morning, I had oatmeal with frozen mixed berries for breakfast. Lunch was leftover chicken nuggets, two clemintines and a piece of dark chocolate. My snack was a banana, and just now, I’m eating some dry roasted edamame to hold me over until dinner (lots of protein!). For dinner we’re doing a quinoa pilaf and salad. Completely natural. Cutting out processed food is definitely going to be a challenge, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a way of eating that actually made sense and actually seemed like silly for me not to do it. Or at least, try.

Of course, you can’t do everything through diet alone, but I’m crossing my fingers that this will help me feel less bloated because I won’t be relying so heavily on frozen meals. Getting to the gym is still tricky (especially when it’s 19 degrees outside!) but hopefully a mix of at-home work outs, gym excursions and my new food philosophy will get me back on track. I’m sure I will slip up from time-to-time. I’m pretty sure the Indian dinner we’re having on Thursday in NYC to celebrate my 17th diaversary will not be clean. But you know what? All you can do is your best, and enjoy the rest.

So, do you have a food philosophy? Does clean eating appeal to you or are you sticking with your Cheetos?