Let’s get straight to the point: Most diets are really only designed to be temporary. Sure, they might promise that you can stick with them forever. But in reality, all those crazy rules and restrictions practically guarantee that they’ll be impossible to stick with long-term. If you’ve dieted before, you’re used to hearing endless nos and barely any yeses. You’re used to eating in a way that’s inconvenient instead of a way that actually fits into your real life. You’re used to tons of hard work that always ends in disappointment. Aren’t you tired of that?
If you picked up this book, we’re willing to bet that the answer is yes. It’s time to try a new way to lose weight—that really works—and makes you feel good for life. It’s time to eat clean.
You’ve probably heard the term plenty of times before, but what exactly does it mean? Clean eating is a way of life that can help you lose the weight and keep it off for good—plain and simple. When you eat clean, you choose whole or minimally processed foods that are made from real ingredients, rather than choosing their highly processed counterparts. These clean foods look (and taste) like they came from the ground, or the farm, or the ocean, or maybe even someone’s kitchen—not from a factory or a science lab. Think fresh fruit and nuts instead of a sugary granola bar. Organic roast chicken instead of frozen, breaded, chickenlike strips. A whole egg-and-vegetable omelet instead of a fast-food breakfast sandwich. Even homemade chocolate chip cookies instead of the kind that come in a box. You get the idea!
If you’re used to eating the standard American diet, the idea of giving your diet a clean makeover might feel a little overwhelming. But it’s actually pretty easy to get the hang of. And once you do, it doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything weird or different or difficult. It’s just how you eat. When you choose to eat clean, you’re giving your body the fuel it needs and the nutrients it craves. You’re not constantly scrutinizing calorie counts, not cutting out food groups, and not depriving yourself of the things that you love. Clean eating allows you to feel your best. And it’s the most effective way to get lean—and stay that way for life.
If you’ve tried other diets before, you might be wondering whether clean eating is truly all that different. It is. In fact, it’s the complete and total opposite of every restrictive, gimmicky, run-of-the-mill diet out there. That’s because eating clean doesn’t just help you achieve a healthy weight—it also makes you feel good, so keeping it up to keep the pounds off is easy. Instead of trying to follow a hundred different rules, you follow just one basic principle: Choose real foods over their packaged, processed counterparts whenever possible.
Of course, you have to keep your portions in check. And of course, you have to enjoy things like clean desserts in moderation. In order to lose weight, both of those things are absolute musts. But eating clean, whole foods makes doing those things a lot easier, because clean foods are what your body was designed to run on. They’re designed to fill you up, so you don’t want to keep eating and eating and eating. They’re designed to help your blood sugar stay steady, so you’re less susceptible to sugary cravings. They’re designed to help you feel your best, so you have the energy to be active and keep on making smart choices. It sounds pretty great, right?
“I’ve tried diets before, and nothing would happen. So I didn’t expect this to work. Then I started seeing the numbers on the scale moving down. You’ve got to try eating clean, because it’s easy, and you don’t have to say, ‘I can’t eat this’ or ‘I can’t go to that restaurant.’ It’s really very simple.”—Richard M.
Most traditional diets work by doing one of two things. Some force you to limit the types of foods that you’re allowed to eat, such as by cutting out carbs or only eating raw fruits and veggies. Others say that it’s completely fine to eat anything you want—from doughnuts to Doritos—as long as you stay within your allotted (read: stingy) calorie budget. Both of these methods might work for a couple of weeks, or maybe even for a couple of months. But eventually you get tired of, say, never getting to eat bread or constantly feeling hungry because you’re stuck eating too-tiny portions. At that point, it’s totally natural to start dreaming about all of the delicious food that’s been off-limits. Eventually, your cravings get the best of you—and you find yourself at the table with a half-eaten pepperoni pizza and an empty pint of chocolate fudge ice cream thinking, I messed up big time. Now what? By then, you feel so guilty that you end up abandoning your diet altogether and going back to your old ways. You regain the weight that you lost and maybe pile on a few extra pounds. Sound familiar?
Here’s how eating clean is different. When you commit to eating real food, nothing is off-limits. You don’t have to cut out any category of food. You don’t have to say no when you’re invited to a restaurant or party because you’re worried that the stuff on the menu won’t work with your eating plan. With clean eating, there’s almost always an option—even when the food being served isn’t under your control. You don’t have to subject yourself to eating pre-portioned diet meals or weighing and measuring every bite of food that goes into your mouth for the rest of your life. It’s really freeing!
Naturally, we need to face the fact that portion sizes still matter. Food has calories whether it’s clean or not, and there’s no way around it: You have to eat less—and therefore take in fewer calories—in order to lose weight. But trimming portion sizes is much easier when you take the clean route. Clean foods deliver nutrients that help you stay full longer, so you’re not hungry and cranky all the time. Plus, they make you feel like you’re eating a lot, so you’re less likely to feel deprived. Think about a sweet, crunchy apple. It has around 100 calories, which is similar to the calories you’ll find in a tiny granola bar. But the apple makes you feel like you’re eating more because it’s bigger, and also because you have to spend more time chewing each bite. By the time you’re done eating an apple, you feel like you’re done eating, period. When you’re done eating that snack bar? Chances are, you just want to grab another one.
One of the biggest reasons that people abandon their diets is because the food just doesn’t taste that good. And to make matters worse, it isn’t very filling. After all, how many times can you eat a bunless, low-cal turkey burger or fat-free mac and cheese for dinner before you start dreaming about something better? Clean foods are fresh, vibrant, and unadulterated, so they naturally pack more flavor than their bland, processed counterparts. After eating them, you’re satisfied and you no longer feel hungry. So when you get up from the table, you aren’t hit with an overpowering urge to raid the pantry for a snack. (Not so sure yet? Check out the mouthwatering recipes and meal ideas in Part III.) In all, a delicious approach to eating is one that’s easy to stick with.
Can you really eat anything? If it’s made from real ingredients, yes. But let’s exercise some common sense: There are some clean foods that are great to eat all the time and some that you need to save for once in a while in order to lose weight. For instance, it’s better to make buttery steak and warm, homemade apple crisp for dinner the exception, rather than the rule—even if the steak is grass-fed and the apple crisp is made with rolled oats and unrefined sugar. (Though deep down you already knew that, right?)
But here’s the thing: When you stop looking at food in terms of good things I can have and bad things that are never allowed—especially if you’re in weight-loss mode—you might find that you actually start daydreaming about those formerly forbidden foods less often. This might seem hard to believe now. But trust me, it can—and most likely will—happen! In fact, among people actively trying to lose weight, studies show that even the thought of having to restrict certain foods can trigger overeating. And when it comes to not feeling deprived and achieving a healthier weight, that means everything.
And it’s more than just a nice-sounding theory. Science shows that when you eat foods that are bursting with flavor, you’ll probably eat less overall. In one Flavour journal study, researchers measured subjects’ hunger and fullness levels while they ate a basic bowl of tomato soup.1 On another day, researchers measured the subjects’ hunger and fullness levels again while the subjects ate a more flavorful tomato soup made with chile peppers. Unsurprisingly, the subjects said they liked the more flavorful soup better. But that didn’t lead them to want to eat more of it. Instead, they decided that they were satisfied sooner.
Of course, the takeaway isn’t that you need to add chile peppers to everything you eat. (Unless you want to, of course.) It’s that foods with more flavor—like fresh, clean fare—leave you genuinely more content with your meal, so you’re less likely to want to keep noshing and noshing and noshing. While portion control is always key to losing weight, eating clean will likely lead you to eat less without even realizing it—and you’ll manage to enjoy your food even more.
Notes from a Clean Eater
“Every day, I’ve had the opportunity to sit down to eat fresh, delicious food. The recipes are easy to follow, and I love all of the new whole grains I’ve been introduced to. In the evenings, I have a gourmet dinner to sit down to—and I’m the cook!” —Almarie K.
When you’re on a diet, you’re constantly in a fight. You’re fighting to maintain crazy food restrictions that don’t fit your real day-to-day life. You’re fighting the urge to scarf down a chocolate chip muffin instead of a yucky packet of artificially sweetened instant oatmeal. (Two equally poor options.) And you’re fighting the urge to eat, period, because you’re hungry all the time. No wonder diets don’t work—after a while, most of us give up out of sheer exhaustion.
There’s no fighting in eating clean, which is why it’s so easy. Instead of food and your appetite being the enemy, food becomes the thing that nourishes your body and satisfies your hunger. Instead of living in a vacuum of prepackaged meals and diet snacks that force you to eat differently than everyone around you, you can make eating clean work anytime, anywhere. You’re just eating the way that you were designed to eat—and reaping the benefits of feeling strong, energized, and lean. Which is pretty easy to do, well, forever!
If you’re used to the addictive, over-the-top flavors of processed foods, the idea of black bean soup or an apple with peanut butter might seem sort of . . . blah. That’ll change as your taste buds adjust to fresh foods that aren’t loaded with sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats—promise. But if you’re not quite there yet, here are some tips to help get you hooked on clean fare faster.
1 Forget how you felt as a kid. Maybe you haven’t let a certain vegetable slip past your lips since elementary school but you’ve repeatedly heard that it delivers multiple benefits and could help you lose weight. Though it can sometimes be tough to reconcile your feelings with the facts, now might be the time to give long-hated foods another try. Your taste buds are more sensitive to bitter flavors when you’re young, so even though Brussels sprouts might have tasted like lawn clippings when you were 10, your adult self might actually like them. Preparation is so important, too. The broccoli of your childhood might have been mushy and bland—but cooking it differently today might yield a completely different result. (Ready to give it a go? Try the Roasted Broccoli with Chile and Lemon.)
2 Surround yourself with healthy stuff. French people aren’t born loving snails, and Japanese people don’t come into this world craving sushi. Instead, they may come to like those foods because they’re a regular part of the environment, according to findings published in the journal Appetite.2 Instead of buying more boxed mac and cheese or chicken fingers, get into the habit of stocking your kitchen with whole wheat pasta and organic chicken breasts. As you get used to having the clean stuff around, you might find yourself wanting it more often.
3 Take small steps. If the thought of eating plain raw carrots grosses you out, don’t do it. Start by pairing them with something outrageously delicious, like homemade ranch dressing. After a while, you might decide to start dunking them in something a little more nutrient-dense, like hummus or the Lemony Rosemary White Bean Dip. And if that’s where you decide to stay? No problem. If you still don’t like plain raw carrots, you don’t have to eat them.
4 Appeal to your sweet tooth. Take advantage of the fact that humans are hardwired to crave sugar. Instead of trying to choke down raw or steamed vegetables, try roasting them to bring out their natural sweetness and make them more palatable. You might not think a cauliflower floret could ever truly taste like candy, but when it gets caramelized and crispy, it really can.
5 Go for the fancy stuff. Research published in the Journal of Sensory Studies found that people who paid $8 for a buffet lunch reported being more satisfied with their meals than those who only paid $4, even though both groups ate the same exact fare.3 Why? Because sometimes we’re shallow, and we automatically think that cheaper food is going to be lower quality. When possible, spend the extra couple of bucks on organic kale from the farmers’ market instead of that so-so bunch at the corner store. Chances are it’s a fresher, overall better choice than the droopy bunch flown in from who-knows-where. Thanks to your built-in selectivity, you might trick yourself into thinking the pricy stuff is pretty delicious.
6 Make sure you’re actually hungry. Before you bother sitting down to that beet and quinoa salad, check in with your appetite. Why? Because when your stomach’s really rumbling, you’ll be way more willing to eat whatever’s in front of you—even if it’s a big bowl of vegetables. (For much more on how to read your body’s hunger cues, check out Chapter 4.)
BEFORE
Steve and Jenny were already familiar with eating clean, and they ate that way some of the time. Jenny says, “I didn’t have a terrific amount of weight to lose. But I was at my highest weight, and even the fat pants weren’t fitting. So it was really more of a shift of focus.”
Before they started on the program, the couple would sometimes have nutritious foods like beans or kale. But living in New York City, they also tended to dine out a lot with friends—which meant that their meals were often heavy on the bread, pasta, and wine. Portion control was another big issue. Steve used to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter, treating it like ice cream, without thinking twice. And he’d help himself to some chocolate almost every day.
After committing to eating clean, the couple quickly learned what counted as a reasonable serving size. Now, Steve serves himself a tablespoon of peanut butter and pairs it with an apple. And they figured out how to make the plan work with their social life. Now Jenny orders salmon and lentils with a side of Brussels sprouts for dinner and skips the extras that she realized were making her bloated and puffy. When Steve goes to his friend’s house for dinner, he brings ingredients to make a salad that the group can enjoy alongside their spaghetti and meatballs.
It’s that kind of flexibility that makes the couple feel like they can eat this way for life. “I don’t think I could fall out of this, because I know I can even go to a diner and get two poached eggs, some whole wheat toast, and berries. I don’t have to do anything special,” Steve says. “You should just call this The Easy Diet.”
Dr. Wendy Observes: People often tell me that an active social life makes it harder to make healthy choices, and at times, that can certainly be true. But as Steve and Jenny discovered, having a plan, a partner, and some know-how makes it easier—especially with a bit of practice. Plus, the fact that Steve’s itchy skin and chronic heartburn were completely gone within days of starting the program is tremendously motivating and helps him continue to make healthy choices. And the plan’s flexibility with guidelines helped both of them succeed individually, as well as together.
TOTAL POUNDS LOST
22lbs
7lbs
TOTAL INCHES LOST
13
5
MOST NOTABLE IMPROVEMENTS
Steve: His skin stopped itching and his chronic heartburn went away completely. He noticed he had significantly fewer headaches, too.
Jenny: Her LDL (“bad”) cholesterol went from the unhealthy range to the healthy range, while her HDL (“good”) cholesterol increased. She also noticed that her sleep was deeper and more restorative.
Trying to fuel your car with pancake syrup instead of gasoline would be insane, and the same is true when it comes to fueling your body. Humans were designed to eat whole, unprocessed foods. They deliver the nutrients that your body needs to carry out its daily functions. Unlike your car—which wouldn’t even turn on—you might be able to get by on pancake syrup for a while. But without the right nutrition, your body’s functions—including your metabolism—would eventually grind to a halt. You’d feel exhausted, sick, and weak. Who would want to live like that?
Of course, no one would actually try to survive on syrup alone. But the refined, processed foods most Americans scarf down at breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and during all the hours in between) aren’t actually that much different. Aside from the fact that they’re loaded with sugar, they’re virtually devoid of the vitamins and minerals that your system was built to run on. Take iron, for instance: It’s essential for helping you feel energized so you can be active instead of sitting around on the couch feeling tired all day. You’ll find it in lean poultry, fish, meat, lentils, and leafy greens—but it’s not exactly abundant in doughnuts or crackers. Or how about magnesium? It’s needed for more than 300 bodily functions, including helping your body turn protein into calorie-torching muscle tissue. You’ll find it in almonds, black beans, and brown rice—but it’s tough to get enough of it if the foods you eat most often are French fries and sugary cereals. As for fortified packaged foods? Don’t rely on those to get the vitamins and minerals you need. What makes whole foods so powerful is the fact that they contain an entire suite of good-for-you stuff acting harmoniously together—and not just single nutrients.
When you think about the fact that eating a diet high in processed foods actually deprives your body of the nutrients it needs to work efficiently, you understand why your ability to burn calories starts to decrease. Your body is, in effect, starving for nutrition. And as a result, it goes into conservation mode and starts to cling desperately to any source of energy that it can get. By eating clean, you stop feeding your body empty calories and start giving it the nutrient-dense foods it craves. Once it’s fueled with the right stuff, it can get out of this vicious and unsatisfying cycle—and start kicking your metabolism into high gear.
Eating clean lets you abandon the diet mentality, but that isn’t the only way it leads to lower numbers on your scale. Processed foods are brimming with ingredients like sugar, refined carbs, and weird chemicals that can actually make it easier to pack on the pounds. But clean foods? They do the opposite by keeping you full for longer and by staving off junky cravings so you’re less tempted to raid the vending machine for a candy bar or polish off a bag of pretzels the minute you get home from work. And believe it or not, they actually rev your metabolism and turn you into a lean, fat-burning machine.
When it comes to filling up faster and steering clear of junky snacks, plain old water might be your secret weapon. Research published in the journal Obesity found that dieters who downed 16 ounces of water before each meal for 12 weeks lost 3 more pounds than those who skipped the extra sips.4 The reason why is brilliantly simple: Having all that liquid in your belly means that you need less food to feel full.
You probably don’t need us to remind you that it’s tough to lose weight if you’re hungry all the time. The louder your stomach rumbles, the more likely you are to want to gobble down anything that’ll fill you up, pronto—such as a giant bag of chips or the leftover birthday cake staring at you from the fridge. To make matters worse, these sorts of refined carbohydrate-heavy foods have almost zero staying power, so in an hour or two you end up feeling ravenous again. Can you guess what might happen next?
When you eat a meal or snack consisting of clean foods, you get full. And because these foods deliver the nutrients that are essential for satiety, you stay that way for a while. Which nutrients will help you make the most of your snacks? Well, let’s take a look.
• Fiber. The fiber in complex carbohydrates (such as fruits and vegetables, beans, and whole grains) is bulky but can’t be digested, which means that it takes up space in your digestive tract and helps you feel fuller on fewer calories. Plus, since fiber takes a while to move through your system, high-fiber foods literally stay in your stomach for longer than low-fiber ones do. (Though high-fiber foods can help slow down your digestion of low-fiber ones, too, when you pair them together. Talk about teamwork!) With all of that in mind, it makes perfect sense that people who eat more fiber tend to be leaner than those who eat less.
• Protein. Like fiber-rich foods, foods that are high in protein take longer to digest than foods that consist mainly of refined carbohydrates. What’s more, research also suggests that protein may make you more sensitive to fullness hormones that signal to your brain that it’s time to stop eating. In fact, one study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that dieters who consumed 30 percent of their calories from protein for 12 weeks ate almost 450 fewer calories per day and lost nearly 11 pounds—without making any other changes to their diets.5
• Healthy fats. These delicious foods work a lot like protein to keep you full. They take a while to digest and seem to release hormones that make you feel fuller, faster. Creamy Chicken, Green Grape, and Farro Salad, anyone?
Notes from a Clean Eater
“I’m not experiencing the highs and lows of hunger while eating clean. I have constant energy and I’m feeling stronger.” —Donna H.
Ever plucked a single cookie from a box, eaten it, and thought, I’m so satisfied! I definitely don’t want another one of these? Didn’t think so. The refined carbohydrates found in processed foods don’t just do a poor job of squashing your hunger. They also cause your blood sugar to spike and quickly come crashing down, which sets you up to crave more junk food. To make matters worse, processed foods are engineered to be addictive to our sugar-, salt-, and fat-loving brains. That’s why stopping at just one cookie can be so tough.
Instead of working against your body to make you crave more sugar, clean foods do the opposite. The fact that they allow you to stay fuller for longer helps, but it isn’t the only factor at play. By slowing down the rate at which your food is digested, protein, fiber, and healthy fats minimize the blood sugar spikes that send you on a mad hunt for candy bars or cupcakes. In fact, one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who ate 35 grams of protein at breakfast experienced fewer junk food cravings throughout the day than those who ate 13 grams of protein or no protein at all.6
There’s more. A growing number of experts are starting to suspect that the bacteria in your gut could also affect your urge to consume poor-quality, sugar-laden foods. According to a review published in the journal BioEssays, not having enough diversity in your microbiome—the bacteria population in your gut—could actually drive you to crave sweets and other unhealthy fare.7 The idea, researchers say, is that only having a few types of bacteria in your belly makes each type more powerful, so the bacteria are better able to organize and send signals to your brain that prompt you to eat the unhealthy foods they want. (Weird, right?) But when your gut has a high level of bacterial diversity, no one type of bug is strong enough to exert its sugar-loving influence.
And the best way to make your microbiome more diverse is by eating clean foods. Processed, sugary fare seems to discourage bacterial variety in your gut. But whole, unprocessed foods, particularly those that are high in probiotic “good” bacteria (such as plain yogurt, raw sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, and miso) contribute to more variety. Foods like whole grains, artichokes, asparagus, onions, and bananas are important, too. They’re high in prebiotics, a type of fiber that feeds probiotic bacteria to keep them happy and thriving. The vast majority of processed, packaged foods don’t contain either of these belly boosters, which, of course, is just another reason to eat clean.
Eating clean can go a long way toward easing digestion-related ailments. Fatty and fried foods are notorious for causing stomach discomfort and acid reflux, while diets that are high in refined carbs (and, consequently, low in fiber) can make constipation a frequent complaint. As you swap out these foods for cleaner ones that are less taxing on your system and higher in fiber and good bacteria, you just might find that your stomach starts feeling a whole lot better!
The energy from refined, sugary foods floods your system lickety-split, which is why you get that quick boost from nibbling on a handful of pretzels or some candy. The instant jolt can be great if you’re, say, actually running a marathon. But most of us tend to snack on junk when we’re doing things that don’t really call for extra fuel, like working at a desk, watching TV, or driving. Still, your body is nothing if not efficient—and it isn’t about to let that precious energy go to waste. Instead, it squirrels the calories away by making fat in case food is hard to come by in the future. This was a genius way to help ensure that our cave people ancestors didn’t starve to death. But when’s the last time you walked into the grocery store and found that it had completely run out of food?
Of course, it’s possible to overeat clean foods and have those calories get stored as fat, too. But remember how we said that the fuel from clean foods—which tend to be higher in protein, fiber, and healthy fats—enters your system at a slower, more sustained rate? That even-keeled pace means that you have energy that you can use over the course of several hours. Since the energy from clean foods doesn’t bombard your bloodstream all at once, your body doesn’t have to sock away the leftovers as fat quite as fast.
Clean foods aren’t just less likely to get stored as extra fat, though. They can actually help you burn more of it. Part of that has to do with food’s thermogenic impact, or how much extra energy your body uses to digest it. Refined, sugary foods aren’t very thermogenic, so your body doesn’t have to expend very many calories to turn them into energy. But protein-rich foods require more energy for your body to break them down and use them. Your body has to work a little harder to digest them—and in the process, it burns more calories. Think of it like you’re deciding between two routes you can ride your bike on to get to a coffee shop downtown. Both routes are about the same distance, but one of them is completely flat and the other is pretty hilly. On the flat route, pedaling is pretty easy and you can coast a little bit. On the hilly one, you have to push a lot harder. Even though both routes take you to the same place, you’ll burn more calories taking the hilly route than the flat one.
But protein isn’t the only thing that plays a role in revving your metabolism. Clean foods are full of nutrients that can increase your calorie burn and help you lose weight faster. Citrus fruits, along with vegetables like broccoli and bell peppers, are loaded with vitamin C, which research suggests can help your body metabolize fat faster during exercise.8 Apples, blueberries, and strawberries are brimming with flavonoids, anti-inflammatory plant compounds that have also been shown to help with weight control.9 Cruciferous vegetables like kale and broccoli contain a beneficial compound called indole-3-carbinol, which can help fight against obesogenic compounds (more on those later!) that can promote fat storage.10 Healthy fats like vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds seem to target abdominal fat.11 Even garlic has been shown to boost calorie burn while simultaneously turning down fat production.12 Think a slice of processed white bread can do any of that stuff? Sorry, not a chance.
You get it: Clean foods are packed with good stuff that can support your weight loss. But what they don’t contain might be equally important. At the top of the list? Artificial sweeteners. Sure, they deliver sugary flavor for few to no calories—but that flavor comes at a cost. First, these sweeteners set you up to get used to supersweet tastes, making it harder to feel satisfied with a food’s natural sweetness. Compared to, say, diet soda, a ripe strawberry or crunchy apple tastes almost sour. So you might be more inclined to sprinkle the strawberry with sugar or dunk the apple slices in caramel to achieve the sweetness level you’re used to. And consequently, you’ll take in more empty calories along the way.
There’s more. Our brains evolved to equate sweet tastes with plenty of energizing calories. A diet soda or package of sugar-free cookies still delivers that saccharine flavor, but the calories that your brain is expecting don’t come with it. So what happens? You’re driven to get the missing energy from somewhere else. In other words, the diet fare you think is helping you take in fewer calories might actually be leading you to take in more.
It gets worse, if you can believe it. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose seem to mess with your microbiome. Changing the balance of bacteria in your gut can lead to glucose intolerance, where your bloodstream is flooded with more sugar than it can handle and that sugar is more likely to get turned into fat. And you don’t have to gorge on the stuff for it to have an effect. Findings published in the journal Nature21 show that eating just an average amount of artificial sweeteners—say, the equivalent of a couple of packets in your coffee—is enough to negatively impact your gut—and, potentially, your weight.
Clean foods aren’t just devoid of fattening artificial sweeteners—they’re also free of obesogens, a group of toxic chemicals thought to boost fat storage, increase hunger, and slow your metabolism. Yup, these nasties are a triple threat! Many of the compounds used to produce conventional foods—such as artificial hormones and the fungicide triflumizole—seem to trigger the body to store more fat.22 And animal studies suggest that unnatural additives such as the emulsifiers called polysorbates (often added to jarred mayonnaise and salad dressings) might play a role in throwing your microbiome out of balance and increasing your odds of developing metabolic syndrome.23
Even the stuff conventional food is packaged in might make it harder to lose weight: The bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) found in plastics and canned food linings are endocrine disruptors that promote fat storage and make it harder for your body to build the lean muscle tissue that keeps your metabolism revved. Even perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used in conventional microwave popcorn bags, appears to be linked to obesity.24 Who knew that something as simple as a can of chickpeas or your Saturday night movie snack could have such a potentially profound effect on your body? The good news, though, is that you have a choice. By committing to eating clean, you can bypass these questionable ingredients and rest easy knowing that you’re picking the best possible foods for your weight and your health.
Maybe you’ve been a diet soda devotee since you first became weight conscious as a teenager. Perhaps your morning coffee just doesn’t cut it without a sprinkle of artificial sweetener. No doubt, giving up the flavors you’ve grown so accustomed to can be tough. And maybe you’re still not convinced that low- or no-calorie sweeteners are really problematic for your weight.
So let’s take a hard look at the numbers. One Journal of the American Geriatrics Society19 study that followed more than 700 participants for nearly a decade found that people who guzzled the most diet soda packed on almost triple the belly fat compared to those who drank the least. Another, published in the journal Obesity,20 tracked nearly 3,700 participants and found that the body mass indexes of those who consumed artificial sweeteners were nearly 50 percent higher compared to those who avoided the stuff. Are those numbers enough to make you reach for a glass of water, unsweetened iced tea, or plain black coffee? C’mon, say yes. Great!
You’ve heard a lot about how starchy, sugary foods can thwart your weight loss. But resistant starch is different. It acts more like a fiber than a starch—and since it’s indigestible, it delivers fewer calories than other types of carbs. But that’s not all. One study recently showed that adding resistant starch to participants’ diets increased their fat-burning by more than 20 percent.13 And in another, it prompted the release of fullness-signaling hormones that resulted in the men consuming 320 fewer calories a day—without actually trying to eat less.14 Thankfully, resistant starch is easy to get when you’re eating clean. It occurs naturally in foods like lentils, black beans, kidney beans, green peas, barley, and oats. And you can increase the amount of resistant starch in some carbs—like pasta and potatoes—by letting them cool after you cook them. (Reheat them before you eat them, of course!) You can even swap some resistant-starch—rich flours, like green banana flour and some high-fiber non-GMO corn flours, for some of the refined white flour in baked goods.
Would you like some coffee or tea? When it comes to losing weight, your answer should be, “Both, please!” The caffeine that occurs naturally in coffee, black tea, and green tea has been shown to dull your appetite,15 which may help you eat less. (Since herbal “teas” like rooibos and chamomile are naturally caffeine-free, they don’t have the hunger-squashing effect.)
Green tea seems to be particularly powerful. Aside from containing a hefty dose of caffeine, it’s also rich in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant that actually helps your body’s fat-burning enzymes and muscle cells work harder, stops new fat cells from forming, and even revs your metabolism. In fact, sipping the stuff regularly was shown to help overweight men lose nearly a pound and a half in just 6 weeks, according to a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition.16 Both bagged and looseleaf green tea get the job done, but for the biggest benefit, reach for matcha, a powdered form of green tea. Findings show that you’ll get around three times more EGCG, since the powder dissolves in hot water instead of just being steeped, like tea leaves.17 Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice, and you’ll get an even bigger boost: Consuming EGCG with something acidic, like citrus, helps your body absorb up to five times more of the fat burner, according to research conducted at Purdue University.18
One thing to remember: We’re talking about plain coffee and tea here—not sugary lattes. A splash of milk or a pinch of a clean sugar (such as raw sugar or honey) is fine if you prefer the taste. But you won’t reap any weight-loss benefits by decking out your coffee or tea like an ice cream sundae.
Clean foods can help you Lose weight, period. But some picks pack an extra powerful punch. Here’s the best stuff to reach for when you want to...
Crush Cravings for Salt, Fat, and Sugar
•Apple cider vinegar
•Asparagus
•Avocado
•Barley
•Ground cinnamon
•Coffee
•Eggs
•Kale
•Raw sauerkraut
•Plain Greek yogurt and kefir
Stay Fuller, Longer
•Artichokes
•Chickpeas
•Chile peppers (including crushed red pepper, cayenne, paprika)
•Lentils
•Mushrooms
•Oatmeal
•Pears
•Pine nuts
•Raspberries
•Salmon
•Walnuts
Melt More Fat
•Chile peppers (including crushed red pepper, cayenne, paprika)
•Coconut oil
•Garlic
•Grapefruit
•Sunflower seeds
•Black, green, oolong, or white tea (not herbal tea)
•Boneless, skinless turkey breast
•Plain Greek yogurt
Avoiding BPA altogether might be unrealistic. A whopping 93 percent of us have measurable levels of the stuff in our urine, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates.25 But there are plenty of simple ways to drastically downgrade your exposure—and stack the weight-loss cards in your favor. How about . . .
●Buying beans, tomato products, and stocks or broths in BPA-free cans, cartons, or glass jars instead of conventional cans?
●Storing your leftovers in glass containers instead of plastic ones?
●Microwaving food in glass containers or on ceramic plates instead of in plastic containers?
●Using aluminum foil or parchment paper instead of plastic wrap?
●Drinking from a reusable stainless steel water bottle instead of a disposable or reusable plastic one?
●Opting for e-mail receipts instead of paper ones? (Receipt paper is high in BPA.)
1 Eating clean is not a diet. It’s just the way you were designed to eat! It’s enjoyable, it makes you feel great, and it’s something you can do for life.
2 Clean foods make losing weight easier. They keep you feeling full for longer, help fight sugar cravings, and even boast properties that can rev your metabolism and melt more fat.
3 Clean foods are free of additives that can mess with your weight. When you choose whole or minimally processed foods, you’re automatically steering clear of artificial sweeteners, BPA, and other chemicals that could cause the pounds to pile on.
4 Remember, portions still matter. No whole foods or foods made from real ingredients are off-limits. But in order to lose weight, you have to eat less—and commit to eating certain clean foods more often than others.
