Clean Eating Tips You Will Want to Try
Making informed food choices sounds easier than actually implementing them day after day. After all, sweets, carbs, and other inviting treats somehow and often taste so much better than a spinach salad.
But with the rising rates of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other problems exacerbated by poor diet, we owe it to our bodies—and our families—to make lifestyle changes that will help us live longer, healthier, and fuller lives.
What is clean eating?
According to the Mayo Clinic, clean eating “refers to eating foods that are as close as possible to their natural state.” In other words, when we can and as much as we can, we should make our meals from scratch. And any snacks or other foods should be made with reliable and clean ingredients.
We live in a fast-paced society. Whether we’re hurrying to work, to the gym, to kids’ sports practices or school plays, or to visit a sick friend, we rarely take the time to make homemade meals. Instead, we rely on processed foods (or fast-food meals) that are quick and easy but that contain excessive amounts of sodium, fat, preservatives, and other chemicals.
Eaten irregularly, these foods are not that detrimental to our health. But eaten daily, they lead to numerous health problems.
We know that change is hard, especially when it comes to food and eating habits. To help you implement these changes, we have some awesome tips for ways you can begin clean eating.
Compile a list of new recipes
Because homemade meals with fresh meats and vegetables are healthier, we encourage you to take some time to look up new recipes. If you like chicken, google healthy recipes with chicken. If you’re a vegetarian, google healthy vegetarian recipes. This may take some time initially, but once you have 15-20 or so meals in your repertoire, you will become more adept at making them, and you will have easy go-to meals.
Make extra!
One of the major complaints we hear regarding why people don’t like to cook is that it takes too long or that they don’t know what to make. Once you find a good recipe, double or triple it so you can have it for another night or two (or for lunches). Then you simply need to warm it in the oven, and you have another great meal with minimal effort!
Make spinach or other healthy greens the norm
Spinach, kale, arugula, and collard greens are some of the healthiest leafy green vegetables out there. And they are so versatile! Add them to just about any meal as a side dish or top off your sandwich with them.
Stick with whole grains
We can consider white breads and pastas the enemy of proper nutrition. They are just not good for us. Whole-grain pastas and breads or multigrain bread are much more nutritious. These foods are high in nutrients and vitamins and (with a healthy diet all around) can even help lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
Snack with smarts
You have made it a point to stay away from candy bars or granola bars and to eat a healthy protein bar. That’s a great decision! The problem is, with so many out there, it’s hard to know which are actually good for you—and which of those actually taste good. Not to toot our own horn, but we have made one of the tastiest protein bars on the market. And we use only clean ingredients because we care about your body as much as you do. Our Inspired-Bar 2.0 bars are high in fiber and contain 20 grams of protein. So when trying to decide which protein bar to put in your purse or gym bag, you need look no further than Performance Inspired.
Drink your greens!
Yes, you can now drink your green vegetables! Greens powder is made of dehydrated green plants and contains the vitamins and minerals that your body needs. This mixture of super green vegetables and fruits offers a myriad of health benefits. Understanding this, Performance Inspired has created our Greens for Life with you in mind. This powerful blend of organic greens, organic mushrooms, an organic antioxidant blend, and BioCore probiotics will help you improve digestion, boost your immunity, increase your energy, promote longevity, balance your hormones, aid in cognitive functioning, reduce inflammation throughout the body, enhance mental clarity, and so much more! So give it a try and see how great you feel!
Find alternate sweets
Nearly everyone has a sweet tooth or craves a piece of chocolate cake, a cookie, or a brownie at some point in their lives. Don’t fret; there are healthy and clean alternatives for sweets too. Did you know that you can make chocolate pudding with avocadoes, cocoa powder, and a few other wholesome ingredients? It’s true. I have tried this recipe, and trust me, it is good! You can also make homemade ice cream with natural ingredients. And you can incorporate ingredients like figs and prunes into cake and brownie recipes to eliminate the excessive amounts of sugar in these foods. In addition, fruits on their own make a tasty snack.
Watch what you add to your coffee
Sugar, milk, and other artificial ingredients, especially those used by commercial coffee houses, not only add calories but unhealthy ingredients that offer no nutritional value. Skip the junky ingredients and drink your coffee black. If that is not palatable, add some almond milk, but skip the sugar.
Read the ingredient list
We cannot say enough that processed foods contain ingredients and additives that are detrimental to your health. But not all packaged foods are bad. Learn to read the labels before you buy prepackaged foods so you can make good decisions.
Our bodies crave the nutrients in clean foods, and we owe it to ourselves to treat our bodies well. We only get one, after all!
