CHAPTER ONE

Clean Eating Principles

Do you sometimes feel like food controls you? Are you searching for a solution to your health or weight issues? Do you exercise but don’t see the results you want in the mirror, and still don’t feel energetic and healthy? Have you counted calories, cut out carbohydrates and fats, and shaken up countless smoothies in the quest for better health?

Clean Eating might be the solution for you if you’re ready for a lifestyle change that will help you get in the healthiest shape of your life. You’ll eat delicious meals without feeling hungry or deprived, and you’ll enjoy the benefits of caring for yourself with nutritious whole food.

WHAT IS CLEAN EATING?

So what exactly is Clean Eating, and how is it different from every other eating plan out there?

Clean Eating isn’t like diets you might have tried that keep your calories at starvation levels, exclude entire food groups, and require you to live on supplements. It’s a way of eating that’s sustainable over your entire life and will let you enjoy peak health while savoring delicious food.

In a nutshell, Clean Eating is about choosing foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. For example, strawberries are natural, but strawberry jam isn’t. While following the plan, you’ll cut out processed foods of any kind, such as sugar, refined grain, and saturated fats, and replace them with fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and good fats. You’ll eat small meals five to six times a day and exercise in moderation.

Eating cleanly will change the relationship you have with food. You’ll come to understand that fueling your body with the kinds of food that it’s meant to eat creates vibrant good health with no feelings of deprivation or fatigue. Clean Eating is meant to be sustainable in the long term, so it’s important to approach it from a practical standpoint. You won’t be shooting for perfection in all of your choices, just a genuine commitment to better health and eating what nurtures and nourishes your body. You can certainly have a treat every once in a while, such as a piece of dark chocolate or even a small slice of birthday cake with friends. But after enjoying a bounty of healthful choices, you might find that sweets and salty snacks just aren’t as tempting as they used to be.

THE HISTORY OF CLEAN EATING

Diets, and weight loss in particular, are big business, because even though scientific research points to food as the key to good health, people are getting fatter and weight-related chronic diseases are on the rise. There have been many strange fad diets on the health scene over the years—ones that promote eating only cabbage soup, grapefruit, or even fast food, for example. The concept of Clean Eating emerged as an alternative to these trendy nutrition disasters, and it has remained a logical choice for many people seeking a healthier life.

The concept of eating cleanly is definitely not new; it’s only new on the popular radar. Many people never heard of Clean Eating before Tosca Reno, a Canadian fitness model, started promoting it in her line of popular books. The compelling story of her journey from frumpy housewife to sculpted health guru made Clean Eating sexy and exciting. Who wouldn’t want to experience such a spectacular, positive life change?

Reno’s Clean Eating book series catapulted the diet into the spotlight, but this healthful eating strategy actually has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s in the natural whole-foods revolution that promoted unprocessed (and ideally organic) foods. Chemically altered and processed foods proliferated in the supermarket aisles, and the natural food movement was born to oppose the “faux food” pushed by corporations. The Clean Eating philosophy of those who strove to eat natural foods started to make sense to more and more people when obesity rates began skyrocketing and weight-related diseases became widespread.

Seeking a healthier life for themselves and their families, an increasing number of consumers started rejecting processed foods, refined ingredients, sugar, saturated fats, and foods with little or no nutritional value. Clean Eating enthusiasts such as Tosca Reno have devised a simple, logical eating blueprint, and fans have embraced it with commitment and great success. Clean Eating isn’t a fad diet; it’s the simple concept of fueling your body with wholesome, nutritious foods.

THE EXPERTS’ VIEW: SCIENCE AND RESEARCH

Although eating cleanly seems like a common sense strategy for a healthier, more energized lifestyle, there are people who criticize the concept or the essential rules of the plan. Some critics feel that it’s impossible to eat cleanly because the food available today is intrinsically “unclean” even when produced organically. This might be the case, but in the end, taking steps to eat mindfully—as realistically clean as possible—is what Clean Eating is all about. Experts can’t dismiss the basic principles of Clean Eating because most of the current research on nutrition supports its strategies, at least in part. Almost without exception, nutrition and weight-loss experts endorse Clean Eating ‘s central guidelines:

Clean Eating is a well-rounded, balanced plan that doesn’t exclude any food group or require you to use unfamiliar, hard-to-find ingredients. The emphasis is on vegetables, fruit, whole grains, lean protein, good fats, and lots of water. Eating cleanly can easily become a routine that you can follow comfortably for your whole life. The fact that this plan doesn’t restrict calories is also a plus; countless people have wrecked their metabolism by suffering through starvation-style fad diets that did nothing for them in the long run (Tomiyama et al. 2010). Calories do still matter, of course—too many will create weight gain—but the types of food you eat are just as important. Clean foods fill you up, so you’re less likely to snack on high-calorie foods.

When you pair exercise with Clean Eating, you help tip the scales further in the right direction. Exercise on a regular basis will help control your appetite and food cravings as well as burn calories and speed up your metabolism. Moving your body and weight training can also reduce stress, lower your blood pressure, and help prevent osteoporosis.

Clean Eating is based on common sense rather than science: it’s only logical to limit your exposure to anything—including food—that can have a negative effect on your body. Most people benefit from filling their plates with fresh produce, lean proteins, and whole grains, and their glasses with enough water to keep themselves well hydrated. However, it’s important not to go overboard and create a plan that’s hard to follow or that will just make you feel frustrated and deprived. An eating strategy will be successful and sustainable only if it’s custom-made for you and if you enjoy the food you’re eating.

THE BENEFITS OF CLEAN EATING

So why would you want to try Clean Eating? People usually start eating cleanly in order to become healthier. Eliminating many of the food additives and groups that are detrimental to your body can result in changes that range from small to lifesaving. The old saying “you are what you eat” is pretty accurate: if you eat junk, your body will eventually fall apart. The flip side of that equation is that eating healthful foods will make your body healthy. Since everyone is unique, the benefits of eating cleanly aren’t set in stone. However, people have been doing it long enough that compelling patterns have emerged. Some of the benefits of Clean Eating include:

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