Clean Food is a revolutionary way to keep healthy if you believe what fitness and health gurus preach. Does it make sense? Clean eating is not food that has been washed extra well, nor is it conserved, preserved or processed. Clean eating means maximizing nutrition and getting optimal health in return. It is said to be revolutionary because it is relatively easy as far as lifestyle changes go. It is not a diet but a healthier way of life – with weight loss as one of the side effects.
Clean Food Revolution: Are You In or Out?
The revolution has nothing to do with anything new. If anything – clean food is going back to a pre-processed food world and using what Mother Nature gave us. Whole, natural healthy foods, that are not processed nor messed with. You want to know what you eat, and where the food came from. Clean food comes with a lot of hype but is actually very easy once you get the hang of what it is. Read more, and get the tips, tools, and resources you need to get started on the lifestyle changing food – clean food is back to the future for us. Are you in or out?
Clean Food: What Is It?
Clean food means very simply that you choose consciously what you eat. Eating clean means opting for healthy, whole, unprocessed foods. It isn’t revolutionary, but rather an easy way to promote what your body and mind need to function well.
The gain is energy and optimal health – which is also why this is not a diet. You have no restrictions on quantities of (clean) foods, nor do you cut out any food groups. It is a lifestyle with lots of flexibility that can be used every day and work far away. This article ‘What The Heck Is Clean Eating?‘ by Lauren Torresi for ABC News explains well why clean food makes sense.
The main concepts are based on current nutrition science, recommended by public health organizations as well as promoted by health and fitness experts around the world. The way to follow clean eating principles is thinking food – real food. 
Remember the food groups? Eating clean is about:
- Eating more of the best and healthiest options in each of the food groups—and eating less of the not-so-healthy ones.
- Choosing vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, plus healthy proteins and fats.
- Cutting back on processed foods such as refined grains, added sugars, salt and unhealthy fats.
- Checking labels and avoiding those that have 5 ingredients or more – especially when they are additives, food coloring, and other chemicals. A good rule of thumb is to avoid what you cannot pronounce or understand what it is.
There is no counting of calories, nor cut out of whole food groups. This makes it easier to follow and makes you leaner, happier and healthier. A good combo, right? Check out below for tips, resources, and books to inspire you.
Clean Food: Where Does It Come From?
Pre-processed food era is now long forgotten. Our great, great, great grandparents would never have dreamt of a world where food shopping has become confusing and filled with ingredients we cannot pronounce. The food was grain, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and dairy available from farmers, and shops that knew exactly where the food came from. The distance between food source to the plate was rarely far. 
Enter the processing era, where sugars, flour, and rice got treated in ways that are outright weird, as bleach and stripping of essential nutrients (rice, flour processing) are hardly good for you. Nevertheless, today we have become so accustomed to processed foods that it is now the topic for numerous public health campaigns and scientific scares as we no longer know if what we have on our plate is safe. 
The 1960s brought the green food or natural health food movement whereby processed foods were discarded for moral or societal issues. The mid-70s and 80s saw gyms and fitness clubs grow and natural foods became part of fitness conscious Jane Fonda followers and body builders. 
Today, the first lady of the US, Michelle Obama has very successfully put nutrition and healthier foods on the map in America. In Europe movements like SlowFood.com , and Chefs like Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution Campaign (Tip: Follow: @JamieOliver #FoodRevolution Twitter Page) have had a great impact on a growing number of health conscious people.
If you think that clean food, and clean eating, means growing a beard and singing “Kumbaya”, you are on the wrong track. Clean food is as trendy as can be, and as far as science goes equally backed as common sense eating. Going back to your great grandparent’s recipe books ought to tell you that clean food was the way then, and the turn towards processed foods has brought a lot of issues that ranges from cancer to obesity.
Clean Food: Are You In or Out?
Clean eating means choosing, learning, easy to make, active and natural ways to look at what has become our biggest health scare: Food.
There are some very good reasons for rethinking your lifestyle when it comes to food. 10 Reasons To Eat Clean by CleanEatingMagazine.com gives you the lighter version of why it is a good idea. Science and Medical practitioners do look critically at most approaches to diets but do agree that there is evidence that clean food in its basic principles is the right way forward.
There is good evidence that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is healthier than the typical American diet high in calories, red meat, and processed foods. (Diet-Cults vs. Science-Based Healthy Eating on sciencebasedmedicine.com)
There are many books on clean eating and foods, and some of the principles are not necessary for a healthy, all round nutritious approach to food. Supplements or extreme quantities of water for examples are not essential – nor recommended – as active choices of natural health foods will give you enough vitamins and minerals. This article on What is Clean Eating? on LiveScience.com gives a clear explanation.
Clean Food: How To Eat Clean
What does makes very much sense is to go back to basics when it comes to food. Here are some tips:
Choose real food over processed, and if you are in doubt look at the labels and if you do not understand what they mean simply avoid it. Basically, you want what Mother Nature has produced – Not manmade artificial flavorings, additives, refined or processed foods. - Learn how to cook great healthy foods by checking out books, websites, and DVDs. You have some tips here below.
- Easy to make food means that you mess less with your food. You steam, roast and grill and try not to microwave :). The less you do to your food the better as you want the nutritional content to shine. Salads, steamed vegetables, slow roasted lean meats, fish, – the choice is endless. Check out these tips from a fellow blogger on How to swap this for that and make healthier choices.
- Active thinking about what is good for you, and getting into all areas of lifestyle change is another motivational way to work on you New You. Exercise, mindfulness, less stress, more sleep are all interconnected and together with the clean food they work to keep you living healthier. A nice side effect is that you look great for it too!
- Natural ways to think about also includes trying to limit your miles between the source of food to the plate. Do you have a garden? Grow some vegetables, strawberries, and herbs! Even a window sill can work for that. Get into farmers markets and local small shops that know where their foods come from. The overall effect is that you know more about what is in your food and make an active choice to contribute to your own health – and the environment too.
Clean Food Revolution: Are You In?
Clean food is about knowing what you eat and why you choose to eat it. It is a luxury that we can choose, as many people on earth do not have enough food for the day. Yet, in the western world, we suffer from more diseases than ever which are born from food. You are what you eat, and if you put two and two together, a cleaner way of eating makes sense.
The natural health food movement is not a revolution, it is a reaction. Education is under way. Governments, public figures, celebrities and health magazines are trying to create a bigger understanding so that – you can I – can link what we eat with how we feel.
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The GOODista promotes healthy lifestyle changes that you can do. This is one change that comes with only good side effects: health, weight loss, mood improvement, better sleep, regularity (yes, toilet visits!), and most of all you feel (and look) great from it.
I am in! Are you?
Tip: Check out the next post in clean eating on The GOODista about why changing from white toast to whole grain can be hard, and how to start step by step.
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Recommended and Related:
- What Is Clean Eating – myfrugaladventures.com
- Clean Eating and Weight Loss – The Science of Eating
- Eat Clean Review – WebMD
- How To Start Your Herb Garden – sproutabl.com
- You Are What You Eat Not What You Avoid – thegoodista.com and makeyourbodywork.com
- Clean Eating 101: Change Your Body the Healthy Way – skinnymom.com
- Inspiration for You from Amazon:
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