Clean Eating

When the "clean eating" craze first started, it always seemed so complicated to me. I read up on it a lot and tried to get as much information and "prepare" as much as I could before attempting to clean up my diet. I think the details can get kind of hazy with what EXACTLY qualifies a food as "clean",  but I also think that the definition of a clean diet is different to different people, the overall concept is actually pretty basic and simple.

Basically, clean eating is eating food closest to its natural form. Eating clean means cutting out processed and artificial foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, healthy fats and unprocessed whole grains are good foods to stick to when trying to eat clean. Processed food, fast food, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, sugars and high fat foods are foods to avoid.

I was thankful to see that most of the people who had written articles about clean eating mentioned following the 80/20 diet rule. Try to eat clean 80% of the time, but give yourself that 20% to indulge a little, if you feel like you need to.

I know I still have a lot of areas in my diet that need to be cleaned up a lot. You all know I LOVE light ranch dressing. I also have a hard time not using 100% pure maple syrup instead of sugar-free, mostly because the calorie swap is so intense. It's important to remember that just because a food is "low-fat" or "low-calorie" does NOT mean it's clean (or necessarily even healthy!)! On the flip side, just because a food is clean, that also doesn't mean it's nutrient rich or won't cost you big calories!

I've tried to keep the menus I post pretty true to what I consider a clean diet. There are some great resources online to help keep you in check with what kinds of things you should be aware of when choosing your foods. This is a great article with a lot of helpful information!