Cleaning
Eating Start Up Guide!
The
Principals:
1. Eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
So this may seem counter-intuitive, why would
eating more lead to better health and weight loss? When we skip meals, our
bodies go into a survival mechanism of starvation mode. Instead of burning fat,
our bodies actually store it because the body doesn't know when the next meal
is coming. Imagine if you didn't know when the grocery store was going to be
open. You would probably stock your pantry full and keep it as full as possible
just in case the grocery store didn't open again for a long time.
On the contrary, eating regularly trains your
body to know that food is coming and that it's ok to burn calories regularly-
no need for extra storage in the form of fat-- because the next nourishment is
coming soon. Eating more often actually stimulates metabolism and trains your
body to be burning fat all day long, even when you're not working out.
Additionally, eating regularly helps prevent us
from getting to the point where we are so hungry we eat anything and everything
without much thought to what it is we're actually eating.
In the coming posts, we're going to talk more
about what kinds of foods to eat 5-6 times/day and how much.
2. Pair a lean protein with a complex carb at every meal (including all snacks)
Why is this so important? The combination of complex carb + lean protein in our bodies actually slows the carb to fat conversion process, meaning we use more of what we're eating for fuel, instead of turning it into fat. This combination also keeps blood sugar levels steady and keeps us feeling full till our next meal/snack.
So what are complex carbs? In essence, it's fruits, veggies, and whole grains. These provide us with fiber, which also helps improve digestion and helps us stay fuller, longer.
Lean proteins are things like beans, eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, nuts, seeds. They provide us with energy and fuel.
For me, this was a big eye-opener. I love snacking, so the first principle of eating every 2-3 hours worked well for me. But I realized that I tended to snack on carbs only. Adding the lean protein to my snacks has made a big difference.
3. Portion Sizes
Even though we get to eat often with Clean Eating, it is super important to have portion control. This was a problem for me, for sure! Often, I was eating healthy foods, but I paid little to no attention to the amount I was eating.
Thankfully, as luck would have it, our hands are all the tools we need to figure out our portions. Take a look at this short 2 minute video on how to use our hands to measure out the correct portions every time.
4. Drink WATER
They always tell you to drink lots of water, but do you know why? Your body is composed of 60 to 70 percent water, and maintaining those water levels allows your body to easily flush out toxins and cellular waste.
Water also transports oxygen and nutrients to your cells, acts as a protective cushion between joints and organs, and helps the kidneys function more effectively. When your kidneys aren't functioning at their best, the liver helps out, and it can't metabolize fat as effectively. So help out your kidneys and your waistline by keeping yourself hydrated.
Even if you're not exercising intensely, you still lose water every day through breathing, urinating, and by eating salty foods or drinking alcohol, so it's important to replenish your levels by drinking half your body weight in ounces of water. For instance, a 130-pound person should drink 65 ounces of water daily.
Plus, as an extra bonus, water can help alleviate hunger by making you feel full!
5.
Eat 2-3 servings of healthy fats every day.
This one was actually contrary to something ingrained in my head from my childhood. While I was growing up, there was a lot of talk in my family about eating a low-fat diet. It was thought that the "low fat", "light" food was the way to go when trying to lose weight. There was also a concept that the fat you eat turns to fat on your body. This is simply not true. As it turns out, all fats are NOT created equal. In fact, eating some fats are actually very important to your optimal health. And further, things labeled "no fat" actually tend to have lots of terribly processed ingredients that are not good for us at all.
So what are examples of healthy fats?
Nuts/ nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower butter), avocados, seeds, seed oils, olive oils, coconut oil. There is one thing you should be aware of; be sure to look for nut butters that don't have extra ingredients. Ingredients in anything should be simple, easy to pronounce, and ideally just peanuts or almonds themselves.
Here is a great article to learn more about healthy fats!
6. Eat breakfast within 1 hour of rising.
I know for lots of people, my husband included, skipping breakfast is easy to do. You're in a hurry, or maybe just not hungry that early. But as you've probably heard before- breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why? Breakfast is actually a literal “breaking of your fast” after going without food through the night. It sets standard for the day and is important for our brain to have nourishment first thing- otherwise we may notice we are tired, restless, and irritable. Having breakfast also prevents binging later and should provide 25% of nutrients for the day.
For me, having breakfast itself was no problem. My problem was that I was a cereal-for-breakfast junkie. It was just easy to do. The problem is that although not all cereal is created equally, in general cereal has very little protein. And further, it's a very processed food- often with lots of artificial ingredients. So now for breakfast, I either make a big batch of oatmeal for the week with lots of delicious ingredients added (fruit, almonds, a little honey) or most often I have Shakeology, something we will talk more about. (I am drinking it as I type this morning :) )
If you are going to make only one change from learning all these clean eating principles, I would suggest starting with this one- eat breakfast and be sure to include protein and a complex carb every morning.
**Other Clean Eating Tips**
Things
to stay away from:
Eating "Clean" really just
means eating food without processed, artificial CRAP. Here's my general rule of
thumb... If it's God-made, it's GOOD! If it's man-made, it's likely full of
synthetic ingredients which can have a BIG, negative impact on our health.
TIP: When you see the words
"diet", "sugar-free" or "lite", chances are it
contains artificial sweeteners like Aspartame which is POISON!
AVOID ANYTHING that contains the
following on the label:
- High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup
- Aspartame
- Sucralose
- Maltodextrin
- MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
- Enriched / Bleached
- Modified, Genetically-modified, etc.
- From concentrate
Schedule your cheat meals.
Clean eating does so many amazing things for your body but sometimes you just need a big bowl of pasta and cream sauce or something else not necessarily good for you. No fear. I always follow the 80/20 rule when it comes to my diet. 80 percent of the time I am on track and follow my meal plan. The other 20 percent, I have scheduled in my "cheat meals" for the week. Generally I schedule 2 on Friday night and Sunday morning. This gives me the best of both worlds when it comes to naughty foods.
Another reason I schedule my cheat meals is because it gives my husband and I time to go out to eat. Eating out definitely isn't as clean as you can make at home. I limit going out to eat to once a week but if something comes up there are a few rules I like to follow. Check out how I keep my diet intact while eating out here; Dine Out Without Diving Off Your Diet
Plan Your Meals
Clean eating can be easy and it doesn't have to take you hours and hours in the kitchen to do it either. I suggest designating one day for plan and prep. I choose Sunday but yours may differ all depending on your schedule. Check out my tips on how to plan and prep for a clean eating lifestyle.
Meal Planning Tips and Grocery Lists to Follow
** Interested in moving towards a CLEAN EATING LIFESTYLE but need support and/or unsure of where to start? Lets chat :)
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