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Principles of Clean Eating

For eating clean, you need to have a balanced diet. You palate of different meals must include fruits, vegetables and whole grains, modest amounts of sustainable seafood and lean meats, nuts, dairy, healthy oils and seeds. You do not have to eliminate any groups of foods. It also means that you have to choose seasonal foods and limit processed foods, added sugars, unhealthy saturated fats, and salt. Go through some of the principles of clean eating to get a better hang of the concept.


1. Eat whole foods and eliminate processed foods: In simple words, anything that comes in a bag, can, box or package; comes in the category of processed foods. It obviously does not count a package of fresh vegetables, yogurt, green peas, or anything like that. To choose healthy processed food stuff, you must search for whole foods in the list of ingredients. If you see something like a chemical name of any ingredient, you need to rethink your choice.

You can eliminate many processed foods from your list of groceries, by making a few little changes in your routine. For example, a whole food sandwich with cheddar cheese on multigrain bread is much healthier than a processed sandwich containing processed cheese used on white bread. Our body requires more energy to digest unprocessed, whole foods and thus, it burns more calories and helps you to get lean faster.

2. Look for the content of sodium, fat, and sugar: Most Americans consume 1000 milligrams more sodium than they should eat, that is 2,300 milligrams. This excess sodium comes from restaurant meals and other processed foods. If you are more than 51 years old or have physical conditions like kidney ailments, diabetes, and high blood pressure; your sodium intake is even lesser than 1,500 milligrams. You have to take care of your blood pressure and heart to live a better life.

To achieve a better well being, you must cook from scratch. It means that the ingredients you use must not be processed. It allows you to control the amount of added salt, fats, and sugar. Clean foods are naturally low in harmful substances like those mentioned above. You can be creative with flavors in your foods. You can use an array of herbs and spices to add more taste to home cooked food.

3. Consume lesser meat: It is true that meat contains iron, protein and Vitamin B12. But, the excessive amount of meat can build up cholesterol and saturated fat in your body. You do not have to completely eliminate meat from your meals to eat healthily. You can rather consume it in moderate amounts; so that you have the flavors as well as you are able to look after your body as well. If you are cooking plant-based cuisines, like soup, you can season it with chicken bits. Also, you can add pork shreds in noodles and other vegetables. This way, you can avoid eating whole meat foods.

4. Consume more vegetables. Vegetables are a marvelous source of minerals and vitamins. They are loaded with fiber and have the lower number of calories. If you eat vegetables even in small amounts, but more frequently; you will get the appropriate amount of veggies, recommended for adults. Eating 2.5-3 cups of vegetables is sufficient for most people. To add more vegetables without compromising on taste, you can add spinach to smoothies; insert snap peas into sandwiches and wraps. When you are stir frying something, double up a number of vegetables. If you are out for dinner, you can start your meal with the salad or a vegetarian cuisine.

5. Prefer whole grains and clean sugar: When you go shopping, do not forget to buy whole grains. You can even replace refined grains with germ and bran. You can begin your day with breakfast options like steel cut oats. Also, add freekeh or quinoa to salads. Freekeh are roasted and rubbed green grains like wheat. You can also try some wild options like black rice in dinner. The amount of fiber you get from whole grains actually slim down your body. If you have at least 3 servings of whole grains, your body mass index will dramatically lower down and the fat around your belly will also reduce.

6. While it may not be actually possible to eat: whole grains every time, you can include grains like millet, brown rice, amaranth, etc in a few meals every week at least. Legumes and beans are equally important. Sources of clean sugar include maple syrup, honey, and dehydrated juice of sugar cane.

7. Shop clean: When you are out shopping for groceries, you can go to the farm stand or farmers market. You can familiarize yourself with seasonal products and locally sourced products. You can take a step ahead by asking the grocers about the source of vegetables, fish, and fruits. This will give you an idea of how fresh they are and whether you should buy them or not. Another step in this regard is to develop a habit of taking a look at nutrition labels. Do not buy products that have over five ingredients. As stated above, if an ingredient sounds like it belongs to a chemical lab, or you cannot pronounce it; you must shun it.

8. Include some fats, carbohydrates and proteins at every meal: Typically, most of us include fats and carbs in our meals, but we lack protein, particularly early during the day, like at lunch or breakfast. Proteins help build muscles and also keep us full for long. Thus, if you consume proteins in breakfast or lunch, in forms like sprouts; you will not feel hungry at
least till dinner. It means that you can comfortably cut down on evening snacks. Thus, you can spread proteins in your diet with some small additions of legumes.

9. Eat 5-6 small meals round the clock: It means that you can eat three main course meals and 2-3 sturdy snacks. When you eat in this manner, your body does not demand more food at odd times and you also refrain from skipping meals. Your blood sugar remains steady so that your body is not deprived of energy.

10. Do not drink calories: Avoid drinking high-calorie beverages like soft drinks, coffee, etc. Such drinks contribute to no less than additional 400-500 calories per day. Whenever you feel thirsty, sip some water.   This will quench most of your thirst, or hunger; if you are mistaken to consider your hunger for thirst. Some other clean drinks that you can take are skimmed milk or low-fat milk, or pure fruit juice diluted using sparkling water.

11. Go get moving: Doing any kind of physical activity benefits you in many ways. The importance of physical work cannot be understated. It is not only required to decrease fat, or build muscles; it also helps you burn more calories even when you are doing nothing. It keeps your lungs, bones and heart strong and healthy.

Principles of Clean Eating Principles of Clean Eating Reviewed by Unknown on 12:38:00 AM Rating: 5

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