{"id":17246,"date":"2014-01-02T07:15:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T12:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=17246"},"modified":"2016-07-14T16:04:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T20:04:53","slug":"clean-eating-beginner-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/clean-eating-beginner-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Clean Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Clean
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn\u2019t recognize as food,\u201d writer and activist Michael Pollan<\/a> has famously advised<\/a>. This guideline is the basic premise for clean eating, one of the most talked about diets right now. But the diet, which is all about choosing foods raised, grown and sold with minimal processing, is less about dieting, and more about going back to the basics, in an effort to stave off disease and promote a healthy weight. Here are four ways you can make your great-great-grandma proud.<\/p>\n

1. Choose whole foods.<\/h3>\n

Sayonara, Slim Jims. The most important principle of clean eating is to eat foods in their most natural state, says Michelle Dudash<\/a>, R.D., author of Clean Eating for Busy Families<\/i>. That means opting for sprouted wheat over white bread, oranges over orange juice (fresh-squeezed is OK). And meat that lists \u201cmechanically separated chicken<\/a>\u201d on its shrink-wrapped label? That\u2019s unsurprisingly out, too.<\/p>\n

The hunt for whole foods has a proven upside, though. Research shows diets high in fiber from foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains can reduce inflammation<\/a> linked to a slew of chronic diseases, like heart disease<\/a> and diabetes, all while helping regulate your weight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Keep it local.<\/h3>\n

Processed food in the U.S. often travels more than 1,300 miles<\/a> to reach consumers, and produce can sometime travel up to 1,500 miles, or more. This means your food could be on a truck for up to two weeks before it reaches your plate. Buying local produce not only reduces your carbon footprint, it helps ensure you\u2019re getting the most nutritional bang for your buck. All that extra time food spends on a truck can cause nutrients, like vitamin C, to oxidize and diminish.<\/p>\n

One study found that after four weeks, the level of vitamin C<\/a> in orange juice went from 27 to 65 mg\/c (milligrams per cup) down to just 0 to 25 mg\/c, and researchers believe the same applies for whole fruits and vegetables. Plus, buying locally grown produce ensures you\u2019re getting foods that are in season<\/a>, which tend to taste fresher, says Dudash. <\/b>Even better: \u201cWhen your food tastes better naturally, you don\u2019t have to manipulate it with all that salt, sugar and fat,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

3. Read labels.<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s face it, when you\u2019re busier than ever, the vending machine is sometimes the only option to keep your stomach from grumbling over your boss\u2019 voice. But when it comes to convenience foods, always read nutrition labels to ensure what you\u2019re buying is made with natural ingredients, not chemicals, says Dudash. Zero in on (and do your best to avoid!) packaged foods that contain added sugars, artificial food coloring, preservatives and chemicals. And don\u2019t overlook artificial sweeteners. New research suggests they can disrupt your metabolism<\/a>. The artificial stuff might also affect your body\u2019s ability to process real <\/i>sugars, which could set your weight loss goals off track.<\/p>\n

4. Conquer the kitchen.<\/h3>\n

Think eating clean is too costly or labor-intensive? If you have your kitchen properly stocked with ingredients, you can whip up a healthy meal in the time it would take to order takeout, says Dudash.\u00a0You\u2019ll probably save money<\/a>,<\/span> too. Not to mention, you\u2019re more likely to be eating over-processed, higher-calorie foods if you eat out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While preparing your own clean meals might take some getting used to, all you need is a little knowledge up front about nutrition and finding the right foods, says Dudash. Not a fan of kale? Don\u2019t force it. \u201cThere are so many healthy foods out there; you\u2019ll find plenty that you like,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Looking for some clean ways to get creative in the kitchen? Head to our <\/i>recipes section<\/i><\/a> for some healthy, easy takes on your favorite foods.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cleaning up your diet isn\u2019t as hard as you might think. Read on for quick and easy tips for eating clean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":17251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,11,18],"tags":[41,51,59,71,347,397],"class_list":["post-17246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-health-hacks","category-weight-loss","tag-diets","tag-food-choices","tag-healthy-substitutions","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1family","tag-tax2childhood-nutrition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}