If you want to do just one thing that is positive for your health and your weight, challenge yourself to even one week of clean eating.
Clean eating results in weight loss by only eating healthy meats, fruits and vegetables.
Health Benefits of Clean Eating
We truly are what we eat and clean eating is one of the best things you can do to improve your health!
That means that the more good, clean food we eat, the more healthy and powerful we will look and feel!
Of course that means more lean muscle and energy, but it also means better skin, hair and nails. And whiter eyes…
Moreover though, the more nutritious food you eat – and the less rubbish – the better everything will function. The biggest causes of death by far are preventable progressive diseases and many of these could be counteracted with the right diet.
Are you worried about your diet?
If you eat right, you’ll be less at risk of just about every serious health problem under the sun and your life expectancy will be significantly increased.
Clean eating is becoming more and more popular these days. The reason why is that “eating clean” as it’s called, is not just another fad diet. Whereas most diets are hard to live by – the idea behind eating clean is making this way of eating a lifestyle choice.
Could you adapt to a clean eating lifestyle?
Principles of Clean Eating
So let’s start with the basics. What is eating clean? Eating clean is basically removing the refined, processed foods from our diets and eating more whole foods, vegetables and protein. Here is a run down of some principles of clean eating. The goal of clean eating is to prioritize foods that are as close to their natural state as possible.
– Eat natural whole foods. When choosing things like breads makes sure to choose those made with whole grains rather than refined grains.
– Remove refined sugar from your diet. There is so much unnatural sugar in foods these days. A core principal of eating clean is to cut down or eliminate these refined sugars. Sugars are more and more becoming known as the biggest culprit for things like diabetes and heart disease.
– Eat more fruits and vegetables. This is something thats fairly basic in most diets but when eating clean this is really the heart and soul. Fruits and vegetables are natural, they aren’t processed and don’t contain preservatives. This makes them super healthy!
– Cut down on salt. Salt is another ingredient that’s added in excess to foods these days. With clean eating you want to make sure that you are not eating foods with extra added salt. Try to avoid salt if possible while clean eating.
– Don’t eat foods with ingredients you’ve never heard of. We’ve all looked at food packages and said wait.. what! Partially hydrogenated huh… If you have no idea what the ingredients are, most likely you are choosing something that is overly processed. That’s of course a big no no with clean eating.
– Minimize saturated fat. A cheeseburger is going to have tons of saturated fat. With clean eating you don’t want to cut out fats but rather, try and get your fats from healthier options like olive oil, fish or nuts.
So all in all you want your meals to contain plenty of fruits and vegetables. Minimize overly processed carbs and get your protein from lean meats and diary. Some people will say, if your ancestors 1000 years ago would be eating it than it’s ok when eating clean.
What Happens When You Start Eating a Clean Diet
When you start eating a clean diet, which typically involves prioritizing whole, minimally processed foods and avoiding or minimizing highly processed and refined foods, several positive changes can occur in your body and overall health. While individual experiences may vary, here are some common outcomes associated with adopting a clean eating approach:
Improved Nutrient Intake – Clean eating often means consuming a wider variety of nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, nuts, and seeds. This can lead to an increased intake of essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which support overall health.
Better Digestion – Whole foods, especially high-fiber options like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can promote healthy digestion and regular bowel movements. This may reduce the likelihood of digestive issues like constipation.
Steady Energy Levels – Balanced meals featuring complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fats can help stabilize blood sugar levels, leading to more consistent energy levels throughout the day.
Weight Management – Clean eating often encourages portion control and the consumption of nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods. This can help with weight management and may lead to gradual, sustainable weight loss if needed.
Reduced Inflammation – Some highly processed and refined foods are associated with inflammation in the body. By avoiding these foods and consuming anti-inflammatory foods, clean eating may help reduce chronic inflammation, which is linked to various health issues.
Improved Heart Health – A clean diet that includes heart-healthy foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains, and fatty fish can contribute to better cardiovascular health by reducing the risk of heart disease.
Enhanced Immune Function – Nutrient-rich foods provide essential vitamins and minerals that support a robust immune system, helping your body defend against illnesses and infections.
Better Skin Health – A clean diet with plenty of antioxidants and hydration can promote healthier skin, potentially reducing acne and other skin issues.
Mental Clarity and Mood – Balanced meals can contribute to improved mental clarity and mood stability. Stable blood sugar levels can help reduce mood swings and energy crashes.
Lower Risk of Chronic Diseases – Clean eating, when combined with other healthy lifestyle choices, can lower the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and hypertension.
Improved Long-Term Health – By adopting a clean eating lifestyle, you are making choices that promote long-term health and wellness, reducing the risk of diet-related health issues down the line.
Better Hydration – Clean eating often encourages drinking more water and fewer sugary beverages, which can improve overall hydration.
It’s important to note that the effects of clean eating can vary from person to person, and results may depend on individual dietary preferences, activity levels, and health goals. Additionally, a clean eating approach should be balanced and flexible to meet individual needs and preferences. It’s advisable to consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian before making significant dietary changes to ensure that your chosen eating plan aligns with your specific health goals and any medical conditions you may have.
Be Healthier With Clean Eating
Now that we’ve gone over what clean eating is, how does it benefit me?
Clean eating is extremely healthy. As mentioned above eating clean will reduce your risks of things like diabetes and heart disease. That’s not all though. It’s also been show to reduce the risks of hypertension and obesity.
When sticking to the basic principles of clean eating you are putting in foods that your body processes naturally and with ease. Our bodies were made to eat natural whole foods. When we assault them with processed, refined, un-natural foods we start bogging them down. This stores fat, increases blood pressure and just makes us not feel so great.
Within the first week or two of eating clean you will probably start noticing an increase in energy. You may also start seeing great weight loss results. Even though you may be eating the same amount of calories in theory, these calories require more energy to burn.
Think of it like celery. Celery has about 10-15 calories per stick but it requires so much energy for your body to process the ruffage that it uses more calories to burn off the celery than celery has in it. So celery is sometimes calorie negative. Whole grains are similar. They are not calorie negative but they use much more energy to process than overly refined grains. Leading to your body looking leaner and healthier.
If you are looking for a way to feel great and lose weight you can’t go wrong with clean eating!
To get immediate benefits of eating clean, try a 30 DAY CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE! It’s a fun challenge that will positively impact your life in ways that you cannot imagine. It won’t be completely easy, and there will be challenges. With the tips and tricks provided here, you’ll make it through those challenges. As mentioned, there will be challenges. BUT – there will be many successes and benefits, too. Let’s start with the challenges that you may face.
Challenges to Clean Eating
Fatigue – Depending on your current diet, you may be addicted to sugar and refined carbohydrates. As you remove these from your diet you may experience fatigue. Your body may go through a type of withdrawal. You may even have headaches. There good news is that these symptoms only last for a few days, and they can be managed with healthy foods.
Overwhelm – It’s possible that you may feel overwhelmed by the challenge. We’ve worked hard to make each and every day manageable and enjoyable. If you feel overwhelmed, simply take a step back. You can repeat days and customize this challenge to fit your individual needs and goals.
Cravings – After a week or two of clean eating your cravings will go away. They’re often part of the withdrawal process. There are tricks that you can embrace to make the cravings go away. For example, did you know that healthy fats beat sugar cravings? Eat half an avocado or put coconut milk cream in your coffee. You won’t want sugar anymore and you’ll be satisfied.
See a List of Clean Eating Foods
More Benefits to Clean Eating
Weight loss – It’s not uncommon to begin shedding pounds almost immediately. Think about it, if you drink a soda or a sweetened coffee drink every day, you’re consuming 10 to 20 teaspoons of sugar, which is between 200 and 400 calories. And that’s just in one drink.
Add up the other sugar that you consume in the form of packaged foods and other refined carbs, and you’re easily consuming around a pound of sugary calories every day. Eliminate those and replace them with nutrients and you’ll see the weight come off. I’ve known people to lose 5 pounds the first week they stopped drinking soda.
More energy – This is one of the benefits that surprises people. They’re amazed at how energetic and healthy they feel. Once your body makes the shift and you get off the roller coaster of sugar and starchy carbs, your blood sugar levels will level out and you’ll begin feeling amazing.
Improved mental clarity – Along with those shifts in energy, you’ll also experience more mental clarity. You’ll feel like you’re better able to focus, and don’t be surprised if your memory improves.
Improved mood – Let’s face it, it’s much easier to stay positive when you feel great. Additionally, clean eating helps to balance your hormones. It can make a tremendous difference to your mindset.
Better digestion – Your gut will respond almost immediately to the changes in your eating habits and lifestyle. Sugary and starchy foods have the tendency to slow down digestion and to cause inflammation. This combination can lead to either constipation or diarrhea, depending on the degree of inflammation in the gut. When you eliminate those irritants from your system and replace them with high nutrient, high fiber foods, your system improves.
Better sleep – Do you struggle with insomnia and difficulty sleeping? You may find that the clean eating challenge is the solution you’ve been looking for.
Improved health – With Clean Eating you’ll also experience an improved immune system, and we all know how important that is to fighting off disease and sickness. Sugar and the chemicals in packaged foods cause inflammation. Inflammation is the precursor to all disease, and it weakens your immune system. It’s a simple equation. Sugar causes inflammation.
Your immune system becomes fatigued and cannot fight other viruses and bacteria that you come into contact with. Get rid of the sugar and the inflammation disappears. Your immune system can now focus on what’s important – protecting you from foreign invaders.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people find that after their clean eating challenge they either stick with it and make it part of their lifestyle or they repeat the challenge every couple of months to feel healthy and strong again.
You will love some of our healthy articles –
Eat Better – Feel Better
Clean Eating Tips
Printable List of Clean Eating Foods
