In a nutshell

Clean eating is about consuming foods that support your body and mind and that are as close to their origin as possible

This means no or little changes between the time they have been harvested and when they reach your plate; more importantly, clean food is usually best when it is grown (or bred) in a clean and unspoiled environment (i.e., absence or low levels of pesticides). Eating clean food is often about eating whole foods that have been lightly or not processed at all.

Including more clean foods in your meals

It may be challenging to include more clean foods in your meals and to eliminate all processed food, as most of what we eat, even organic whole food, can be subject to some types of transformations, even light (e.g., relatively high cooking temperature). However, it is easier to avoid significantly chemically modified food or those made from refined ingredients.

Transformations that can cause your food to become “unclean”

Transformations involved in processing food can be observed at different levels including: the addition of sugar, wheat, salt (i.e., additives) to improve flavor and bulk-up the food, or by synthesizing food industrially.

The first modification (additives) is quite common, and it is relatively easy to find canned food with added sugar or wheat. Some food specialists consider that these substances can make these foods more addictive. To know more about the impact of wheat on health, I would recommend reading the excellent book from William Davis entitled “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health”, as it explains, in details, how wheat may have a negative impact on your health (you can see more information about this book at the end of this post).

Eating clean: a life-long choice rather than a diet

Clean eating is concerned with eating foods that maximize or ease your bodily functions, as they were meant to be, with no or little transformations, so that you can obtain all the benefits.

Eating clean is more about the benefits yielded by a good diet, than counting calories, and it is different from healthy eating. While healthy eating is about eating a variety of foods from all food groups (i.e., carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber, minerals, or vitamins), clean eating is focused on eating foods that maximize or ease your bodily functions, just as they were meant to be with no or little transformations, and without absorbing toxic substances.

Healthy eating vs. clean eating

For example, while fruits are considered to be healthy, too much fruits may also mean a significant intake of sugar, which may be detrimental to your health. The same applies to grains. While bread is usually recommended as part as an healthy diet, recent studies show that gluten may have a negative impact on your health, by affecting your guts ,and indirectly the production of some hormones such as serotonin.

Benefits of clean foods

There are, obviously well known advantages to eating clean food, including clean vegetables and fruits, as they include significant amounts of fibers, proteins, minerals and vitamins that help your body and metabolism on a daily basis. While it is generally accepted that we should eat five portions of vegetables a day, recent studies have shown that seven daily portions may be even more beneficial. By eating (fresh) vegetables and fruits, you are able to fill-up with many vitamins that play a crucial role in your bodily functions. When eating vegetables, it is, as for most foods, a matter of balancing your intake to insure that you are getting enough of the all minerals and vitamins, or the most important ones

There are numbers of benefits to clean foods including:

Blood sugar levels kept constant; this has an impact on your mood, on and your energy levels throughout the day.

Less likelihood of allergies due to additives

A healthy bowel movement: you will quite likely (if this is not the case already) be more regular, and feel less bloated throughout the day by being more conscious about what you eat

Avoid toxins and other substances that may impact on your digestion/health

Stay young and feel fit and healthy

How to start eating clean

The first way to eat clean, is to start reducing the amount of processed food in your diet

Limiting consumption of processed foods can be crucial. This means eating organic vegetables and fruits (possibly produced/harvested locally) and organic grass fed meat. Eating local vegetables and fruits has many advantages including: supporting local farmers, reducing your carbon footprint (e.g., due to imports from other countries), being able to trace accurately where your food has been harvested and produced, and developing a trust relationship with local supplies and farmers. Another important point is to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season. When foods are in season, they taste better, but they may also include more nutrients that foods that are not in season.

So as you can see, eating clean food, involves several simple steps that can definitely help you, these include:

Choosing food fresh food possibly harvested/bred locally Choosing a good cookware so that you keep the goodness of your food Include a variety of foods to ensure that you absorb all necessarily nutrients to your bodily functions Plan to eat clean on the go Support your guts Ensure that you have enough of the main minerals Be good to yourself

Be Flexible

Eating clean really is a process, and you can’t expect to change your dietary habits overnight.

It will take several iterations, some lows and highs, and overall, the will to progressively eat food that only benefits your health on the long run. This is not to say that you can’t consume foods that are not clean now and then; but as long as this remains an exception rather than a rule, you are on your way to a better you. By the time you consistently eat clean you will find that it almost becomes a second nature, and your children will from it throughout their lives.

Eating clean food: a process rather than an overnight change

It takes time to make it right, and by progressively replacing processed foods with clean foods in your kitchen, you can ensure that you will succeed

It takes time and efforts, but more importantly, organization. This means, shopping so that you only have clean food in your kitchen (and not be tempted to buy a “quick fix” processed food), preparing food or planning for food (e.g., soak food overnight, freezing food in bulk), or washing, and preparing food. Some of these will become part of your daily life, and, create opportunities for your family to bound when preparing food together. In addition you will also notice many benefits, beyond your digestion and health, such as clarity in your thoughts, and a capacity to enjoy more of the day (as your body will process the food easily and hence require less energy to process these).

Have you already started to eat clean? Leave your comment and suggestion…

Further Reading/Resources:

[Some of the links below are marked as affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. However, clicking on these links is at no additional cost to you (unless you decide to buy the product). These products and articles are recommended because they could be helpful to you by providing information or resources to eat clean food, improve your health and achieve your goals]

Title: Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/ Summary: This paper provides evidence on addition linked to sugar for animals and suggests that it could translate to humans.

Title [Affiliate Link]: Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609614798/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1609614798&linkCode=as2&tag=howtoeatclean-20&linkId=MCQNDWR7AMK7INIZ Summary: This book explains how wheat, which has often been considered as a healthy food, could in fact, impair your health causing several issues including obesity, insulin resistance, or even heart diseases.

Title: Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality: analysis of Health Survey for England data

Links: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/behindtheheadlines/news/2014-04-01-call-to-make-5-a-day-fruit-and-veg-into-7-a-day/ http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2014/03/03/jech-2013-203500.abstract?sid=37308e66-df0a-4277-89c5-8917a1d18dab Summary: The authors explain the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables; they also mention that eating 7+ portions of fruits and veg may be more beneficial

