As you transition to a healthier lifestyle, you may hear the phrase “clean eating” being thrown around. What is clean eating? Let’s talk about what clean eating means, why it’s important, and how you can start to incorporate clean eating practices in your healthy lifestyle.
Clean eating isn’t black and white. There’s room for flexibility and modifications, but the general idea is to do the best you can to avoid processed foods especially including foods that have been drastically altered from their original form, or foods that have a great deal of added sugar, salt, or fat.
Whole vs. Processed Foods
Clean eating is the practice of ingesting foods that are whole in nature. Whole foods are foods that are not processed in any way. Whole foods are foods with a single ingredient such as an apple, chicken, carrots, or a banana.
Processed foods are foods that have been altered from their natural state. For example, if an apple by itself is a whole food, apple juice would be considered processed food. The apple has been altered from its original state; peeled, pressed, and strained into juice, with a variety of preservatives to enhance shelf-life.
Why Choose Whole Foods
Whole foods possess more nutrients than processed foods. Processed foods have been stripped of many of their nutritional qualities, and while they may be delicious at the moment, they don’t offer your body the nutrition that it truly needs.
By selecting whole foods, your body receives the virtual nutrients it needs and craves. However, life doesn’t always make it easy to choose whole foods, especially when there are so many delicious entrees and desserts to indulge in.
Take Baby Steps Towards Clean Eating
Whole foods can be incorporated into your lifestyle with little to no hardship. Clean eating is a lifestyle change, and just like many other lifestyle changes, baby steps are better than drastic changes. Keep reading to discover how to start eating clean today.
8 Things You Need To Know About Clean Eating
Still wondering what clean eating is? Keep reading for ten easy ways to start and understand this healthy style of eating.
Meal Planning
Take the time to create a plan and stick to it. Meal planning is a fantastic way to prepare your meals for the week and set yourself up for wellness success. Sit down and write out your meals so you have a plan to follow. Be sure to plan for three meals per day, plus healthy snacks in between each meal. If you need a few ideas for meal planning, check out our Healthy Eating Ideas Pinterest board.
Grocery Shopping
After you have completed your meal planning, it’s time to go grocery shopping. It’s important when heading to the grocery store to keep to the outer edges of the store to maintain your clean eating meal plans. Most grocery stores follow the rule of produce, proteins, and dairy around the edge of the store with processed foods in the middle. Have you ever noticed how the middle portion of the grocery store is filled with boxed, canned, and bottled products? That’s the section of the store that offers convenience-based processed foods. The perimeter of the store typically contains foods that are nutrient-dense, such as fresh fruits and veggies, proteins like turkey, chicken, eggs, yogurts, and cheese. Stick to the edges to find the most nutritious items and avoid being tempted by a hot sale on potato chips.
Simple Snacking
Having a few whole foods around the house will help to transition into a clean eating lifestyle. After you have completed your grocery shopping, take the time to create a few snack-sized portions of food for when you are hungry between meals.
A great way to manage this is to use snack-sized Ziploc baggies and create a few delectable snacks. Prepare snacks that include veggies like broccoli and peppers, fruits such as blueberries and raspberries, and nuts such as cashews and almonds so you always have a healthy snack clean eating snack selection ready to go.
Read Labels
The concept of clean eating is based upon eating whole and fresh foods, however, there are certain types of packaged foods that can be included, such as packaged nuts, meats, or vegetables. It’s important to read labels to make sure that they don’t contain any additives, such as a salad dressing that may be included in a pre-washed salad mix or added sugars or oils in pre-packaged nuts. Remember raw nuts are always the best choice!
Limit Alcohol Consumption
Moderate intakes of alcohol, especially wine, have the potential to boost your heart health. However, frequent alcohol consumption is associated with promoting inflammation and is known for contributing to a variety of health problems such as excess belly fat, digestive disorders, and liver disease. Minimize or eliminate alcohol when participating in a clean eating lifestyle.
Substitute Vegetables in Recipes
When cooking, replace any refined grains in the recipe with veggies. Substitute chopped cauliflower for rice, or mash it like potatoes. Spaghetti squash and zucchini are excellent substitutes for noodles.
Make Water Your Primary Beverage
There is nothing healthier than drinking weather. It’s the cleanest, healthiest, and most natural beverage you can possibly drink. It helps to keep you hydrated and helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. It’s the ultimate example of clean consumption.
Summing Up Clean Eating
Clean eating doesn’t have to be difficult or tedious. By breaking it down into simple steps, you can incorporate clean eating habits into your daily wellness routine in no time. Be sure to meal plan, shop for appropriate groceries, incorporate Trimstix into your daily routine, and make room for healthy snacks. Before long you’ll be craving delicious, nutrient-dense whole foods
Keeping Clean with Trimstix
Xyngular’s Trimstix is more than just a tool to help you on your clean journey, it curbs sugar cravings, increases energy levels, accelerates fat loss, and helps with cognitive function! Trimstix is designed for on-the-go weight management.*
Trimstix has an exclusive vegan formula that comes in a single serving package with only ten calories and a variety of delicious flavors.
GET TRIMSTIX NOW! Contact your Xyngular distributor, or log in to your Xyngular account to order Trimstix today!
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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