Life in the driver’s seat, the road to clean eating!
The term “clean eating” has become synonymous with nutrition, weight loss and a lifestyle diet. But what exactly does clean eating mean? For starters it has little to do with washing pesticides off your fruits and veggies before eating them - although that would not be a bad idea – Secondly, just because it is not labeled as a “diet” but rather a “lifestyle”, it doesn’t necessarily make it easy. In other words it still takes discipline and willpower to follow the clean eating principles in order to achieve your goals whether it be weight loss (or gain), muscle gain, athletic performance or simply taking care of your inner self for a longer, healthier life.
# 1 - Reject refined sugar in all forms immediately.
Sugar is like an anti-food because instead of building the body up, sugar, in all its disguises, tears the body down - valuable minerals and nutrients are robbed from vital organs in the body's attempt to process this deadly white poison.
# 2 - Season food with herbs and spices.
Instead of depending on sauces, creams and other questionable condiments for flavor. Not only to spices and herbs taste great but they also boast numerous health benefits.
# 3 - Don't skip meals.
You have to practice regular eating if you are going to have a chance at nourishing yourself properly each day. By skipping meals - not only do you miss golden opportunity to feed your body what it needs but you have effectively geared down your metabolism as well. Eating keeps your metabolism going!
# 4 - Fill half your plate with vegetables.
This should happen at every meal. Not only do vegetables deliver a boatload of nutrients, they also provide that much-needed fiber that keeps bowels moving and blood sugar levels steady.
# 5 - Banish all processed goods.
These also qualify as anti-foods. Refined foods - strip away nutrients.
# 6 - Become a "flexitarian"
Eat LEAN protein along with complex carbohydrates - it's the ideal lean-body-shaping combo - and the protein can come from plant and animal sources. Add protein - dense grains such as quinoa, nuts, seeds, soy, and seaweed several times per week.
# 7 - Eyeball your portions.
Get smart about food size. A plate groaning under the weight of a mega-burger and a pyramid of fries spells disaster for your waistline, especially if this is a regular practice for you. Use your hands as a guide: Lean protein should fit in the palm of your hand, Leafy greens should fit in the palms of two open hands, Denser veggies (beets, brussels sprouts, etc) should fit in one open hand, whole grains should fit in one cupped hand.
# 8 - Choose Quality over Quantity
So much of what we eat is about quantity - supersized "more for your money" instead of better for you.
# 9 - Make broth-based soups a habit.
These are workhorse dishes for busy families. Soups make the most of what you have in the house at the moment and can be your fast-food meal when you don't have time to cook. Soup from your kitchen is always more nourishing than anything from a can.
# 10 - Eat a balanced breakfast.
Forget about sugary cereals and puffy pastries - those are for heavyweights! The slim folks eat rib-sticking bowls of hot oats topped with mixed berries and they follow that up with a fluffy egg-white scramble. Clean foods like these fire up your metabolism in the way that high-octane fuel fires up a Ferrari. Sugar leaves you sputtering and lost in the slow lane.
*Tips taken from The Clean-Eating queen Tosca Reno.
