Tips To A Clean Eating Lifestyle

I have had a lot of questions about eating clean and what it is, so I thought with the new year I would share my passion with you guys!  

It all started when my middle son was around 3 years old and I was in that gym…..”eating healthy” rut.  I worked out probably 4-5 days week consistently and for the most part ate “healthy” so I thought, and I wasn’t seeing the change I wanted to see.

I started hearing about “clean eating” and got very curious.  After doing some research about food ingredients and reading food labels…….WOW y’all!  I was shocked when I would pick up an item from the grocery store and read the ingredients.  I had no clue what any of the words meant or how to pronounce them.  For example, you would think Almond Milk would be “healthy” but the ingredients…..I had no clue if it even had almonds in it?!  (I switched to @Malkorganics ). The ingredients are almonds, water and Himalayan salt.  You can’t beat that!  Research clean eating and you will find all sorts of information that is helpful.  These are some of the benefits I found from reading and my own personal experience.

Benefits of Clean Eating

• more energy
• speeds up metabolism
• helps fight chronic disease 
• supports healthy cell function
• supports long-term health
• supports mental health
• helps maintain weight loss

Clean eating is getting rid of the processed foods that can over take our lives.  It is cleaning up the store bought items we buy and eating real and fresh foods.  Clean eating is also taking out all the chemicals and additives that are thrown into our foods as much as we can.

CLEAN EATING TIPS

1. Pantry clean out – Toss any processed foods or store bought pantry items with added chemicals and ingredients.  Also, check your seasonings.  You would be surprised that some seasonings have added sugar.
2. Read ALL Labels – When buying products off the shelf, it is so important to read labels.  Once you get the hang of it, you will start knowing what brands focus on more of a clean product compared to those that don’t.
3. Fridge – Do the same thing for your fridge.  Read the labels for your mustard, pickles, mayo, almond milk, etc….  Again, you will be surprised.  This doesn’t mean you have to give all these products up, there is just a better version out there.
4. Drinks – WATER is your best friend.  Drinking plenty of water is key to living a healthy lifestyle.  It has soooo many benefits.
5. NO processed foods – this can be huge but so beneficial.  Try getting rid of the ones that have zero nutritional value at first.
6. NO Sugar/Added Sugar – again checking labels for added sugar.  A lot of our everyday items have added sugar. (Ex. canned tomatoes & chicken broth)
7. Organic – I generally buy organic products when I can.  Especially in my produce selections.
8. Additive Free Meats – If you eat meat, focus on meats without additives, hormones, chemicals etc..(this all goes back to reading your labels)
9. REAL food – eating REAL food

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Once we made this life-style change, I noticed a huge change in myself.  I had more energy and felt great!  My husband even likes it too!  He dropped over 10 pounds when we first started this change.

Chasing 3 kids around, I want to teach them how to eat healthy and how to make better choices.  I have so much more energy and my mental game is clear when I am clean eating.  It is a night and day difference for me!  My body is sluggish and tired when I am eating processed foods.

Fast forward to now…… my middle son is 5 1/2 now, and I have a 15 month old.  I have had ups and downs where clean eating slipped off to the side, but this also has given me more evidence that clean eating works.  When I let processed foods back in, after a week or so my body becomes more sluggish, I am so tired and I crave sugary & processed foods.

With the new year, I am getting back to my clean ways.  I am focusing on my health.  I have a tendancy to slack off during the holidays…..so now its time to get serious again. :). If you follow me on Instagram stories, I share a lot of daily recipes and ideas to help you clean eat.  And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for emailed recipes! 🙂

If this is something you are interested in my tip would be to start small.  Do a fridge and pantry clean out first!  The biggest thing I would do is start reading all labels.  If there is a weird name, look it up and see what it actually is.   Then decide what items you want to start replacing and built from there.

Then grab a few easy recipes that you want to try out for the week, (Pinterest has tons) and get started.  I think you will be surprised how easy it is to clean up your diet.  You aren’t starving yourself at all, and you can make the choice as to what goes into your body and how strict you want to be!  And yes, you can even have a cheat meal if you want to!

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So, with all this being said to sum up what clean eating is in our house……

1. Reading Labels
2. No processed foods
3. Chemical free products
4. Organic produce when available (berries, peppers, any produce that you eat the skin)
5. Hormone-free meats
6. No sugar & no added sugar
7. Water with lemon is my drink of choice (my kids drink a lot of water, Matt’s OJ, and Milk)

Clean eating is my personal preference.  From experience, it gives me tons of energy, I love the way I look and feel when I am eating clean.  I hope if you are searching for a change, then this will inspire you to be a healthier you and try something new.  I am not a nutritionist or doctor, but love to share things that work for me with all of you.  This is why my life runs on clean. 😉

XO, Ja’Net

Disclaimer: Thank you for reading about what I love.  All opinions are my own.