What is Clean Eating?

Ok so 'Clean Eating' is a very broad subject, and i dont think there is a real right or wrong explination of what it is...so here is how i would explain the main principles and ideas around what it means to me.

Firstly i suppose the main principle of clean eating is to eat food that has been processed as little as possible.

For example when choosing rice the cleaner option would be brown instead of white as brown rice has been processed less than white rice and is closer to its original state.

Why you ask?

Duringthe processing of foods to make them more convinent to the consumer its very common for nutrients to be lost resulting in a less nutrient dense food supply for us. So by choosing the less processed food option we are choosing more nutrient dense foods.

Secondly its safe to say that most foods that have been processed will also contain some sort of nasty little extra, to increase shelf life or maybe even flavour, for example sugars,colours,salt and artifical flavors.

All of the above are definately things we want to be avoiding to achieve maximum everyday

health.

These extra ingredients are also a huge part of why we suffer from over eating,food cravings and crashes.

So avoiding them can leave us feeling fuller for longer, more satisfied and less likely to binge eat on more processed foods!!

Is Clean Eating a diet?

The simple answer to this is NO!!

I would not refer to clean eating as a diet, diets have a bad stigma attached to them, they promote lacking and restrictions.

I would describe clean eating as more of a way of life, It is a simple choice to be more informed in your food choices, it requires you to research foods, read labels and make more time to prepare fresh home cooked meals from un processed real foods such as grains,pulses,vegetables and fruits.

Ok so now you understand a bit more about the principes of clean eating and what it means, below are some ideas of foods to Enjoy and foods to Avoid while trying to 'Eat Clean'.

Enjoy

Grains

Pulses

Vegetables (organic if possible)

Fruits (organic if possible)

Nuts and seeds

Cheese

Meat (joints, steaks,fillets)

Fish (fresh no breadcrumbs/batter)

Eggs

Yoghurt (bio live, natural)

Herbal teas

Fruit juice (not from concerntrate)

Avoid

Ready Meals

Frozen foods (pizzas and chips etc)

Packet foods (crisps,chocolate bars, cereal bars)

Sauce Jars

Fizzy drinks

Concertrated fruit juices

Low fat alternatives

I hope you found this informative and helpful? Who is thinking about 'Cleaning' up their way of eating for better health?