Clean Eating: The Basics

For the next few weeks, you will be "cleaning up" your diet. The goal of this is to minimize your intake of inflammation-causing foods and maximize your intake of nutrient rich foods.

The basic guidelines are to get your nutrients from whole, real food - Vegetables, Fruits, Clean Protein, Nuts, Seeds, Some Whole Grains - while minimizing processed, refined, and deep fried foods.

Vegetables

The bulk of your vegetables should be fresh - not canned.
Frozen vegetables are also good to include and are easy to prepare.
Eat a mixed of cooked and raw.
Eat a variety of colors.
Strive for including 1 or more vegetables at every meal.
Flavor with fresh herbs and spices. They add delicious flavor, and are packed with powerful nutrients.
Get a cookbook that you like for ideas on varieties and prep tips.
Organic is ideal but not necessary for everything - certain vegetables are very high in pesticides and should as much as possible be consumed organically: celery, sweet bell peppers, leafy greens (spinach, kale, collard greens, lettuce), green beans, potatoes.

Fruits

Berries are excellent - you can easily buy organic ones frozen. You can let them defrost and eat them straight, mix them with plain organic yogurt, mix them in a shake, and any other way you can think of.
Organic is ideal but not necessary for everything - certain fruits are very high in pesticides and should as much as possible be consumed organically peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, imported grapes (i.e., from Chile).

Clean Protein

Remember, you don't want to be eating a stressed animal.
If eating red meat, it should be grass-fed and a low fat variety. You can get this at most health food stores or call around to butchers in your area. You should limit red meat to 1-2 times per week.
Poultry (turkey and chicken) should be free range and organic. Cold cuts should be free of nitrates. Applegate Farms is a good cold cut brand.
Fish: avoid tuna - has a lot of Mercury. Wild salmon is a great choice - can be fresh, frozen or in a can. Make sure Salmon is NOT farm raised or Atlantic. www.EDF.org has a guide to best and worst fish choices.
Eggs from free range organically fed chickens (try to get High-Omega 3 eggs).
Soy: non-genetically modified (look for non-GMO on the label). Frozen edamame, tempeh, tofu, miso are good options. Avoid processed soy, mostly known as soy protein isolate, on labels.
Beans: You can buy many varieties of dry beans, soak and cook them (get recipes) or use canned from the brand Eden. Lentils don't need to be soaked first, so they are an easy option.

Nuts and Seeds

Only raw or dry-roasted.
Great source of protein and healthy fat.
Walnuts and ground flax seeds are particularly nutrient rich.
Peanuts are not great.
You can grind them and sprinkle them in cereal, yogurt, etc.
Nut butters are a nice option.

Oils

Olive oil, hrapeseed oil, coconut oil for cooking.
Extra virgin olive oil and flaxseed oil for dressings for salad and vegetables.

Grains

Limit gluten containing ones. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, spelt, barley, and rye.
Great non-gluten grains are rice (brown is best), millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff.
Try to get pasta, cereals and bread made of these, but in general the pasta, cereals and breads should be a small part of your eating plan to begin with.
Gluten-free bread is usually tastier when crispy toasted. A great tasting gluten-free bread brand is UDI's. A great tasting Challah is Katz's.

Dairy

Organic, low fat.
Grass-fed if possible.
If yogurt, get plain and sweeten (if needed) on your own with jelly or frozen berries or gluten-free granola for example.
Goat milk products are often a great alternative to cows milk and there are great non-dairy alternatives -rice, soy, nut and seed milks.

Drinks

Water.
Fresh Lemonade: squeeze lemons, mix with water and sweeten with a little honey (raw honey preferably), real sugar or a little raw agave nectar.
Tea: especially green - can sweeten with lemon, a little honey or real sugar.
No soda other than seltzer.
Limit coffee to 0-1 cup per day (can get caffeine from tea).
Minimize alcohol intake.

READ LABELS FOR INGREDIENTS and AVOID

Partially Hydrogenated Oil and all Trans Fats (ex. Vegetable Shortening)
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Artificial Sweeteners. Aspartame, Saccharin
Artificial Colors
MSG-Monosodium Glutamate

This is easier done when shopping in health food stores and isles because there are many healthier varieties of packaged foods there.

A Word About Individuality, Food Allergies and Intolerances: "One Man's Food Is Another Man's Poison"

For some people, even the healthiest food can cause an adverse reaction - either obvious or subtle. This can come from true food allergies or from food intolerances. In some form or another, probably everyone has one or some. Genetic differences and physiological imbalances that develop over time predispose a person to these.

In the United States, some of the most common adverse food reactions come from Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, and Soy, Some people do best when they eliminate one or more of these, some when they simply limit them. Others tolerate certain versions of them (the "cleaner" versions as described).

While tests can be done to see if there are reactions to these foods, one of the best ways is to be mindful and take note of how your body feels when you eat these and when they are briefly eliminated from your diet. Diet/symptom logs can be very helpful.

General Principles of Eating

Chew well. It makes food easier to digest.
Eat in a setting where you feel relaxed. If you can't, at least take a deep breath before you start.
Think vegetables. Think fresh herbs. Try to include some in every meal.
Eat a protein rich, fiber full breakfast. Be creative.
Keep your blood sugar stable. Many people do well having 3 meals a day with 2 snacks in between. Some people may need a small bedtime snack; some may not.
Meals and snacks should for the most part, each include some form of fiber and clean protein (and of course limit refined added sugar and processed carbs).
Know what you are putting in your mouth. Where it comes from, who prepared it, what's been done to it.
Plan and prepare (If you don't yet know how, you can easily learn).

Remember this is a process, and can take time getting used to. You'll surely have questions as you go along - feel free to contact me for support. The first step is awareness. Then, take it from there. The goal of this is to start you off on your lifelong healthy, nutrient rich eating plan.

Very Helpful Resources

www.WHFOODS.com
www.myfoodmyhealth.com
Purple Kale Kitchenworks Workshop - Brooklyn
The Ultrametabolism Cookbook, Mark Hyman MD