If you've picked up a magazine or checked a nutrition website lately, you've probably heard about "clean eating." All the rage among health-food eaters and certain celebrities, clean eating has gotten a lot of press recently. But despite its catchy name, the idea of eating clean is, at its core, a relatively basic--even old-fashioned--notion. Fundamentally, eating clean simply means avoiding processed, refined foods, added sugars, food preservatives and chemicals, and instead building your diet around fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and small amounts of heart-healthy fats. Here's how to follow a clean food diet in your own life.
Step 1
Eliminate processed foods and artificial food additives from your diet. A clean diet means no longer ingesting food additives, including added sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, sodium, artificial colors and preservatives. This means cutting out many packaged foods that have become staples of the American diet, such as commercially-prepared baked goods, crackers, chips, sodas, sports drinks, canned soups, frozen entrees and many other grocery-store items. If your diet includes a lot of processed foods at present, you may wish to eliminate these foods by gradually cutting down on them over time to make this change easier to maintain.
Step 2
Emphasize fresh fruits and vegetables. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, the healthiest diet is one that is based on plant foods. The clean food diet relies heavily on plants in the form of fresh fruits and veggies, which are high in vitamins, antioxidants and fiber. The American Cancer Society recommends at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. However, when it comes to these wholesome super-foods, the more, the better.
Step 3
Drink plenty of water. Another tenet of a clean food diet is proper hydration. Rather than using soda, sugary juices or additive-laden sports drinks, choose pure water when you're thirsty.
Step 4
Choose leaner sources of protein, with an emphasis on plant-based proteins and fatty fish. Most Americans eat too much read meat and processed meats, says the Harvard School of Public Health. To eat more cleanly, switch from these high-fat protein sources to heart-healthy beans, legumes, soy products and protein foods that are high in healthy fats, such as nuts, salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, whitefish and lake trout.
Step 5
Eat whole grains rather than refined, "white" grains. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, whole grains offer health benefits that refined grains do not, including fiber and certain nutrients that can help prevent chronic disease. Clean eating requires eschewing refined grains like white bread, regular pasta and white rice and instead choosing whole grains like brown rice, millet, oat bran, quinoa, whole-grain breads and whole-wheat pasta. These complex carbohydrates provide multiple vitamins and minerals for optimal health.
Step 6
Strive to eat organic food from local sources, if possible. Ideally, a clean food diet contains zero pesticide-exposed foods, nor foods exposed to added antibiotics and hormones. Eating organically, buying locally-grown foods from reliable sources that avoid food additives and chemicals, allows you to know what goes into your food, and thus your body, and helps you stick to clean eating.
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