Clean Eating

What is clean eating?

We get that question every single day. In a nutshell, it means eating mostly real foods in their whole, unprocessed, or fresh form—think whole vegetables, fruit, nuts, meat, seafood, plain dairy, and whole grains. More specifically, how to eat clean can be summed up in 10 simple rules:

1  Eat real. Real food is clean food. If you can imagine it growing out of the ground or being raised on a farm, it’s real—and real good. 

2  Choose just one. If a food has only one ingredient—think milk, broccoli, dry quinoa, raw chicken, or beans—it’s clean. 

3  Eat naked. Foods that don’t come in packages, like fresh fruits and vegetables; meat and fish you can get from the butcher or seafood counter; and grains, nuts, and spices you can buy in bulk, are clean.

4  Go organic. When you opt for organic, you get the cleanest kind of food, grown or raised without pesticides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, steroids, and/or chemical-laden feed. 

5  Eat what you can pronounce. If you can read all the ingredients in a food out loud without thinking huh?, it's probably clean.

6  Prioritize plants. Vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber—and nearly devoid of the calories, sugar, and toxins known to cause weight gain and health issues. Only problem? Most of us don’t eat enough of them. 

7  Give up the white stuff. If you really want to eat clean, avoid sugar in its various forms and disguises. If you want to sweeten, opt for unprocessed types like raw honey or pure maple syrup, both of which go straight from hive or tree, respectively, to your mouth. 

8  Cook at home. Most meals from restaurants, takeout joints, and supermarkets are high in sugar and made with processed ingredients. When you cook, you choose exactly what does (or doesn’t) go into your body. 

9  Focus on what matters. Paleo, raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free? As long as you’re eating real food, choose the diet that works best for you.

10             Enjoy every bite. Clean eating is about enjoying delicious, real food—each and every bite. If it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it.