What is Clean Eating?
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The term "clean eating" is a popular term which is broadly used in fitness and health especially in weight loss programs. Nutrition and fitness experts believe that this way of eating is the most effective ways to stay healthy and to lose weight. Its easy to tell people to shift their lifestyle to practice clean eating diet. But...how far is their understanding on the clean eating concept?
So, what does clean eating means, anyway?
There is no exact definition for the term. The basic concept of clean eating is to consume natural foods that is processed the least, in order to preserve its essential nutrition without the addition of preservative and seasoning. But it doesn't mean to eat raw food, even though some of the foods are best to be consumed raw, such as fruits and certain vegetables such as salad, broccoli and tomato.
Clean eating isn't a diet, it is simply a healthier way of consuming food. Clean eating is not specific and does not falls under Atkin's Diet, a popular protein-based and low carbohydrate diet, or a Paleo Diet, known as a caveman diet which allows you to only eat foods that can only hunted or gathered and any other types of diets.
Clean foods characteristics are generally real food, wholesome, simple with basic ingredients, minimally processed and food without any additives and food coloring.
People who eat clean foods avoid processed foods which are made in factory at all cost. Lets dive out what are the type of clean foods and their health benefits.
5 ways of clean eating are:
Pick whole grain and natural foods
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The concept of clean eating is to consume food that is closest to its natural form. Choose fresh foods and avoid those that are canned, packaged and bagged. Canned foods such as baked bean, sardines and chicken curry are loaded with preservatives and additives. Other highly processed foods such as sausage and ham are higher in calories. So, the next time you wanna do a barbecue party, be sure to choose only fresh meat instead of meatball and sausage.
If you want additional fiber for your colon health, pick whole grain for your carbs such as brown rice, wholewheat bread and oatmeal. Refined carbs such as white rice and all purpose flour lose nutrients and had their hull, bran layer and cereal germ removed during the refined process. By adding more fiber in your diet, not only is to prevent colon cancer, studies have shown that dietary rich in fiber may help to reduce the occurrence of Type 2 diabetes. This is due to the lower level of glycemic index (GI) of whole grain if compared to refined carbs, which has higher GI.
Avoid excessive sugar and salt
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There's nothing wrong with a little sweet and salty, right? But how much is actually the daily requirement? According to NHS, the daily requirement of sugar and salt for adult is not more that 90gm or 6 teaspoon whereas for salt is no more than 6gm or less than a teaspoon a day. Common examples of food loaded with sugar and salt are dairy products, some baked goods, sauce and salad dressing, fruit juice, soda drink, energy drink, syrup and honey. Processed foods such as bacon, sausage, potato chips, canned food and salted nut are packed with sodium. Be sure to read the nutrition label. Look for words such as fructose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, glucose and galactose in the label. Whereas for salt content, look for the word sodium. All those are different types of sugar. Foods which have higher sugar and salt level have lesser nutrients and are loaded in calories.
If you wish to indulge any sweet tooth, opt for yogurt parfait, unsweetened chocolate dipped strawberry, fruit smoothie and so on.
Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables
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The easiest and perhaps the cheapest way to go for a healthier diet is to load your tummy with a lot of fruits and vegetables. It's best to look for the organic and non GMO (genetically modified) one, which are pesticides free and no added chemicals. Aim to consume at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, depends on your physical activity level.
Watch out for artificial ingredients
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Food coloring, sugar substitute and food flavoring are made in laboratory to mimic the original food and flavor. To eat cleans means to consume only natural food. Again, be sure to check the food label for any trace of artificial ingredient used.
Look for lean protein
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If you are meat lovers, the best option to eat clean is to opt for lean meat which has no skin and saturated fat. By taking only lean meat, you can cut back your calorie intake and reduce the risk of coronary artery disease.
Another good protein sources are egg, beans, nuts and lentils.
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