Eating healthy foods is an important part of improving your health and losing weight. Though the idea of "eating clean" has been around for awhile, it has recently become more popular due to the publication of Tosca Reno's book "The Eat-Clean Diet." If you're ready to make changes in the way that you eat and the way that you think about food, eating clean may be the best way for you to lose weight.
What Is Clean Eating?
Eating clean is a way to get rid of the junk in your diet. Proponents of the diet believe that processed foods like candy bars, chips and boxed macaroni and cheese contain preservatives that are not healthy for your body. Instead, you should choose foods that are healthy for your body --- fruits and vegetables, lean proteins like chicken and beans, low-fat dairy products, healthy fats and whole grains. When your diet consists of these types of foods, you don't have to count calories to lose weight.
Changing Your Mindset
The diet mindset often makes you feel limited. You are limiting the amount of calories that you eat, limiting your portion sizes and limiting the types of foods that you eat. Over time, this can make you feel bad and cause you to turn to your old eating habits. Part of eating clean is working on the way that you think about eating. Rather than thinking about the foods that you can't eat, you should think about all the delicious healthy foods that you can eat.
Getting Started
One way to get started with clean eating is to go cold turkey. Throw away all of the items in your pantry that don't fit in with the eating style and go grocery shopping to fill the pantry with healthy foods instead. Alternatively, you can gradually make a shift to clean eating. Start by replacing one meal with clean foods, then increase the amount of clean foods that you eat. Eventually, you can be eating primarily clean foods.
Cooking Clean
Modify your favorite recipes to include foods that are cleaner. You could use whole-wheat bread for a sandwich and grill chicken instead of frying it. Use low-fat dairy products in your recipes to reduce the calories. Whenever you can, add fruits and vegetables to your dishes --- chop vegetables to add to your tomato sauce or add fruit to your oatmeal. In some cases, you may want to use a more gradual approach. For example, brown rice is a cleaner choice than white rice, but if you don't like the taste of brown rice, you can cook a half-and-half mixture until you find that you like it more.
Eating Unclean Foods
Diets often fail because you can't eat your favorite foods. Though you may be doing well with eating clean, there may come times when you just want to eat a food that isn't clean --- a piece of cake at your nephew's birthday party or a slice of greasy pizza when you're out with your friends. Don't beat yourself up about this. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there is room for balance in your diet. Allow yourself to enjoy a small portion and then start eating clean foods again with your next meal.
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