What is Clean Eating
Clean Eating. This phrase is popping up all over the fitness industry. What does it mean and should you be doing it?
Basically, clean eating is about eating foods in its simplest form; it’s eating foods that are unprocessed and unrefined - whole foods. Fresh fruit, potatoes, grass fed meats, nuts,
vegetables, and farm fresh eggs are all examples of whole foods.
Research has shown that diets high in fruits and vegetables can help prevent diseases, such as diabetes and things cardiovascular related. Whole foods have so many benefits to health - all the macronutrients (fats, protein, carbs), and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that our bodies need to operate.
So much of our food today is heavily processed. When looking at an ingredient label, if you can’t pronounce or know what a lot of the ingredients are, that product is heavily processed. For example, if the product on the shelf contains meat, then that product is heavily processed. (Meat is supposed to be refrigerated.) Why would you want to consistently be putting crap in your body? We eat to fuel our body - so that we can continue to go about our daily routines without passing out (or in my case without getting super cranky because I am starving).
Why wouldn’t everyone just eat cleanly? It makes the most sense to do it, right? Well there are also the factors that processed food tastes really good, it's much cheaper, and it is so much more accessible. In Colorado, we have a lot of grocery store options, such as Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, and Sprouts that are predominantly whole foods. We also have restaurants that pride themselves in their organic ingredients. In other states, however, this is not the case. I went to NJ to visit my family, and struggled to find food that I wanted to eat when I went out and especially when I needed to quickly grab something.
It is hard to only eat cleanly. I am a strong believer of the 80/20 rule. Eat well (and exercise) 80% of the time and 20% of the time, if you don’t it’s not going to poorly affect your health. Try and make an effort to incorporate these whole food in your daily diet.
If you have any questions or need suggestions, please contact me. trainedbystef@gmail.com or 720.722.4008!
