Top Five Tips for Eating Clean

By Tosca Reno

Eating Clean® is a lifestyle where you learn (or relearn) the basics of how to feed yourself, and in so doing, manage weight and wellness holistically. Eat clean, whole, nutrient dense, minimally processed, well-sourced, properly prepared foods and make a dramatic return to your best health.Eating Clean® means eating loads of plants, drinking plenty of water, and firing up your metabolism by eating healthy fats and protein.

But there is more. Here are five tips that will put you on the fast track to wellness.

• STRIKE SUGAR
• UNDERSTAND MACRONUTRIENTS
• PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
• MOVE 30 MINUTES DAILY
• EAT SEVERAL SMALLER MEALS SPACED 2-3 HOURS APART

Start with my four week Strike Sugar program.I believe no wellness progress can be made unless we detoxify the body of “non-food” toxins, and toxins like sugar.The benefits of starting here are numerous; increased energy levels, a feeling of overall well-being, less inflammation, more consistent moods, cravings disappear, less depression, greater mental clarity, and so much more.Three to five pounds of weight loss in a week isn’t unusual.People have even healed themselves of Type 2 diabetes using this program.The benefits of removing refined and processed sugars from your diet are so numerous and diverse it just makes sense to start by Striking Sugar first.

Eating Clean® involves eating macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fats – at every meal. Protein is a building block of health.Most women are undernourished in protein and this doesn’t serve them well, especially in the hormone department. Fat is not the evil food we have been encouraged to believe it is.Instead, think of fat as your satiation food and one that keeps the metabolism firing at its highest, most efficient rate. Carbohydrates come in many forms: “green carbs” from leafy greens and other vegetables; fruit carbs; grain carbs; dairy carbs. The ratio – how it should look on your plate – should be 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs. Within that 40%, eat about 20% leafy greens and other vegetables, 10% fruits, and 10% grains. But, I have to put this out there: if grains don’t suit you well, don’t eat them!

We have lost touch with what we know in our DNA to be true. That’s left us susceptible to being seduced into believing just about anything about wellness, weight loss, and more. Too easily we believe, “This protein bar will give me energy”instead of eating good solid, clean food.However, we have been born with correct instincts for taking care of ourselves. The body is a consummate healer if we would only support it. Be mindful about what you are eating and how you are supporting your own self care.

The Eating Clean® lifestyle involves movement.We now have scientific data to prove the value of exercise, not just for the physical body but also the mind. This changes the usual approach to physical exercise, from feeling like punishment to enjoying it as a privilege.

Where we once thought exercise was about creating a lean, beautiful physique, and to a point it is, exercise also develops and maintains a healthy, well functioning brain.

“At every level, from the microcellular to the psychological, exercise not only wards off the ill effects of chronic stress; it can also reverse them.”

“Exercise is as effective as certain medications for treating anxiety and depression.”

“One of the prominent features of exercise, which is sometimes not appreciated in studies, is an improvement in the rate of learning,”

Dr. John Ratey, author of Spark, shares that when we exercise at a maximum heart rate of 65%, or greater, for at least 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week, we protect and enhance our cognitive function while fighting depression, anxiety and stress. Movement truly is a privilege.

Translation: Eat smaller portions at regular intervals to keep the metabolic furnace burning most efficiently.When we skip meals, we interfere with the pace of the burn.Having a small meal based on combining macronutrients – protein, complex carbs, and fats – at regular intervals is the best way to not only flood the body with nutrients to keep it fit and healthy, but lean too.

BONUS TIP:Learn more about nutrition to become an expert in your own kitchen and in your coaching practice.Sign up for canfitpro’s Eat-Clean Foundations and Eat Clean for Wellness online courses, where you will find accredited information and practical knowledge to transform your life.

Wellness is built one healthy habit at a time.Choose one, some, or all of these tips to help you achieve a state of optimal wellness.

Bio

A fitness model, motivational speaker, and Oxygen and Clean Eating columnist, Tosca is the best-selling author of “Your Best Body Now, The Eat-Clean Diet® series,” and star of her own reality TV show, and The Start Here Diet. At 40, she transformed her overweight and unfulfilled self into a strong, fit woman by eating clean. For over a decade she’s been helping people lose weight and get healthy with her no-nonsense, friendly, compassionate approach. Connect with Tosca on social media – @toscareno