As it is the new year, anyone with a tv will be inundated with weight loss ads and excersise programs. I am a firm believer in having a healthy lifestyle and being active. Diets are short term that end once you reach your goal or are too starved to keep doing it. Lifestyle exactly what it sounds like, it is how you live your life.
Living a whole food, clean lifestyle to me means eating whole foods with the least amount of processing. If your eating less processed foods that includes sugar. Cutting out the use of cane sugar which is hidden in most things processed is a huge part of this.
By buying ingrediants in their most natural form you can control what goes into your body. This means shopping the outside of the super market where you will find the fresh ingredients: vegetables, fruits, meats, fish and dairy are usually found on the outside of the supermarket and not deep inside the aisles. It also means cooking. Really cooking and not just reheating in the microwave.
If you are cooking with spices and fresh ingrediants you know exactly what you just ate. You know how much sugar, salt, and fat was in that meal. This is so much simpler then standing in aisles reading convoluted labels and really just guessing sometimes.
Also think about high startch food like potatoes. Your body turns startch into sugar and energy. Which is all fine and dandy if other foods you eat aren't being laced with sugar. Eating less startch items means less sugar in your diet. Now I love a good potatoe in some stew just like the next person, but sweet potatoes which have less startch can be substituted. Or if your gonna splurge with a potatoe just think less is more and in moderation.
Another piece of clean eating is eating organic. Why, organic? Well if we are trying to eat the freshest ingrediants in their natural form that means no pesticides and chemicals. You want to eat food that has no additions.
Try to imagine how your great grandmother cooked and grocery shopped. She probably had a garden in the back yard and went from the bakery, to the butcher, ect. She knew her meat and dairy came from the farmer from the next county and her carrots came from her backyard. She knew who touched her food. She never questioned that someone had modified the seed (GMO) or that someone washed her berries in pesticides. She also knew she had to cook and create her food. That she couldn't buy something wrapped in foil through a drive thru.
Now that you have envisioned how your great mother cooked her meals, now imagine you basically wanting to replicate that in modern times. Buying organic, non Genetically modified, fresh ingrediants is the way. Cooking your food from scratch. It doesn't have to be hard. In fact simple food tastes delicious. Also pack your lunch with left overs from dinner from the night before. Two birds one stone.
Is organic more expensive? yes, it can be. Why is it more expensive? Because organic farmers have to prove to the government that food was grown organically which costs money. Are some foods more important to eat organic than others yes. Visit the EWG (environmental working group) for the dirty dozen list at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php
Now that I just did a real quick break down of what eating clean is, I want to say we all do the best we can and starting a new lifestyle is hard. Start small, with some new recipes. Or try it for one week. I promise your body will feel different. I am a 2 can of diet mountiam dew a day convert that couldn't imagine going back to my old eating habits. When I eat clean I feel better, when I don't my body tells me and I feel it.
Please ask questions or comments. I'm learning things everyday and I would love to help others with their lifestyle changes. At the end of the day remember to love yourself; part of that is loving your body.
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