Clean eating is not a diet. It is a life style. It's a commitment to eating well full time. It's not about going hungry. It's about eating with thought and planning.

Principles of Clean Eating:

* Eat 5 to 6 small meals every day. (Not huge meals,- snack size servings)

* Eat every two or three hours of good nutrition to keep your metabloism up.

* Combine lean protein and complex carbs at every meal.

* Drink at least 8 cups of water a day.

* Never miss a meal, especially breakfast.

* When working, take your own cooler of healthy foods.

* Avoid all over-processed, refined foods especially with white flour and sugar.

* Avoid saturated and trans fats.

* Avoid sugar-loaded carbs and juices.

* Consume adequate healthy fats each day.

* Avoid alcohol, another form of sugar.

* Avoid all calorie dense foods that conatin little or no nutritional value.

* Depend on fresh fruits and vegtables for fiber, vitamins, and enzymes.

* Stick to proper portion sizes- give up super sizing!

 

 

Lean Proteins: (5 to 6 daily)

Chicken breast, Meat, fish, tofu, etc.

 

Starchy Complex Carbs: (2 to 4 servings daily)

(Bananas, brown ricem sweet potato, pasta, etc.)

 

Complex Carbs from Fruit and Vegtables: (5 to 6 servings daily)

Fruits and Vegtables

 

Healthy Fat: (2 to 3 servings daily)

Olive oil, avocado, flaxseed, nuts, etc.

 

Supplements: (You can also add

Vitamins and minerals

 

1) We like to cook everything ourselves instead of buying processed foods. I like to cook extra chicken or beef to also have enough for another meal. I will even make something totally differnet using the extra meat.

I love using my wok to cook chicken. It's fast and easy. I can cook lemon pepper chicken or spice it in another way.

Another I like cooking chicken breast is line a cookie sheet with tin foil. (I hate to scrub at clean up!) Place several chicken breast. Add a little canola oil on each chicken breast. Add pepper, minced onion, garlic (or garlic powder), parsley, or other herbs and spices.

 

We also eat a lot of vegtables. I get creative and use different spices. We like unsalted butter and salt and pepper, Mrs. Dash, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, cilantro, and other herbs.

 

We eat whole grains or brown rice. Oatmeal, Quinoa, Bulgur beans, Sweet potatoes. Try something new!! (yummy!!),

 

Since we like a variety, we love left overs! We can have potatoes one day with chicken, and green beans. And a totaly different dinner the next day with chicken stir fry with brown rice!

 

2) We like to have a good variety of fruits and vegetables on hand. Berries, pears, apples... Wash and chop your veggies when you bring them home from the market. You would probably eat better if you could just grab a carrot or cauliflower easier instead of stopping to wash it each time. Have fruit washed and ready for healthy snacks!

 

3) Have an idea of your menus planned out in advance! This little bit of extra work saves a ton of time!

 

 

 

 

 

Of course with "clean eating", junk food isn't really on the list of foods you should eat. But for that occasional treat, you can make BETTER choices. Of course the best snacks would be your fruit or veggies, or even a chicken breast on a  whole grain wrap.  But in reality, our family likes an occasional snack off the clean eating list! You can make better choices too, here's how when it comes to "junk food". 

 

Look at the ingredients on the back of the package of Doritoes and Potato Chips.

Potato Chips has: "potatoes, sunflower oil and or corn oil, and salt. No Preservatives."

 

Doritos has: "Whole corn, veg. oil, corn, soy oil and or sunflower oil, salt, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese whey, enzymes), Maltodextrin, wheat flour, whey, Monosodium glutamate, buttermilk solids, Romano cheese from Cow's milk (part skim cow's milk, cheese, cultures, salt, and enzymes), whey protein, concentrate, onion powder, partially hydrogeneated, soybean and cottonseed oil, corn flour, disodium phosphate, lactose, natural and artificial flavor, dextroes, tomato powder, spices, lactic acid, articficial color (including yellow6, yellow 5, red 40) sitric acid, sugar, garlic powder, red and green bell pepper powder, sodium caseinate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, nonfat milk solids, whey proteins, and sorn syrup solids."

 

(*Red 40 is a chemical red dye you should advoid.)

I don't know about you, but I don't know half of the ingredients inside of doritos!!  If you really want some "junk food" the potato chips or even popcorn would be the better choice. Try to stay away from foods that has a lot of artificial flovorings and stuff you can't pronounce!!

 

Of course, we don't want our diets to be filled with junk food; the better snacks would be fruits or veggies, but sometimes we want our "junk food!" I like to read the ingredients and make sure I understand what's in the package!!  Tosca Reno, author of "Clean Eating",  would not even approve of any junk food, but if you do occasionaly treat yourself like we do, there's a better way!!

We add sugar to cover pain. We think we love chocolate. But chocolate don't love us. It is not love. God is love. We love God. We love people. There is much more to how this works with our brain chemistry.

 

Detoxing from sugar may be hard at first. You may be shakey, restless, dizzy, and moody. In Potatoes not Prozac, Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD, says that day 4 is the hardest. If you decide to do this hang in there! Make sure you're eating enough healthy foods. Protein and complex carbs. and drink plenty of water! (The book will explain in more detail. *she also suggests eating a 1/2 potato before you go to bed to help your saratona level!) 

 If you stick it out you'll feel so much better and your reward will be a new energized and healthier you! Check with your doctor before starting new diet styles. For me, this has been a blessing. And I do feel better! The list of 'before and after sugar' is me!!