Tips for Transitioning to a Clean Eating Diet
If you are brand new to the clean eating diet, the following tips will help. They help you properly plan for a clean eating lifestyle and figure out how to properly transition into the lifestyle full time. Track Your Current Diet Before you begin to transition to a clean eating diet, it can be really helpful to take stock of what you currently eat. This helps because you know what foods you currently eat that are allowed on the clean eating diet, but also in what areas you struggle with the most. If you find that eating cheese is 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 foods allows in the clean eating lifestyle, you can probably transition to it a bit faster. 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 for ideas, buy cookbooks to keep at home, or get digital copies for your tablet and 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 by a clean eating diet or not. Another good place 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 a good 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 whole grain bread, choose brown rice or quinoa instead of white rice, and to reduce white flour, choose whole wheat pasta or brown rice pasta.
How to Eat Out With Clean Eating
The good thing about clean eating is that it isn’t difficult to eat out with this particular diet. It is actually very simple to do, no matter what restaurant you go to, as long as you know keep to the basic clean eating rules. Here are some tips to follow when you want to eat out and stick to your clean eating lifestyle. Make Your Choices Simple When you are eating out, don’t make it complicated and choose one of the newest skillet meals or something that requires analyzing every single piece of the meal puzzle. Instead, just go simple, especially when you are new to the clean eating diet. This might mean simply ordering from the healthy part of the menu, like getting grilled chicken with steamed vegetables, the pan-seared salmon with brown rice, or just a salad. These are simple, easy meals you know most likely include ingredients you can have while on the clean eating diet. Look For Steak or Seafood Restaurants As far as the type of restaurant goes, steak and seafood should be at the top of your list. While it is true you can find clean eating-approved meals just about anywhere, it is simpler when you don’t need to do a lot of substitutions or change half of what the meal is supposed to be. Going to a steak and/or seafood restaurant is easy to order. Steak restaurants already have steak as the main component for most of their dishes, and it is probably high-quality steak as opposed to ordering steak from a café or diner. With seafood restaurants, go for anything grilled or that is not breaded and fried, and you should be okay. Be Smart About Fast Food There are going to be some times when you need to choose food from a fast food restaurant. This is definitely not ideal, but it also doesn’t have to make or break the diet. Try to get a side salad if you can, but think about the type of dressing you choose, or use no dressing at all. With other menu items, do away with the bun or bread, and try to get a grilled chicken sandwich ‘protein style’. Most fast food restaurants will give you the grilled chicken sandwich with all the veggies, but no bun. Many of them wrap it in a big lettuce leaf. When in Doubt, Choose a Salad There are going to be times when you just can’t make a decision, based on the type of restaurant it is. In this case, just try to order a salad with steak, seafood, or grilled chicken. Don’t use the dressing and get cheese on the side so you can skip it, then ask for oil and vinegar instead of dressing.
