Clean Eating
Clean Eating is not a diet, it's a healthy (and happy) lifestyle!
Eating clean is really all about eating whole foods and avoiding processed and refined foods. What’s great about it is that you can structure your food intake to get proper nutrition, help manage and avoid disease, lose weight, remove toxins, and feel better overall.
What you eat really does affect how you feel. Relying on whole foods is the best way to get a good combination of micronutrients which can help reduce cholesterol levels and regulate blood sugar. Whole foods help keep your digestive system regular as well.
Eating a healthy diet makes you stronger so you can stay more active. If you feel good, you will be more likely to take care of yourself in other ways.
Principles of Clean Eating
The Basic Principles of Eating Clean
Eating clean involves not only choosing the right foods to eat but also avoiding all of the junk foods and processed foods that are all around us. The keys to good health and proper nutrition are in the following principles:
Avoid processed foods: Processed foods are any food that has a label. A label means that more than one ingredient was used to make that food. You don’t have to eliminate all processed foods (like whole grain pasta or natural cheeses), but an easy guideline to follow is - if you can’t pronounce an ingredient on a label, don’t put that food in your shopping basket.
Avoid processed foods
Choose organic foods whenever possible
Go gluten-free
Read and understand food labels
Consume healthy fats
Consider portion sizes
Eat smaller, more frequent meals
Drink a lot of water
Eat whole foods
Eliminate refined sugar
Cook your own meals
Combine protein with carbs
EAT
CLEAN
Choose organic foods whenever possible: When you choose organic food you are getting food with lower chemical residues. This makes a big difference for certain fruit and vegetable crops that are heavily treated with pesticides and promotes a better world.
Go gluten free: Although eating wheat products, especially whole wheat, does offer some health benefits, the gluten can actually be harmful, be difficult to digest and cause bloating. Listen to your body.
Read and understand food labels: Learning how to read and understand food labels can help you make healthier choices. Avoiding artificial ingredients keeps your cells strong so your body systems work efficiently. Email me if you are interested in attending a Food Label Reading event.
TIP: If you are new to clean eating and don't know where to start, try incorporating 1 or 2 changes to your diet. Remember that each change is a step in the right direction!
Consume healthy fats: The best sources of healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are fish, nuts, seeds, avocado, dark chocolate, olives and cold-pressed vegetable oils.
Consider portion sizes: Research has shown that people consistently eat more food when offered larger sized portions. So portion control is important when you're trying to lose weight and keep it off.
Eat smaller, more frequent meals: By eating smaller meals throughout the day you can help speed up your metabolism and make better food choices. You should never get so hungry on this plan that you feel deprived or feel the need to cheat.
Drink Water: This helps maintain the balance of body fluids which helps transport nutrients in the body, regulate body temperature, digest food, and more.
Eat whole foods: Whole foods are foods that haven’t been altered, in a lab or manufacturing plant. Look for farm-fresh food such as whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, grass-fed and free-range meats, low fat dairy products, unsalted nuts, and seeds. Whole foods keep you satisfied longer so you’re less tempted to reach for junk food.
HEALTHY
FATS
Eliminate refined sugar: Refined sugar provides nothing but calories and with all the good foods you could add to your diet, refined sugar really has very little place in the eating clean plan.
Cook your own meals: Instead of buying pre-packaged meals or eating out, cook meals from scratch. Clean, whole foods need little preparation beyond chopping and sautéing to make satisfying, delicious meals.
Combine protein with carbs: When you do snack or eat a meal, ensure that it’s a balanced meal. To avoid being tempted to eat junk food, combine protein with carbs or carbs and healthy fat. This will fuel your body and curb hunger pangs.
Interested in learning more about clean eating?
Join my Free 7-day Clean Eating Group!
7-Day Clean Eating Group
What is this group? Why should I do this?
This is a FREE private Facebook group that you can do from the comfort of
your own home. The only cost you incur is buying the groceries.
In this group, I will share the most important clean eating tips and help you form good clean eating habits. By joining a supportive group of like-minded individuals with the same goals and a place to inquire and learn, you will learn how to create healthy habits, what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat and how to cater to a busy family with different dietary preferences and needs. Since 70% of our results come from our nutrition choices, I want to make sure that you are informed to make the best decisions for you and your family!
If you're interested in joining the group, send me an email, or connect with me on Facebook.
For upcoming group dates, click here.
