New to clean eating? If you are brand new to the clean eating way, I have put together a few tips to help you start. They’ll help you properly plan for a clean eating lifestyle and how to transition into the lifestyle full time properly. Beginning any new lifestyle change can be challenging if you are not prepared. I have been eating clean for over 20 years now, so here are some of my tips for getting started.
Track Your Current Eating
Before you begin to transition to a clean eating diet, it can be beneficial to take stock of what you currently eat. This helps because you’ll know what foods you now eat that are allowed on the clean eating diet, but also in what areas you struggle with the most. If you find that cheese is included in about every meal, that should be the last to go. You might be better off with a more gradual transition, switching just one meal or snack a day at a time until eventually you eat all meals cleanly and reduce your cheese unless it comes from grass-fed cows. If you already eat a good amount of food allowed in the clean eating lifestyle, you can probably transition to it a bit faster.
I’ll admit, when I was first introduced to clean eating, I went cold turkey, and to be honest with you, I think I made it harder on myself than it needed to be.
Easing into a clean eating lifestyle will also reduce any detox type of symptoms you might experience during the transition.
Begin Gathering Recipes
Once you know what you can and can’t eat on a clean eating diet, you should start compiling recipes. Check online sites like Pinterest and Google “clean healthy easy recipes” for ideas, subscribe to my newsletter, or follow me on social media, buy cookbooks to keep at home, or get digital copies for your tablet and/or smartphone.
You can also just check recipe sites and pay close attention to their titles and tags, as that will let you know if it is approved for a clean eating diet or not.
Another good source for finding clean eating recipes is by checking out blogs specifically dedicated to clean eating. Also, keep in mind that while there are some differences, keto and Paleo diets are pretty close, so check out blogs for those diets as well.
Start Replacing White Refined Carbs
This is an excellent way to begin making the transition to a clean eating lifestyle, since it is only a small change but makes a drastic difference. With clean eating, you can have some complex carbs, but you want to try and reduce your refined carbs as much as possible.
To do this, begin by replacing all white bread, white rice, and white flour with whole wheat versions. For bread, go with a sprouted or gluten-free tortilla, choose brown rice or quinoa instead of white rice, and to reduce white flour, choose whole wheat pasta or brown rice pasta.
Transitioning to a clean eating lifestyle will take some adjusting, but with these quick tips, you’ll find yourself prepared for when you fully convert.
Schedule a FREE discovery call, and we can get you started on the right foot. https://scheduleappointmentnow.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?appointmentType=3710685
RECIPE
GRILLED LEMON CHICKEN SALAD
Ingredients:
- 4 Chicken breasts, boneless
- 2 Lemons
- 1 ½ Tablespoons oregano
- 1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil (with Chicken mixture)
- 2 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil (for cooking)
- 8 ounces asparagus, chopped 2-inch pieces
- 8 Green onions, chopped 2-inch pieces
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (with asparagus)
- 1 ½ Tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 Cup Arugula
Directions:
- To a large bowl, add the chicken, zest, and juice of 2 lemons, oregano, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix around to coat the chicken.
- Heat olive oil in a grill pan on medium-high. Cook chicken for five minutes on each side or until done.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, cook the asparagus and green onions for 4 minutes or until tender.
- To a large bowl, add the asparagus, green onions, arugula, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Toss until well coated and mixed.
- Slice the chicken and add on top of the arugula mixture.
To Your Health,
Patti
