Fit and Beautiful You: Clean Eating

Clean Eating

The soul of clean eating is consuming food in its most

natural state, or as close to it as possible. It is not a diet;

it's a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading

to an improved life- one meal at a time. Remember, 80% of

your weight loss is dependent upon the food you eat. If you

workout every day and eat unhealthy, you cannot expect

to get great results. your results come from the time, energy,

and dedication you put into exercise and eating!

Why Eat Clean?

Feel good about yourself
Reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and many other diseases
Have more energy
Reduce the large percentage of obesity
Save money on fad diets that do not keep your weight off
Live a longer life for your husband, children, significant other, wife, and family

When they say you are what you eat, it is not a joke. It is really something to think about! If you eat cheeseburgers everyday, your body is going to look and feel like one. If you fill your body with vegetables, you're going to most likely feel good, have energy, and look thinner as well!!

How to Eat Clean:

Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces a day (if you weigh 180, you should drink 90 ounces). Limit your alcohol intake to one glass of antioxidant-rich red wine a day. Eat 5 to 6 times a day=eat every 2-3 hours. 3 meals and 2 to 3 small snacks. Include a lean protein, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and a complex carbohydrate with each meal. This keeps your body energized and burning calories efficiently all day long

NEVER miss a meal, ESPECIALLY breakfast!!!

Carry a cooler loaded with clean foods to get you through the day (if you have the food handy, no excuses for stopping at fast food, soda machines/candy machines or eating other unhealthy food).

Get label savvy- Clean foods contain just one or two ingredients. Any product with a long ingredient list is human-made and not considered clean.

Avoid processed and refined foods-This includes white flour, sugar, bread and pasta. Enjoy complex carbohydrates such as whole grain instead.

Know the enemy. Steer clear of anything high in
saturated and trans fats, anything fried or anything high in sugar.

Avoid calorie-dense food that has no nutritional value.

Shop with conscience, consume humanely raised local meats.

Depend on fresh fruits and veggies for fiber, vitamins, and enzymes.

Consume healthy fats, try to have essential fatty acids, or EFAs, everyday.

Learn about portion sizes, work towards eating within them.

Reduce your carbon footprint, eat produce that is seasonal and local. It is less taxing on your wallet and our environment!

Slow down and savor, never rush through a meal. Food tastes best when savored. Enjoy

every bite!

Make it a family affair! Food is a social glue that should be shared with loved ones. Improve the quality of your family's life along with your own!

Portions

1. Proteins: You should have a protein in each meal. Your body can handle 25 grams of protein with each meal.

2. Carbohydrates: You should have between 2-4 servings of complex carbs from grains, bread, and starches per day. When it comes to complex carbs such as fruits and veggies, you should have 1 serving with each meal, which come out to 6 servings per day.

3. Fats: Your diet should include 20-30% of fats from your daily food intake. Avoid trans fats completely. Saturated fats is not completely bad for you and you should have 30 grams or less per day.

Going grocery shopping can be chaotic!! It is important to make a list so you know what you are looking for and only get what is on your list! You save money this way. Also, there is nothing wrong with buying the off brand food-it is still the same thing!! Frozen is also fine to use, just do not go for canned food!! It is high in sodium and other additives!

Sometimes, it may seem difficult to eat clean, but having cookbooks handy, such as; "The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook" by Tosco Reno or "The Best of CLean Eating" from the Clean Eating magazine, are wonderful books with fantastic recipes for you and the family!

Water and Green Tea!!

Water is a HUGE factor that plays a part of your weight loss. Water helps with suppressing your appetite, helps with digestion and relieving the "bloating" feeling people get quite often, flushes the toxins out of your body, and also helps with those cravings!!

If you take your weight and divide it in half, you should be drinking that in ounces per day!

Now that does not count if you are drinking soda or coffee, then you will need additional! But what is the sense in putting artificial flavors/sweeteners in your body when you are trying to flush the toxins out of your body?

Try to stick to water! It helps tremendously, and if you are use to caffeine intake and need more energy, try using lemon water, especially first thing in the morning and continue to drink it through the day.

Also, use green tea to help with your cravings (especially at night!) and it is made of all natural ingredients!

I promise if you get rid of the soda, or even cut down to at least half, you will notice a big difference with your feelings of bloating and cravings for more caffeine and junk!!

In taking artificial sweeteners, you only make yourself crave more, so get rid of it all together!!