fyi: eating clean
January 29th, 2010 - by Jen
There are so many different types of eating lifestyles out there, and it seems that a growing number of people are associating themselves with various groups. Vegan, raw, gluten free, dairy free, or just an all around food lover. Whatever the reason for your culinary affiliation, you make the choice that is best for you and (hopefully) your body. Eating clean is a food lifestyle I recently heard about and it’s not a new way to eat, in fact you may find that you are a bonified clean eater without knowing it. When a friend described it to me I realized that I’ve been eating pretty “clean” for years.
Here are some main principles for eating clean:
- Eating a mini-meal every two to three hours (5 to 6 small meals per day total) to keep blood sugar level and prevent hunger
- Combining lean proteins and complex carbs (whole grains) at every meal
- Avoiding all over-processed and refined foods (especially sugar, white rice, and white flour)
- Avoiding saturated and trans fat, instead consuming healthy fats
- Avoiding soda and other sugary juices and drinks
- Avoiding high-calorie, zero nutrient foods (i.e., junk food)
- Eating proper portion sizes
- Drinking at least 8 cups of water every day
Clean eating is about making delicious and healthy food choices and feuling your body with the best foods available. Something everyone should be doing for their body. After all, you only get one.
Some tips for eating cleaner today:
Try switching out one meal a week with a “clean” meal, and every month or so increase the number of meals.
Find and subscribe to a few favorite vegetarian, vegan or raw food blogs and websites, they often have more recipes using fresh ingredients. try this local raw eater’s site.
When you get a case of the munchies try drinking a glass of water, oftentimes you’re just thirsty. Keep a water bottle with you all day, when it’s empty fill it up and keep going!
Check your local market’s most recent ads and shop when produce is on sale.
If you wonder what things you should buy organic or not, check out environmental working group’s information on the clean fifteen and dirty dozen.
Substitute a little of your all purpose flour in those cookies with whole wheat or another nutritious flour. I like this list of substitutions.
And as often as you can, buy local, buy in season, and buy fresh!!
more resources:
January 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I’m so glad you posted this Jen! I fell in LOVE Clean Eating Magazine about a year ago (I just picked up the new issue yesterday at B & N). THey have such awesome recipes. Eli and I have made it a goal to eat clean more often. It’s amazing how different we feel! We feel so much energy (and have each lost 12 pounds since Jan. 4th)! We let ourselves cheat here and there, but it’s such a great lifestyle! I’m glad you posted those extra resources. Love it! Thanks!
January 30th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Hurray for clean eating!!
Some delightful surprises we found when we switched to eating clean:
-Our grocery bill was smaller (what? Isn’t health food suppose to be expensive? Turns out so is non-health food haha. Cutting out a lot of those things was way cheaper. Plus with produce you learn to buy what’s in season!)
-We learned to appreciate and savor food. We don’t add a whole lot of spices or sauces to food because we just think the natural flavor is so strong and delish! We never think “there’s nothing to eat in this fridge!” anymore because every piece of produce or leftover tastes gourmet.
-Even though my husband and I were already bean polls we dropped weight!! I strongl believe you can drop more pounds eating clean than exercizing. If everyone in America ate clean I promise you there would NOT be an obesity epidemic!!
-We feel healthy!! Our bodies are happy and not sluggish from eating terrible things