Clean Eating is Key

For many of you, food is a way to comfort yourself, comfort your family, and has become something that rests on the back burner.  We go to the grocery stores and markets and we stroll up and down every isle.  Convenience foods in the frozen, canned, and packages has somehow taken over our pantry because let's face it. we are busy people and when we or our family is hungry something that is ready to eat in less than 5 minutes is more ideal than having to prepare something that could take 30 mins or more before we get to eat it.  The problem with this is that we have begun to count on this convenience as a way of life.  We all see the packages, vitamins added, low-fat, x amount of calories, etc etc.  But have we stopped to read the labels, unless it has ingredients we can pronounce or recognize it is full of man made chemicals trying to make up the nutrition we miss from whole foods. In turn continually eating this food is making us unhealthy, overweight, and sick.

There is an easier way. Clean eating. 
There are simple rules, and it won't break the bank.

1. Shop the outside isles first, the produce, the bakery, the meats, dairy and eggs. 
2. Buy food that has one ingredient
3.Stock your pantry with fresh produce, whole grains, and lean meats and other protein items like beans and quinoa. (especially if you choose a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle)
4. Stay away from processed foods, that includes deli meats and juices that say drink or punch. (full of sugar)
5.Stay away from sugars, white breads, white pastas, white rices.
6. Drink your water. You should be drinking 2-3 litres a day!
7. Plan your meals
8. Eat 5-6 times a day, mini meals. Breakfast, morning snack, Lunch, afternoon snack, Dinner, and if needed an evening snack.
9. Combine a protein with a complex carbohydrate at every meal.
10. Adhere to portion sizes.
11. Have a cheat meal once a week (if you desire) to help with cravings and as a reward for your week of clean eating.

For a great book, I recommend Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet-Recharged. This will give you tons of information on how to transform your eating habits and the tools needed to succeed.

When you begin to eat clean you not only will lose weight if you need to , gain weight if you need to, but you will be healthier and have much more energy. That 3 o'clock slump will be a thing of the past.

Our bodies are our temples let's treat them that way and put them into the best shape ever.  We have an obesity epidemic in this world and we need to change it, not only for ourselves but for our children as well.

Stay tuned, I will give a sample meal plan, and prove how easy it is to eat clean and stay healthy!!!