Everyone wants to look and feel better. However, having a healthy life cannot be maintained with any diet, because a diet by definition is temporary. To change for good, you need to change for good. This is what clean eating is all about. Unlike a diet, clean eating is a lifestyle. It proposes a holistic, permanent change to your eating habits and your activity. So, how does one become an acolyte in the church of clean eating? Read on below!

Take In Whole Foods, Avoid Processed Ones

The main tenant of clean eating is to closely monitor what you put in your body. The main way to accomplish this is simple: eat less processed foods and eat more whole, unprocessed foods. What this means is largely avoiding packaged foods, though some foods like canned fish can be part of a healthy eating pattern. You want to fill your diet with lots of fruit, veggies, and legumes. Also, don’t forget that whole grains are also a key component. So that means chickpeas, beans, lentils and quinoa are all on the menu as well!

Include Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat at Every Meal

Do you know the best thing about clean eating? If you are eating clean, you can get away with eating more food, typically as much as you want. That said, you should aim to eat meals that are balanced. This means including proteins, “good” carbs, and “good” fats at every meal. An easy way to add protein to any dish is to add some canned salmon. Eating in this balanced way will ensure that you are getting all essential nutrition and will help you feel properly satisfied after eating. 

Watch Out for Additives

Modern society has made it easy to fall into the trap of eating crappy, processed foods. Lots of foods, like Ketchup, contain additives such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup. To avoid these pitfalls, get used to reading labels to find out the ingredients and nutrition information. Also, most of the food on the clean eating diet shouldn’t have many ingredients at all.

Don’t Drink Calories

Drinking calories is an easy way to get empty, useless calories. To avoid this issue, pass up on pop and fruit juice. Also, skip alcohol as much as possible. Drink lots of water. Don’t like water? Drink black coffee or drink tea. Another good substitution is to drink sparkling water. By saving calories for food, you are ensuring that you are getting proper nutrition and not empty calories.

Get Moving

As we said earlier, clean eating is a lifestyle. That means not only eating well, but making activity party of your life. Find opportunities to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go on hikes with friends instead of going to a restaurant. Buy a dog and get your step count up! Additionally, building bulk muscle mass by lifting heavy weight is the most effective way to passively burn calories. That can seem overwhelming for a beginner, so we recommend finding a community to learn how to lift when starting out.

Follow these points and you will be on your way to looking and feeling better in no time!