Where to start with Clean Eating

I get this question a bunch.  'I want to start eating healthy and 'clean', but what does that mean and how do I start?  What do I buy?  What do I cut out?  Ok here goes.  All those questions answered! :)

Clean eating essentially means eating whole, natural, unprocessed foods.  If it has a shelf life, it's not clean.  If you cannot pronounce any of the ingredients, or if the ingredients include numbers attached at the end of really long scientific sounding words, it's not clean.  If it's loaded with sugar, it's not clean.  If it comes in a wrapper and a box, it is not clean.  If it is fried, it is not clean. 

     Clean eating embraces whole grains, sprouted grains and complex carbs.  Clean eating avoids starchy, sugar laden, insulin spiking carbs.  It encourages lean proteins from poultry, fish, beef, bison, etc.  Clean eating fuels your body and revs your metabolism.  It helps to protect the body from free radicals in our environment.  It lowers our risk for many diseases.  It descreases inflammation.  It improves mood, hair, nails and skin.  It brings with it better, deeper sleep.  Junk food, however, does pretty much the exact opposite.  Foods such as classic fast food, potato chips, fried foods, sauces, creamy dressings, gourmet coffees, cake type foods like honey buns, donuts, cupcakes, pies, etc, WILL make you fat, will bring on depression, will cause headaches and migraines, diarhhea, insomnia, acne, and a gazillion other not so great sounding things including WAY upping your chances for diseases like Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, back pain, leg pain, knee pain--- is any of this sounding fun yet?  I didn't think so. 

     With all this stuff being fact, it makes me beg the question, why would anyone want to eat that type of diet!?!?  The Standard American Diet (or the SAD diet) is primarily driven by one thing:  An addiction to sugar.  It's in EVERYTHING that is found in the SAD diet.  Nearly EVERYTHING.  It's hidden in things you wouldn't suspect.  It's masked by labels that read 'Reduced Calorie' and 'Fat Free.'

Sugar is added to everything to give it flavor.  However, it's nutritionally dead, much like everything else in the SAD diet.  The physical side effects of the SAD diet (headaches, acne, insomnia, depression, etc) are a direct result of your body being starved of the proper nutrients for optimum functioning.  You mean someone can be overweight, but their body is essentially starving?!  YES!!! And it's trying desperately to reach out to you and tell you.  Stop stuffing your body with the shitty food, and feed it something it can USE! 

Here's the deal with clean eating, fitness and fat loss.  These all 3 go hand in hand.  You cannot achieve your fitness goals, nor fat loss goals without clean eating.  There is simply no way around it.  Our bodies were made to consume and run on natural foods, not chemically processed junk.  The reaction many of these chemical laden foods have on our bodies and our blood sugar causes insulin and other hormone spikes, which cause the body to retain fat.  Even when exercising.  If you go to the gym 2 hours after having a Big Mac and extra value fries, don't fool yourself into thinking the 30 minutes you did on the elliptical while watching tv or reading a book burnt any of it off.
 It didn't.  You cannot out-train a poor diet.  Sure, there are freaks of nature out there, men and women, who can eat junk non-stop and not gain an ounce.  I'm not talking about them.  I'm talking about the average person.

I'm also not saying there are not products on the market that will deliver a quickdepression and insomnia and digestive issues?  Did you know that healthy foods improve mood? Stop looking at processed food as what you have to 'give up'.  I mean, come on, that's like fighting for a boyfriend who cheated on you non-stop, smacked you around and ran over your cat.  What's the point of holding on it it?  Is that what you really want??  NO!!

5 or 10 pound drop, but those pounds are not body fat pounds, they are simply water retention pounds.  As soon as you stop taking the product and resume your habits, the weight will come right back, and often times with an additional few pounds due to going overboard after being deprived.  This type of dieting is a vicious cycle and it chips away at your self worth and confidence.  The diet industry sets people up for failure from the very get-go.  They do not want you to lose weight and keep it off.  What would happen to their customer base if all their products delivered long standing results?  They want you to fail so that each time, you come back a little more desperate, a little more broken and a little more willing to spend a little more money.  Stop the madness!!!!  Get MAD at these companies for making shitty food that's destroying our bodies and our spirits.  Did you know consuming a diet based on processed food is factuallylinked to

Change Your Point of View
Like I said, look at processed food like a bad boyfriend or girlfriend and you're breaking up with them.  It's done nothing but make you feel tired and moody, it's made you overweight and self-conscious.  It's got your digestive tract all out of whack to the point that you've thought a few times there may be something wrong with you.  (Yup, I'll say it.  BMs are like a window into the condition of your gut.  Now I'm no doctor, but I would bet that if you follow the SAD diet and you're going multiple times a day and experience cramping, you likely do not have IBS.  You are likely suffering from 'shitty diet syndrome'. That's what the SAD diet does to the gut.  Turns it upside down.  I've read stories of people going as far as taking in poo samples to their doctor thinking something was seriously wrong with them, when all along all they needed was a diet high in fiber and lean protein, low in refined sugar and starchy carbs.  Voila!  After a couple weeks of clean eating, all the pain, bloat and cramping.....gone!  Magic! 

Processed food lies to you by saying 'I'm fat-free!!' but leaves out that it's loaded with 16g of fat-storing, refined sugar.  Liars!  All liars!  BREAK UP with processed food!  Just like how ending a bad relationship can be difficult and out of your comfort zone and scary and inconvenient, you reach a point afterward where you 'come into the light' and see how much better your life has become
without 'that thing' that was holding you back.  I PROMISE this will happen when you end your affair with the SAD diet. 

Where to Start
Baby steps.  Unlike breaking up with a crappy person, a clean cut break from junk food isn't the best way to start.  You want to make small changes at a time.  If you try to change too much too quickly, you will set yourself up for failure by making yourself feel 'deprived'.  Give yourself a week or two to get adjusted to each change and to make the change habitual.  If you are completely new to clean eating, try making a few of the following swaps at a rate that is comfortable for you (1 change a week, etc).

• Swap white rice for brown rice
• Swap regular pasta for whole wheat or whole grain pasta
• Swap french fries with homemade baked sweet potato fries
• Swap sour cream for Greek yogurt
• Swap pre-made fruit yogurts for plain Greek yogurt mixed with 1tbsp low sugar preserves
• Swap potator chips and pretzels for homemade Kale chips
• Swap sandwiches for salads w grilled chicken/fish, or use Ezekiel Sprouted grain flourless bread
• Swap flour tortillas/wraps for Ezekiel sprouted grain flourless tortillas (freezer section)
• Swap processed sugary cereal for plain oatmeal w/ fresh fruit and splenda/stevia, a protein shake, or scrambled eggs/egg whites
• Swap sodas/Sweet Tea for water w/lemon, Mio sport flavor drops or crystal light
• Swap ground beef for 97-99% lean ground turkey or chicken, salmon or white fish like haddock, cod, tilapia, flounder, shrimp, tuna
• Swap a mid-day bag of chips snack for an apple w almond butter, or red/green pepper/cuke sticks with hummus
• Swap snack machine candy bars/chips for the bag of nuts
• Swap dairy milk with unsweetened almond milk for things like oatmeal, protein shakes, etc and when baking.
• Use extra virgin olive oil (PAM olive oil spray is great) or coconut oil for sauteing instead of vegetable oil.  No more deep frying!

Those are just a few suggestions on things you can start out with.  Once you get comfortable and habitual with those, then you can add in some more.  Looking at the changes in a positive way help them to stick, as well.  "Doing this is a step down the road to a better life.  This small step will play a role in being able to run and play with my kids."  "Making these changes are playing a role in wearing a bikini next summer for the first time in my life."  "These swaps are opening the path to the confident and happy person I have always wanted to be."

Another thing is giving yourself TIME.  Time and patience are SO critical.  Living in a world of instant gratification, it can be hard.  Believe me, I know.  I have stood in front of the mirror after weeks and hours of workouts and pinched fat that was seemingly stuck to me.  Wondering if it was working.  Wondering if my metabolism was screwed up.  Wondering if I would ever get the weight off.  Wondering if I was doing something wrong.  I wasn't.  I was just having a moment of wanting instant results.  Take a deep breath and trust the process.  I can't say it enough.  If you are making the changes and putting in the effort, you must trust the process.

Don't let your brain talk you out of it.  The brain can be a real a-hole sometimes.  It will try to make you quit WAY before your body is ready.  It doesn't like to be uncomfortable and it will try it's best to derail your success because of it.  Your brain played a big role in putting that weight on, so get mad at it, too. Tell your brain to SHUT UP and it's NOT going to keep you down or make you believe your body or situation is different from all the others who have transformed themselves.  NONSENSE!  It WILL work for you!  Read success stories of others who have similar - or even more chaotic situations that your own.  Trust me, they are out there.  I have even linked some of them for you!  The people and stories linked below are proof that you can take control of your life and body at any age and any weight.  You CAN have the body and confidence you've always wanted and maintain your family, work and personal life all at the same time.  Don't accept anything less for yourselves!!!  You are ALL beautiful and you ALL deserve to see what you're really made of!! Stay strong and keep pressing on!! xoxo

Jennifer Nicole Lee - average overweight new mom turned Oxygen fitness model. LOVE HER!

Tosca Reno -  Creator of the Eat Clean Diet books, she had a major life makeover in her 40s.  She's amazingly inspiring!

Kim Sanders - This mom of 2 lost over 100lbs and is competing in the WBFF this year to hopefully become a pro!  So inspiring!
Beachbody Success Stories - I owe so much to beachbody programs!  They are what ignited my fitness spark!  I learned how to lift through P90X to where I felt comfortable enough going into a gym and hitting the free weights.  I also love TurboJam, TurboFire and Brazil Butt Lift.  They ALL work.  (shameless plug, I am a beachbody coach.  I don't blast it bc I don't want it to seem like I am pushing fitness products on anyone.  I just want people to change their habits to a healthy lifestyle, I don't care how! :o)  If you would like one of the programs or supplements, send me a personal message at Cleanphysique@gmail.com and I can hook you up. ;o) 

I hope this post helps some on where to start with clean eating and living a better life.  You deserve to see the potential your body has and your loved ones deserve to have you around as long as possible! :)  Feel free to message me anytime with questions, comments, feedback, or just to say hello!