The clean eating trend is growing as people realize the benefits of changing not just their diet, but also their lifestyle to cut out processed foods and buy foods directly from the source. Clean eating changes the way you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat. It encourages altering your diet so that you eat fresh produce and whole grains that are packed full of nutrients, as well as other foods that contain good fats to improve overall health. This lifestyle has many health benefits, including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, many types of cancers, and other medical problems.
Being aware of the journey your food takes to make it to your plate cuts out additives, filler, and other unnecessary products. Follow these ten clean eating do’s to reap the benefits of a trend that’s sure to stay.
1. No Processed Foods
It’s quite easy to learn about the clean eating lifestyle, but following it can be difficult and a major shock (a good one) to your body. One of the main foundations of clean eating is cutting out and avoiding processed foods. Doing so will prevent the consumption of unhealthy and sometimes very harmful additives. Processed foods are hard on your body and have been connected to serious health complications, including cardiovascular disease and obesity. They can contain so many bad ingredients that are difficult on your liver and for you to digest, and those harmful ingredients and additives are often then stored in the body.
Reading the ingredient list and nutritional information on the side of pre-made, packaged, and processed foods can be a real wake up call if you haven’t read it before. Processed foods can have an alarming amount of sodium, fat and sugar. To make it worse, the serving size is often only half or less of what you’d regularly eat. Next time you’re shopping, skip processed foods to eat clean and greatly improve your health.
