Clean Eating

The soul of clean eating is consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible. It is not a diet, it is a life style approach to food and its preparation, leading to an improved life-one meal at a time. Remember, 80% of your weight loss is dependent on the food you eat. If you workout every day but eat an unhealthy diet, you cannot expect to get great results. Your results come from the time, energy, and dedication you put into exercise and eating!

Why Eat Clean?

• Feel good about yourself

• Reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and many other diseases

• Have more energy
• Reduce the large percentage of obesity

• Save money on fad diets that do not keep your weight off

• Live a longer life for your husband, children, significant other, and family

When they say you are what you eat, it is not a joke.  It is really something to think about.  If you eat cheeseburgers every day, your body is going to look and feel like one.  If you fill your body with vegetables, your going to most likely feel good, have energy, an look thinner as well!!

How to Eat Clean?

• Drink at least two liters of water a day (8 cups).  Also, limit your alcohol intake to one glass of antioxidant-rich red wine a day.Eat five to six times a day- Eat every 2-3 hours.  Three meals and two to three small snacks. Include a lean protein, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and a complex carbohydrate with each meal. This keeps your body energized and burning calories efficiently all day long.

• NEVER miss a meal, ESPECIALLY breakfast!!
• Carry a cooler loaded with clean-eating foods to get you through the day (if you have the food handy, no excuse for stopping at fast food, pop machine/candy machine or eating other unhealthy food).
• Get label savvy- Clean foods contain just one or two ingredients. Any product with a long ingredient list is human-made and not considered clean.
• Avoid processed and refined foods- This includes white flour, sugar, bread and pasta. Enjoy complex carbohydrates such as whole grains instead.
• Know thy enemies- Steer clear of anything high in saturated and trans fats, anything fried or
  
  anything high in sugar.
• Avoid calorie-dense food that has no nutritional value
• Shop with a conscience- Consume humanely raised and local meats.
• Depend on fresh fruits and veggies for fiber, vitamins, and enzymes
• Consume healthy fats- Try to have essential fatty acids, or EFAs, every day.
• Learn about portion sizes- Work towards eating within them.
• Reduce your carbon footprint- Eat produce that is seasonal and local. It is less taxing on your
  
  wallet and our environment.
• Slow down and savor- Never rush through a meal. Food tastes best when savored. Enjoy every bite!
• Make it a family affair- Food is a social glue that should be shared with loved ones. Improve the quality of your family's life along with your own.

Portions

1. Proteins- You should have a protein in each meal.  Your body can handle 25 grams of protein with each meal.
2. Carbohydrates- You should have between 2-4 servings of complex carbs from grains, bread, and starches per day.  When it comes to complex carbs such as fruits and veges, you should have one serving with each meal, which comes out to 6 servings per day

3. Fats- Your diet should include 20-30% of fats from your daily food intake.  Avoid trans fats completely.  Saturated fats is not completely bad for you and should have 30 grams or less per day.

Going grocery shopping can be a challenge.  It is important to make a list so you know what your looking for and only get what is one your list.  You save money this way.  Also, there is nothing wrong with buying the off brand food- it is still the same thing!! Frozen is also fine to use, just do not go for canned food! High in sodium and other additives!!

Water

Water is another big factor that plays a part of your weight loss.  Water helps with suppressing your appetite, helps with digestion and relieving the "bloating" feeling people get quite often, flushes the toxins out of your body, and also helps with those cravings!  If you take your weight and divide by 2, you should be drinking that in ounces each day.  Now that does not count if you are pop or coffee drinkers, then you will need additional!!  But why bother putting all that caffeine and artificial flavors/sweeteners when you are trying to flush the toxins out of your body?  Try to stick to just water... it helps tremendously.. and if you are use to caffeine intake and need more energy, try using lemon water, especially first thing in the morning and can be drank through out the day.  Also, using green tea is awesome to help with your cravings (especially at night) and is made of all natural ingredients!  I promise you, if you get rid of the coffee and pop, or even cut down at least in half, you will notice a big difference with your feelings of bloat and cravings for more caffeine and junk!! In taking artificial sweeteners only makes you crave more, so get rid of it all together!! When I am really craving something other than water, I drink Lime Perrier. You need to make sure your carbonated water is free of aspartame and fake flavorings. Perrier is clean and good to go :D