Clean Eating. I’m sure you hear about how vital is to get results in your health and fitness journey. Lots of people have trouble eating clean, and I believe it’s because they overthink it. Most have this preconceived notion that clean eating is grill protein, brown rice and steamed veggies. That’s all they eat, it gets monotonous, and they stop. I’m here to tell you, it’s NOT like that!
Clean Eating is basically eating whole foods, in as close to their natural state as possible. Here are 5 steps to get you started:
1. Clean Out Your Pantry & Freezer
- Replace refined carbs (like white rice) with whole grains (brown rice, quinoa)
- Get rid of processed foods (anything with 5 ingredients or more)
2. Come Up With A Game Plan It’s easy to eat clean when you prepare your own meals, but there are times when you will not able to make your own meals. You will need to know how to make good choices. My Healthy Choice Food Guide will help you with both preparing a shopping list to make your meals at home and also for figuring out what to substitute when you go out.
3. Cut back on refined (white) sugar. Refined sugar provides nothing but calories. Other sweeteners can be used, but with all the good foods you add to your diet, refined sugar really has very little place in the eating clean plan.
4. Eat Plenty of Fruits and Vegetables When figuring out what to make for dinner, start with the vegetables, from there, figure out what else (protein, starch) would go well with it.
5. Drink Water We constantly hear to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but the actual amount differs for each person. Use this handy water calculator to see how much you really should be consuming.
6. Eat 5 – 6 Times a Day Our metabolism can only handle a certain amount of calories, carbs, fat, and protein in one sitting. Eating every few hours stabilizes nutrient oxidization levels, making the body more efficient at burning food. Also it prevents long stretches of “starvation”.
My favorite sites for Clean Eating are: • Clean Eating Magazine • The Gracious Pantry • The Eat Clean Diet
These are great resources, but technically once you understand the principles of eating clean, you can take your favorite recipes and “clean” them up. I encourage all of my clients to Eat Clean. And most notice a difference within a 7-10 days.
Drop by our Facebook page to get The Daily Dish (a daily clean eating recipe), or just to let me know how your journey is going.
