The Miraculous Self Healing Body VideoHighly informative video, 4 medical doctors talk about what we can do to improve our diets and heal using our God given, miraculous, self healing body.
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Diet for a new americaHow would Americans and our country be different if Americans chose to consume less processed food and animal products.
John Robbins, son of Baskin-Robbins co-founder, the late Irv Robbins, forsook the family legacy (and the ice cream shaped pool in the backyard) to take on a simpler life and learn how our bodies are designed to thrive. A phenomenal movie, though made in 1991, the information is still valid and the key to health. |
What does eat clean mean?
"Eating clean" is one of the newest buzz words in the health world today. Is it a new fad diet? Or is just scrubbing food really well? ;) No, it's not about either of those--its about making changes in your eating that will result in a healthier life (and amazing weight loss if that's what you are going for!) The Standard America Diet (S.A.D.) is loaded with processed foods, refined sugars, sodium (from unnatural refined salts) and highly processed, chemical laden refined fats/oils. The focus really becomes paying attention to what you are eating and the quality. It is easy to learn and the health benefits will increase your lifespan and make you feel wonderful!
Clean Food
Vegetables
Well let's start with the basics. Fresh vegetables are a win! For an adult--try and make veggies fill up 50%-85% of your daily food intake. Try and eat a RAINBOW of vegetables every day! I know--some of you are grimacing right now at the thought of fresh veggies--but no worries! It takes awhile for your taste buds to change and I'm not asking you for overnight miracles! Simply try and incorporate a new veggie every day if you can. Remember the "rule of 17" for children (it applies to adults too!) It takes SEVENTEEN times of trying something before kids develop a liking to it! So if they (or you!) don't like it at first--try, try again (and again, and again, again.....) And try it in different ways too. If you have a bad memory of a certain food, chances are in another dish it will be delish! And the best part about veggies....you don't have to count calories! There is absolutely NO way you could ever ever ever eat too many vegetables! They are so full of fiber and so nutrient dense that you will never eat too many of them. You will fill up LONG before you could ever overeat (as long as they are not smothered in oil or butter!). Did you know that is the secret to achieving weight loss? The "dirty foods" have no fiber and no nutrients so your body is like, "Hello! Where is my Vitamin c today? What about Vitamin A? Keep on eating--we need some vitamins!) And your stomach doesn't feel full because there is no fiber so you keep on eating....and the hunger is hardly ever satisfied. I used to marvel at how I could eat like 6 pieces of pizza before I "filled up". Absolutely no fiber in that meal and next to ZERO nutrients. I was literally starving my body of nutrition all the while gaining fat on my hips!
Fruits
If you take a glance at the next step up in the NEW and IMPROVED pyramid you will see fruits and legumes are next on our clean eating list!
If vegetables are the healers fruits are the cleansers. It is important to eat fresh fruit every day. It can be a wonderful dessert. Fresh pineapple is one of my favorites! But do watch your calories in fruits. You can easily over eat them. They are full of wonderful NATURAL sugars, however--at some point sugar becomes sugar in the body and too much is just too much. Try and keep fruits around 15% of your diet.
Beans
Beans! Beans, beans the wonderful fruit the more you eat the more you toot! Did I just really say that?! Yes I did! It is inevitable--just consider it a side effect of being healthy :) Some beans are worse than others for different people. I get really gassy with pintos but black beans aren't so bad. Some people say adzuki beans give them no problem. And truth be known--they all go great in a burrito so that's all my mexican loving taste buds care about!
As far as beans go they are another amazing food. Totally full of fiber, nutrients and very high protein! Beans are another one I don't even bother counting the calories of. Personally, there is no way I can over eat on beans. I get way too full before I'd over eat. But keep in mind, if you add fats to your beans (cheese, sour cream, butter) you need to be aware of that and those calories need to be counted!
Whole Grains, Potatoes, Seeds, Nuts, and Avocadoes
All amazing foods. But here you will have to really exercise moderation. It was an eye opening moment when I realize how many stinking calories were in my typical serving of spaghetti! I used to eat like 2 platefuls! No wonder I wasn't losing weight! I thought because it was whole wheat pasta I was good to go but there are SOOO many calories in pasta! Don't forget that bountiful bread and tasty tortillas! Even though they are healthy whole grains it is a lot of calories. So if I have a burrito I'll eat just ONE tortilla with beans and then if I am still hungry for seconds I'll fork up some beans, lettuce, tomato, salsa and still get the taste, but not all the calories. ***Also--great tip---SLOW down when you eat. After you eat the first helping drink a whole glass of water, and start clearing the table or chat or do something else. It takes a good 15 min for your bring to realize you are full. So after the table is cleared you may not even be hungry anymore!
Animal Products
This is the last part, the smallest part of the tier. Animal products bring some great macro nutrients to the table (fat, protein, calories) but we don't have to try very hard to get those! It is the micro-nutrients that they are low on. They don't have very many vitamins or minerals. If a broccoli head and a bite of steak got into a fist fight the broccoli would win every time. Why? It is so much more nutritious for you. SO high in nutrients. And in protein! What do you think has more protein, 100 calories of broccoli or 100 calories of steak! Broccoli wins again! What about Kale--100 calories of kale or 100 calories of steak--which ones wins? Kale! Little did we know that vegetables are FULL of protein! And we now know that the protein combining myth (you have to eat certain veggies together to form a complete protein) was just that--misinformed data from the 70s. And the woman who came with it very soon after recanted. The proof? How many people do you know went to the hospital because they were protein deficient? None. There is absolutely no way you are not getting enough protein if you are eating. As long as you are getting enough calories you are getting enough protein.
So we all know we need to eat more vegetables, what I'm trying to tell you is it needs to be a LOT more. Make the salad the main dish. Let meat be the side. In other countries this is exactly what they do. Our 1 hamburger would have been split between an entire family and they would have loaded up on vegetables with rice as the main portion. Meat is expensive in other countries. In America, the meat/dairy industry is subsidized by the government (that means tax dollares are given to them!) so we don't feel the real price of meat. If we did I think a lot less people would buy it.
So you are going to start eating less meat as your tastes buds change and you start eating more veggies. But I'm going to add one more thing....your animal products really need to be organic. I am so sorry to say this! But the meat/dairy/egg industry is DISGUSTING. They really ought to be ashamed of themselves (and I am not talking about animal cruelty here I'm talking about FILTH). I can spend a lot of time writing about this but you just will have to take my word on it. You are eating sick diseased animals. You will eat their cancers. And they have them. The chickens that can't walk because they are so sick, look and taste just like one that is less sick and got processed too. It is a sad state of affairs. Always buy grass fed beef. Did you know 2 weeks of pasture would eliminate all e coli bacteria in a cow? But instead they are crammed in these monstrous feed lots knee deep in their feces and fed corn to fatten them up. Cows are not corn eaters! It makes them sick. And you eat it and many have died. Please watch Food Inc. the movie if you haven't already. Get disgusted about chicken nuggets and the bleach bath they have to be put through because the chicken is so sick.
Since we are eating less meat we can afford to buy organic. And whenever possible buy GRASS FED!!! Grass is a green. And I'm not just talking about the one kind of grass that grows on your lawn. I'm talking about all the native flora and fauna that exists when animals are pastured. It is truly a salad bar! Even chickens need to eat grass! It is the great detoxer and where the animal gets all of its nutrients (no its not the bugs!) The nutrients are in the greens just like they are for me and for you! If a chicken is "free range" but all that means is they get some occasional sunshine on a plot of filthy dirt you can tell it in the eggs and in the meat. How? By the color of the fat and the color of the yolk. The fat should be yellow (NOT clear) and the yolks of eggs should be DARK ORANGE (NOT YELLOW!)
See the below picture of our free range, pasture fed, organic grain fed chicken eggs. The yellow eggs are the store bought "Organic DHA free range eggs". All the yolks tell me was they were fed a little flaxseed, got to scratch around on some dirt which was too overcrowded to allow anything to grow.
Clean Food
Vegetables
Well let's start with the basics. Fresh vegetables are a win! For an adult--try and make veggies fill up 50%-85% of your daily food intake. Try and eat a RAINBOW of vegetables every day! I know--some of you are grimacing right now at the thought of fresh veggies--but no worries! It takes awhile for your taste buds to change and I'm not asking you for overnight miracles! Simply try and incorporate a new veggie every day if you can. Remember the "rule of 17" for children (it applies to adults too!) It takes SEVENTEEN times of trying something before kids develop a liking to it! So if they (or you!) don't like it at first--try, try again (and again, and again, again.....) And try it in different ways too. If you have a bad memory of a certain food, chances are in another dish it will be delish! And the best part about veggies....you don't have to count calories! There is absolutely NO way you could ever ever ever eat too many vegetables! They are so full of fiber and so nutrient dense that you will never eat too many of them. You will fill up LONG before you could ever overeat (as long as they are not smothered in oil or butter!). Did you know that is the secret to achieving weight loss? The "dirty foods" have no fiber and no nutrients so your body is like, "Hello! Where is my Vitamin c today? What about Vitamin A? Keep on eating--we need some vitamins!) And your stomach doesn't feel full because there is no fiber so you keep on eating....and the hunger is hardly ever satisfied. I used to marvel at how I could eat like 6 pieces of pizza before I "filled up". Absolutely no fiber in that meal and next to ZERO nutrients. I was literally starving my body of nutrition all the while gaining fat on my hips!
Fruits
If you take a glance at the next step up in the NEW and IMPROVED pyramid you will see fruits and legumes are next on our clean eating list!
If vegetables are the healers fruits are the cleansers. It is important to eat fresh fruit every day. It can be a wonderful dessert. Fresh pineapple is one of my favorites! But do watch your calories in fruits. You can easily over eat them. They are full of wonderful NATURAL sugars, however--at some point sugar becomes sugar in the body and too much is just too much. Try and keep fruits around 15% of your diet.
Beans
Beans! Beans, beans the wonderful fruit the more you eat the more you toot! Did I just really say that?! Yes I did! It is inevitable--just consider it a side effect of being healthy :) Some beans are worse than others for different people. I get really gassy with pintos but black beans aren't so bad. Some people say adzuki beans give them no problem. And truth be known--they all go great in a burrito so that's all my mexican loving taste buds care about!
As far as beans go they are another amazing food. Totally full of fiber, nutrients and very high protein! Beans are another one I don't even bother counting the calories of. Personally, there is no way I can over eat on beans. I get way too full before I'd over eat. But keep in mind, if you add fats to your beans (cheese, sour cream, butter) you need to be aware of that and those calories need to be counted!
Whole Grains, Potatoes, Seeds, Nuts, and Avocadoes
All amazing foods. But here you will have to really exercise moderation. It was an eye opening moment when I realize how many stinking calories were in my typical serving of spaghetti! I used to eat like 2 platefuls! No wonder I wasn't losing weight! I thought because it was whole wheat pasta I was good to go but there are SOOO many calories in pasta! Don't forget that bountiful bread and tasty tortillas! Even though they are healthy whole grains it is a lot of calories. So if I have a burrito I'll eat just ONE tortilla with beans and then if I am still hungry for seconds I'll fork up some beans, lettuce, tomato, salsa and still get the taste, but not all the calories. ***Also--great tip---SLOW down when you eat. After you eat the first helping drink a whole glass of water, and start clearing the table or chat or do something else. It takes a good 15 min for your bring to realize you are full. So after the table is cleared you may not even be hungry anymore!
Animal Products
This is the last part, the smallest part of the tier. Animal products bring some great macro nutrients to the table (fat, protein, calories) but we don't have to try very hard to get those! It is the micro-nutrients that they are low on. They don't have very many vitamins or minerals. If a broccoli head and a bite of steak got into a fist fight the broccoli would win every time. Why? It is so much more nutritious for you. SO high in nutrients. And in protein! What do you think has more protein, 100 calories of broccoli or 100 calories of steak! Broccoli wins again! What about Kale--100 calories of kale or 100 calories of steak--which ones wins? Kale! Little did we know that vegetables are FULL of protein! And we now know that the protein combining myth (you have to eat certain veggies together to form a complete protein) was just that--misinformed data from the 70s. And the woman who came with it very soon after recanted. The proof? How many people do you know went to the hospital because they were protein deficient? None. There is absolutely no way you are not getting enough protein if you are eating. As long as you are getting enough calories you are getting enough protein.
So we all know we need to eat more vegetables, what I'm trying to tell you is it needs to be a LOT more. Make the salad the main dish. Let meat be the side. In other countries this is exactly what they do. Our 1 hamburger would have been split between an entire family and they would have loaded up on vegetables with rice as the main portion. Meat is expensive in other countries. In America, the meat/dairy industry is subsidized by the government (that means tax dollares are given to them!) so we don't feel the real price of meat. If we did I think a lot less people would buy it.
So you are going to start eating less meat as your tastes buds change and you start eating more veggies. But I'm going to add one more thing....your animal products really need to be organic. I am so sorry to say this! But the meat/dairy/egg industry is DISGUSTING. They really ought to be ashamed of themselves (and I am not talking about animal cruelty here I'm talking about FILTH). I can spend a lot of time writing about this but you just will have to take my word on it. You are eating sick diseased animals. You will eat their cancers. And they have them. The chickens that can't walk because they are so sick, look and taste just like one that is less sick and got processed too. It is a sad state of affairs. Always buy grass fed beef. Did you know 2 weeks of pasture would eliminate all e coli bacteria in a cow? But instead they are crammed in these monstrous feed lots knee deep in their feces and fed corn to fatten them up. Cows are not corn eaters! It makes them sick. And you eat it and many have died. Please watch Food Inc. the movie if you haven't already. Get disgusted about chicken nuggets and the bleach bath they have to be put through because the chicken is so sick.
Since we are eating less meat we can afford to buy organic. And whenever possible buy GRASS FED!!! Grass is a green. And I'm not just talking about the one kind of grass that grows on your lawn. I'm talking about all the native flora and fauna that exists when animals are pastured. It is truly a salad bar! Even chickens need to eat grass! It is the great detoxer and where the animal gets all of its nutrients (no its not the bugs!) The nutrients are in the greens just like they are for me and for you! If a chicken is "free range" but all that means is they get some occasional sunshine on a plot of filthy dirt you can tell it in the eggs and in the meat. How? By the color of the fat and the color of the yolk. The fat should be yellow (NOT clear) and the yolks of eggs should be DARK ORANGE (NOT YELLOW!)
See the below picture of our free range, pasture fed, organic grain fed chicken eggs. The yellow eggs are the store bought "Organic DHA free range eggs". All the yolks tell me was they were fed a little flaxseed, got to scratch around on some dirt which was too overcrowded to allow anything to grow.
But do all clean foods need to be organic?
The answer to this is you do what you can with what you've got. Yes, organic foods cost more. But they cost more to produce and often are not subsidized by the government. And it does take the guess work out of a lot of it. No, we can't trust all organic foods. Hello! Organic cheetos are not going to be healthy for you! lol!
If money is the main issue my suggestion is this:
Find out the dirty dozen (it changes yearly) and try to buy those ones only organic. The list will change but apples, strawberries, lettuce, kale, cherries, grapes are pretty much always on there. They have the highest amount of pesticides.
And since we are eating less animal products for the good of our health, choose to eat those organic.
We now know that organic produce can contain twice as many nutrients as pesticide laden conventional produce! When you are trying to prevent heart disease and cancer (the #1 and #2 killers in America) this really means something. Vegetables are the healers. If the veggies you eat are only half as good as they could be because they are grown in chemical soil then we need to do better.
And the cheapest of all....grow your own! Every year we love and enjoy growing our own food. Seeds are cheap and if you buy non-GMO, non-hybrid seeds you can save them and replant so this whole operation becomes free! My favorite heirloom (open pollinated) seed store is Bakers Creek. Check them out @ www.rareseeds.com
My favorite place to buy my produce is the farmer's market (ESPECIALLY for animal products). You can talk to the farmer (usually) and find out how he cares for the animals. Ask questions! Challenge them to grow cleaner!
And last thoughts on eating clean foods.....when shopping in grocery store...shop mainly in the fresh food sections (i.e.produce section). Eating clean means avoiding chemical based-preservatives, food coloring, trans fats, artificial and refined/highly processed sweeteners. If you shop in those dreaded middle aisles you will have to be a label reader and get darn good at it too! When I read a label I don't even look at calories, fat, or protein (I'll buget the calories later when I go to eat it). I skip all that and go straight to the nutrients. When I see a bag of "freeze dried strawberries" has absolutely NO nutrients in it that makes me wonder what in the world did they do to it!! Strawberries ought to be full of vitamin C and a host of other things. Sure it is natural and resembles a strawberry but we can do SO much better. Skip it and buy real fresh strawberries (cheaper too!)
Eating clean also means being aware that those middle aisle foods are going to contain a ton of salt and white sugar/corn syrup, etc. Salt and sugar are cheap flavor enhancers and help preserve the food so it can stay on the shelf for 6 months (or more....) So eating clean means skipping the sweetened nuts and opting for raw nuts (I buy in bulk from the bulk bins when they go on sale and stock up!) Making switches like this alone is going to help you lose weight if you need to.
Dirty Food
Eating clean is all about making the switch. Exchange your white bread for whole wheat bread. Exchange cheap junky disease laden chicken for organic free range chicken (even better--buy it at the farmer's market or go on craigslist and search out farmers--many advertise there--but question their growing practices. Many are trying to replicate what the big agri-monsters are doing. But you can also find grass fed stuff on there too).
Refined grains such as white bread, white rice, and white pasta are "dirty" foods. The eat-clean choice would be 100% whole grain bread, brown rice, and 100% whole grain pasta. YAY for fiber!
Processed foods are on the dirty list because they will almost always contain unnatural preservatives, added sugar, excessive sodium from refined salts, and unhealthy oils that have gone through rigorous chemical processes.
Simple rule of thumb--if it says sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup (or just corn syrup), evaporated cane juice, etc. it's all refined processed sugars--avoid it like the plague. In our family our favorite sweeteners are whole foods (like dates, raisins, bananas, honey. We also love stevia leaf in smoothies. 1/2 tbsp whole stevia leaf for 4 cups smoothie (notice I say the whole leaf---it is a green leaf--this is not the processed white powder you buy. It is the whole herb and if you grind it, it will be a green powder! NO bad aftertaste with the whole herb leaf!)
When you shop in those dreaded super market aisles you must read labels. I say dreaded because you can't trust them--you CAN trust they will try and sneak all sorts of disease causing ingredients into seemingly harmless food! Just the other day I went to the local grocery store and picked up a can of beans, flipped it over only to find it was filled with all sorts of processed ingredients! You have to become a label reader. And darn good at it too. Hate reading labels? Then make your own food--and I'm serious---I do it 85% of the time so I know what is in there and it is WAY cheaper. Skip the middle of the super market and shop around the outsides (fresh produce, meats, eggs, and dairy!)
Eating Out
Eating clean while eating out is difficult to do cheap. Opt for whole foods whenever possible and ALWAYS assume the worst. You can trust they are not using the really healthy whole grain tortillas from Trader Joes, but rather instead using the ones will all kinds of hydrogenated oils. Don't get fried things, its going to be bad processed oils. Try asking for salsa on meat dishes instead of sauces. Soups sound so innocent but they are full of bad salt (and tons of it!) and likely sugar! Don't be tempted by the soda! Most of us associate drinking soda while eating out so you'll have to have a buddy to help you resist until it becomes the norm to not buy a soda. (Here's an alarming fact. All our body needs is 3 tsp of sugar a day--which we easily get from fruits and veggies. 1 soda can have 11 tsp! 3 sodas is enough excess sugar to wipe your immune system out for an entire day!) Soda is super acidic and cancer thrives in an acid environment. Make your goal to never drink soda again. I stopped drinking soda in 2008 and while I may have given in occasionally it didn't take long before I was over it and have not looked back (and this coming from a Diet Coke addict!)
You can also mix and match don't be afraid to ask. Tell them you are on a special diet :) If that means exchanging the ranch salad dressing on a salad for a basic vinaigrette, or asking for slivered almonds instead of candied. I very politely ask for substitutions all the time.
My favorite app for my phone (and website) is happycow.com It is geared towards vegetarians but if you find a vegan restaurant you'll likely find a health conscious restaurant too. True, some vegetarian restaurants are all about substituting massive amounts of soy for meat, but there are others like True Food Kitchen (my favorite! Pricey though) that do not. When we need to be cheap I get a massive salad from Paradise Bakery. I tell them I'm vegan (which is true on most days) and I order the asian salad (which they told me is sweetened with stevia) and then instead of meat they let me pile on the veggies. Some chefs are cool others are like, "Ummm...the extra vegetables are going to cost you $2.36." Just shrug it off and know it's worth it. YES, its annoying that I'm replacing the higher priced meat with cheaper veggies and you are charging me more.....but whatever. It's the price of eating out.
If I really need to go cheap, we go to the grocery store and buy ingredients and eat in our car or outside on a bench. For example, cruise through Trader Joes and grab all your favorite fixings. PB and J, whole wheat bread, bag of clementine oranges, and trail mix with raisins. Another favorite combo is their wild caught smoked salmon, organic cream cheese, and whole wheat bagels. Once in a great while, this a delish "eating out" meal. (Notice none of the ingredients were from the bottom tier hence I said once in a while). It may cost the same as eating out at first glance but you'll have leftovers that will taste just as good tomorrow and the next day (so therefore it was actually cheaper), and you can see the ingredients and know what you are eating!
And just know eating out is almost always a compromise. Most places cut corners and use cheaper ingredients you can't see. Save your money and make it a once in a while treat.
My favorite places to eat out (ranked by expense $$$$$):
$ Health food grocery store (whether its buying ingredients as said above--or like at Sprouts can buy $2.99 sandwiches and eat at the little tables inside)
$$$ Mother's Market Restaurant (in Orange County)
$$$$ True Food Kitchen
$$ Paradise Bakery
$$$ Green--New American Vegetarian (heavy on the soy but some healthy options none-the-less)
$$$ Pita Jungle
$-$$$ Whole Foods Salad Bar and Made to eat food area
Permission to grow and begin this journey
This is a journey and I am so excited for you! Begin today! Whether you go all out or have to take baby steps--do what will work for you. Make it work. Don't give up. Even if you are only 80% successful and sticking to a mostly clean plate 5 to 6 days a week then you are still making progress (and doing better than most!) But never settle with that-- every week try to eat cleaner than before. Make it an adventure and a goal to begin and stick with this journey! Be adventurous! Try new things! Lose your tastebuds for bad things and develop new for the good! It is a process--enjoy and grow!
The answer to this is you do what you can with what you've got. Yes, organic foods cost more. But they cost more to produce and often are not subsidized by the government. And it does take the guess work out of a lot of it. No, we can't trust all organic foods. Hello! Organic cheetos are not going to be healthy for you! lol!
If money is the main issue my suggestion is this:
Find out the dirty dozen (it changes yearly) and try to buy those ones only organic. The list will change but apples, strawberries, lettuce, kale, cherries, grapes are pretty much always on there. They have the highest amount of pesticides.
And since we are eating less animal products for the good of our health, choose to eat those organic.
We now know that organic produce can contain twice as many nutrients as pesticide laden conventional produce! When you are trying to prevent heart disease and cancer (the #1 and #2 killers in America) this really means something. Vegetables are the healers. If the veggies you eat are only half as good as they could be because they are grown in chemical soil then we need to do better.
And the cheapest of all....grow your own! Every year we love and enjoy growing our own food. Seeds are cheap and if you buy non-GMO, non-hybrid seeds you can save them and replant so this whole operation becomes free! My favorite heirloom (open pollinated) seed store is Bakers Creek. Check them out @ www.rareseeds.com
My favorite place to buy my produce is the farmer's market (ESPECIALLY for animal products). You can talk to the farmer (usually) and find out how he cares for the animals. Ask questions! Challenge them to grow cleaner!
And last thoughts on eating clean foods.....when shopping in grocery store...shop mainly in the fresh food sections (i.e.produce section). Eating clean means avoiding chemical based-preservatives, food coloring, trans fats, artificial and refined/highly processed sweeteners. If you shop in those dreaded middle aisles you will have to be a label reader and get darn good at it too! When I read a label I don't even look at calories, fat, or protein (I'll buget the calories later when I go to eat it). I skip all that and go straight to the nutrients. When I see a bag of "freeze dried strawberries" has absolutely NO nutrients in it that makes me wonder what in the world did they do to it!! Strawberries ought to be full of vitamin C and a host of other things. Sure it is natural and resembles a strawberry but we can do SO much better. Skip it and buy real fresh strawberries (cheaper too!)
Eating clean also means being aware that those middle aisle foods are going to contain a ton of salt and white sugar/corn syrup, etc. Salt and sugar are cheap flavor enhancers and help preserve the food so it can stay on the shelf for 6 months (or more....) So eating clean means skipping the sweetened nuts and opting for raw nuts (I buy in bulk from the bulk bins when they go on sale and stock up!) Making switches like this alone is going to help you lose weight if you need to.
Dirty Food
Eating clean is all about making the switch. Exchange your white bread for whole wheat bread. Exchange cheap junky disease laden chicken for organic free range chicken (even better--buy it at the farmer's market or go on craigslist and search out farmers--many advertise there--but question their growing practices. Many are trying to replicate what the big agri-monsters are doing. But you can also find grass fed stuff on there too).
Refined grains such as white bread, white rice, and white pasta are "dirty" foods. The eat-clean choice would be 100% whole grain bread, brown rice, and 100% whole grain pasta. YAY for fiber!
Processed foods are on the dirty list because they will almost always contain unnatural preservatives, added sugar, excessive sodium from refined salts, and unhealthy oils that have gone through rigorous chemical processes.
Simple rule of thumb--if it says sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup (or just corn syrup), evaporated cane juice, etc. it's all refined processed sugars--avoid it like the plague. In our family our favorite sweeteners are whole foods (like dates, raisins, bananas, honey. We also love stevia leaf in smoothies. 1/2 tbsp whole stevia leaf for 4 cups smoothie (notice I say the whole leaf---it is a green leaf--this is not the processed white powder you buy. It is the whole herb and if you grind it, it will be a green powder! NO bad aftertaste with the whole herb leaf!)
When you shop in those dreaded super market aisles you must read labels. I say dreaded because you can't trust them--you CAN trust they will try and sneak all sorts of disease causing ingredients into seemingly harmless food! Just the other day I went to the local grocery store and picked up a can of beans, flipped it over only to find it was filled with all sorts of processed ingredients! You have to become a label reader. And darn good at it too. Hate reading labels? Then make your own food--and I'm serious---I do it 85% of the time so I know what is in there and it is WAY cheaper. Skip the middle of the super market and shop around the outsides (fresh produce, meats, eggs, and dairy!)
Eating Out
Eating clean while eating out is difficult to do cheap. Opt for whole foods whenever possible and ALWAYS assume the worst. You can trust they are not using the really healthy whole grain tortillas from Trader Joes, but rather instead using the ones will all kinds of hydrogenated oils. Don't get fried things, its going to be bad processed oils. Try asking for salsa on meat dishes instead of sauces. Soups sound so innocent but they are full of bad salt (and tons of it!) and likely sugar! Don't be tempted by the soda! Most of us associate drinking soda while eating out so you'll have to have a buddy to help you resist until it becomes the norm to not buy a soda. (Here's an alarming fact. All our body needs is 3 tsp of sugar a day--which we easily get from fruits and veggies. 1 soda can have 11 tsp! 3 sodas is enough excess sugar to wipe your immune system out for an entire day!) Soda is super acidic and cancer thrives in an acid environment. Make your goal to never drink soda again. I stopped drinking soda in 2008 and while I may have given in occasionally it didn't take long before I was over it and have not looked back (and this coming from a Diet Coke addict!)
You can also mix and match don't be afraid to ask. Tell them you are on a special diet :) If that means exchanging the ranch salad dressing on a salad for a basic vinaigrette, or asking for slivered almonds instead of candied. I very politely ask for substitutions all the time.
My favorite app for my phone (and website) is happycow.com It is geared towards vegetarians but if you find a vegan restaurant you'll likely find a health conscious restaurant too. True, some vegetarian restaurants are all about substituting massive amounts of soy for meat, but there are others like True Food Kitchen (my favorite! Pricey though) that do not. When we need to be cheap I get a massive salad from Paradise Bakery. I tell them I'm vegan (which is true on most days) and I order the asian salad (which they told me is sweetened with stevia) and then instead of meat they let me pile on the veggies. Some chefs are cool others are like, "Ummm...the extra vegetables are going to cost you $2.36." Just shrug it off and know it's worth it. YES, its annoying that I'm replacing the higher priced meat with cheaper veggies and you are charging me more.....but whatever. It's the price of eating out.
If I really need to go cheap, we go to the grocery store and buy ingredients and eat in our car or outside on a bench. For example, cruise through Trader Joes and grab all your favorite fixings. PB and J, whole wheat bread, bag of clementine oranges, and trail mix with raisins. Another favorite combo is their wild caught smoked salmon, organic cream cheese, and whole wheat bagels. Once in a great while, this a delish "eating out" meal. (Notice none of the ingredients were from the bottom tier hence I said once in a while). It may cost the same as eating out at first glance but you'll have leftovers that will taste just as good tomorrow and the next day (so therefore it was actually cheaper), and you can see the ingredients and know what you are eating!
And just know eating out is almost always a compromise. Most places cut corners and use cheaper ingredients you can't see. Save your money and make it a once in a while treat.
My favorite places to eat out (ranked by expense $$$$$):
$ Health food grocery store (whether its buying ingredients as said above--or like at Sprouts can buy $2.99 sandwiches and eat at the little tables inside)
$$$ Mother's Market Restaurant (in Orange County)
$$$$ True Food Kitchen
$$ Paradise Bakery
$$$ Green--New American Vegetarian (heavy on the soy but some healthy options none-the-less)
$$$ Pita Jungle
$-$$$ Whole Foods Salad Bar and Made to eat food area
Permission to grow and begin this journey
This is a journey and I am so excited for you! Begin today! Whether you go all out or have to take baby steps--do what will work for you. Make it work. Don't give up. Even if you are only 80% successful and sticking to a mostly clean plate 5 to 6 days a week then you are still making progress (and doing better than most!) But never settle with that-- every week try to eat cleaner than before. Make it an adventure and a goal to begin and stick with this journey! Be adventurous! Try new things! Lose your tastebuds for bad things and develop new for the good! It is a process--enjoy and grow!