What Is Clean Eating?

When I started my fitness journey one of the things that continually came up was "Clean Eating."  I figured it just meant eating some more fruits and veggies, but there's a little more to it than that.

What is clean eating?

The core of eating clean is consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible.  Most clean foods usually contain just one or two ingredients.  Eating clean is not a fad diet that promotes short-term weight loss.

1. Eat 5-6 times a day (3 meals and 2-3 small snacks) to keep your blood sugar stable and avoid overeating.

2. Drink your WATER!  A good rule thumb is to take your body weight and divide it by 2.  Drink that many ounces of water a day to stay properly hydrated.  (Example: 150 lbs. ÷ 2 = 75 oz. water)

3. Eat fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins instead of pre-packaged, processed, or fast food.  Choose organic or grass fed meats when possible and pick fruit over fruit juice.  If you have to buy processed vegetables, frozen is always better than canned.

4. Replace saturated fats with healthy fats.  You can reduce saturated fats by choosing lean meats and avoiding fast food.  Saturated fats: Butter, ice cream, and bacon.  Healthy fats: Olive oil, avocados, nuts, and fatty fish.