Meal-prepped vegetables ()
Each new year brings a plethora of resolutions. From reading more books to hitting the gym more frequently, there is no end of ways to improve your life for 2023. Consider trying clean eating for weight loss or just to feel better!
According to healthline.com, clean eating “focuses on consuming whole foods that are minimally processed and as close to their natural form as possible.” Forget the Little Debbie snacks and think about a colorful array of fruits and veggies! One of the main things to focus on when clean eating is cutting out added sugar from your food. Extra sugar can sneak up on you in beverages too. Take a large white chocolate mocha from Starbucks for example - there are approximately 18 teaspoons of sugar in that drink alone! As awful as cutting sugar sounds, your body will thank you. Switch out your daily mocha for natural green tea and pat yourself on the back for making a better decision for the day!
Which foods are the healthiest in the grocery store? An easy way (though not foolproof) method to pick out the most nutritious foods is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Think of an average layout. You’ll get your fruits and veggies, proteins and dairy products, all without going down a single chip aisle. Avoid temptation and just stay away from the treat aisles altogether! Even better than going to the grocery store is hitting up the local farmer’s market, where you can support the community and learn just where your food came from.
Perhaps the most painful and hardest habit to ditch when you want to eat clean is the carbs. White rice, bread and that delicious pasta that calls your name just isn’t cutting it. Not to say that you can’t have any, just try to keep the carbs low and get them from another source, like sweet potatoes. When you go out to eat, cutting carbs can be the most difficult. Switch that breadbasket for a salad and remind yourself that the results will be worth it!
The important thing to remember when you embark on a clean eating journey is that this is not a diet. It is a sustainable way to feed your body the nutrients it needs by cutting out processed foods as frequently as you can. Weight loss can be a positive side effect, but don’t take it too far. You still need to eat and don’t forget to indulge from time to time! Try slowly incorporating these changes into your eating habits and in no time you’ll be on your way to a healthier lifestyle!
