I’ve been training clients for years now and the most confusion still comes from nutrition. The biggest question is still what should I be eating? Why is there so much confusion on what we should be eating and why is the obesity rate constantly increasing? Well that’s a topic for another day. Today I just want to give you a simple easy to follow guide that you can use immediately.
Clean eating is not at all about deprivation and giving up “bad” foods. It’s more about eating foods as close to their natural state as possible and paying close attention to how food is made. It involves focusing on food quality and the way your diet impacts your overall health. Clean eating isn’t a fad, or trend — it’s the way you should be eating most of the time.
The best part is, it’s easy! There's a huge variety of food you can eat and simple ways to combine them to create meals and snacks.
Just follow this handy guidelines and sample menu. Mix and match from the below list of "foods to enjoy" and you’ll see that you have endless choices and combinations. To keep this extremely simple we are going to have 2 lists, one with foods to avoid and the other with foods to enjoy.
Foods to Avoid
Sodas and diet sodas
Sweetened drinks and juices
Processed sweets
Candy
Refined sugar
Chips
Artificial sweeteners
Conventional dairy products
Bottled salad dressings
Processed fats like cream cheese, margarine
Processed carbs like crackers, pita, wraps, tortillas, English muffins, bread, pasta
Processed meats like sausage, pepperoni, bacon, canned meat or seafood, deli meat
Highly processed fake meat products
Seasoning mixes with gluten, dairy, preservatives or artificial additives
Dried or canned fruits
Processed veggie snacks
Canned vegetables
Foods to Enjoy
Fresh vegetables like asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, kale, lettuce (all varieties), mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes (all varieties), zucchini
Fresh fruits like apples, bananas, berries (all types), cherries, citrus (all types), grapes, kiwi, mangoes, melon, papayas, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, watermelon
Frozen fruits (no sugar added or preservatives)
Frozen vegetables (zero additives)
Pasture-raised eggs
All-natural poultry
Seafood
Sweet potato (skin on)
Squash
Quinoa
Oats
Brown rice
Extra virgin olive oil
Avocado
Avocado oil
Nuts
Nut butter (all natural)
Plant based dairy alternatives
Grass-fed, organic dairy
Fresh and dried herbs
Spices
Beans
Lentils
Peas
Chickpeas
Pure maple syrup
Raw honey
70% dark chocolate
Water
Sample Clean Eating Meals
Now that you have all your healthy ingredients, what are you going to do with them? Here are a few meal ideas to get you started.
Breakfast
2 eggs, scrambled
1 cup of chopped fresh vegetables, seasoned with turmeric, black pepper and fresh basil
1/2 an avocado
Side of fresh fruit
1 cup of coffee (optional: with unsweetened almond milk and one teaspoon of maple syrup)
Lunch
Grain bowl made with:
Fresh greens
Other chopped vegetables of your choice
Small scoop each of lentils and quinoa
Dressing made from extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and dried Italian herb seasoning
Snack
1 cup of fresh fruit
1/4 cup of tree nuts
1 single-serve container of plain plant-based yogurt or grass-fed organic yogurt
Optional: sweetened with a teaspoon of pure maple syrup or raw honey, a quarter teaspoon of fresh grated ginger root and a dash of ground cinnamon
Dinner
2 cups of vegetables of your choice, sautéed or oven roasted with extra virgin olive oil
1 portion (about the size of a deck of cards) of lean protein (roasted chicken or seafood or beans)
1 handful of oven roasted fingerling potatoes
Dessert
Choose one of the following:
1 to 2 squares of 70% dark chocolate
Homemade chocolate avocado pudding
Plant-based chia pudding
See!!! it doesn’t have to be boring to eat clean and healthy for the rest of your life. All you have to do is follow this guide line most of the time, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT.
Until next time,
Olan