What is it?
Clean eating is the new rave right now; however, it has been around forever! What is "clean eating"? It involves eating foods that are healthy, whole and unprocessed. A diet that is "clean" involves eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Clean eating focuses more on ingredients than calories.... So how do you know if its clean? Well if it doesn't have dirt on it my friends then you shouldn't eat it! For example, a sweet potato would be considered clean because it comes from the earth and it involves no processing. If you were to look up the ingredients for a sweet potato it would simply read sweet potato. However, if you were to look up the ingredients for you favorite boxed mac and cheese you would read over 20 ingredients!! Now, does this mean that you cannot eat mac and cheese ever again? Of course not because that would be absurd!! Instead you would make your own mac and cheese with unprocessed whole grain pasta, cheese, and milk. This will eliminate all of the additives that are in boxed mac and cheese such as sodium phosphate, food dyes, and other synthetically made products. When choosing food at the grocery store, I have and under 5 rule. If there are more than 5 ingredients I don't consider it clean.
Another example is oatmeal. The instant oatmeal packages, such as quaker, have ingredient lists that are often over 20 ingredients! Why??!! This is so they can sit on the shelf forever and not spoil. So how do you make oatmeal clean? Easy! Just buy whole grain old fashioned rolled oats or steel cut and cook them stove top! Then top it off with some clean toppings such as fruit, honey or raw sugar, and organic milk.
Why should you eat clean?
Clean eating can help you loose weight and feel energized. Items that are clean are naturally low in sugar, salt, preservatives, and all the other stuff makes you feel like a slug! When items are pure, your body can break them down easily and use them for energy but when you add synthetically made ingredients your body doesn't know what to do with them and it throws it off balance.
Salt and sugar
Im sure by not you're thinking that salt and sugar are good for you right? Well you're absolutely right! Our body cannot survive without salt or sugar. The problem here is that we don't need the 100 plus grams of refined sugar that most people consume in a day. It is recommended that the average woman should only have 25 grams of added sugar sugar a day ( roughly 6 teaspoons). Just one container of yogurt can have up to 22 grams of sugar! So does this mean you should buy sugar free yogurt? Absolutely not! These items often contain ingredients like aspartame and sucralose which are synthetically made. So those are a big NO NO!! So if you can, consume yogurt that is made with pure raw sugar! As for salt, it is often added to boxed foods as a preservative. If an item does have salt, look for items that contain hymilayian salt or sea salt. These items are pure, non processed and high in minerals compared to typical iodized table salt. Learn to read labels and you will be amazed at what is in food!
The Do's and Dont's of Clean Eating
Here is a list of some clean versus non clean foods
*Try to chose organic where possible
Clean
- Any fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables
- Honey and Raw Sugar
- Raw Meats ( I like to chose ones that are raised without antibiotics)
- Eggs ( preferably farm fresh)
- Yogurt sweetened with raw sugar
- Whole grain bread and pasta (look at the labels for preservatives)
- Quinoa
- Brown rice
- whole rolled or steel cut oats
- Almond milk
- Nuts
- Unrefined coconut oil
- Water and coffee
Unclean
- Artificial sweeteners
- Foods with aded nitrates, food dyes, and chemicals ( If you can't pronounce an ingredient then you shouldn't eat it)
- Processed cheese ( velveta)
- Sugary drinks like juice and soda
- Boxed meals
Here are some examples of why you should pay attention to what is in the ingredients of the foods that you eat! A common mistake is to associate types of food as being healthy or "clean". For example, oatmeal is clean and healthy; however, oatmeal in the single serve packets are loaded with synthetic ingredients. The image below shows a comparison of healthy steel cut oats in comparison with quaker maple and brown sugar oatmeal--sorry to bust your bubble but these just aren't as healthy as you think!
Okay so lets talk about this picture. The quaker oats have a ton of added ingredients; whereas, the steel cut oats only have 1 ingredient! Winner, winner!!! The quaker oats have less fiber, more sugar, and an artificial sweetener (sucralose). Most people, when reading labels they look at calories. If you were to look at calories and calories only, the quaker oatmeal would win because it has 120 calories per pouch in comparison to 150 calories per 1/2 cup of cooked steel cut. This is where you take into consideration which one is more nutrient dense and better for your body. In Terms of taste, the steel cut oats aren't sweetened but you can always add a teaspoon of raw sugar or honey and then top them off with some fresh fruit and nuts! Yum! Now I'm excited for breakfast tomorrow morning :) Adding fruit to your oatmeal will provide you with extra vitamins and minerals that are pure and natural....Not the kind that are added to the quaker oats and have been formulated in a lab and then added into your food! Get your vitamins and minerals the natural way by eating fruits and vegetables!!! Just remember to read your labels :)
