Do’s and Don’ts of Clean Eating

DO’s

♦ Do small, frequent meals. Eating four to six small meals a day is better than eating three full meals. This will keep your energy levels distributed and prevent you from over snacking. Doing this will also help maintain your sugar levels preventing mid afternoon energy crashes. This is also better for people that have problems with digestion. Smaller meals are easier to digest and will also prevent over production of stomach acids throughout the day.

♦ Do drink water. Drink the recommended 6 to 8 glasses of water every day. Your body cannot function when it is dehydrated. Drinking plenty of water will also keep you feeling full and less likely to snack on unhealthy food. To add more health benefits to you h2o add slices of lemon.

♦ Do keep healthy snacks handy. Pre-prepare your healthy snacks just in case. Whether you have to go to work or have a busy day with the family. You’ll be equipped with a healthy energy boosting snacks. This will also prevent you from eating unhealthy snacks and processed foods. Packing healthy food for your family will also teach them the benefits of healthy eating.

♦ Do increase vegetable intake! Vegetables are the best food to consume. It has some of the highest nutritional, fiber and antioxidant contents. Make sure that you consume at least two vegetable base dishes a day.

♦ Do combine complex carbs and lean protein at each meal. This will help maintain your energy levels and prevent spikes in your insulin. The combination will act as a natural appetite
suppressant keeping you fuller for a longer period.

Don’ts

♦ Don’t skip your breakfast ever, even a tiny meal is enough. Breakfast is the most important meal of the days, since it breaks your fasting period. During your sleep, your metabolism and digestion slows down. It’s important to jump start your metabolism early for energy. It is also most likely you’ll snack more or eat larger quantities of meals through the day if you skip your breakfast.

♦ Don’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol. You can’t
completely remove alcohol from your life but you can limit how much you intake. Whether it’s beer or wine, alcohol contains empty calories. If you really want to drink alcohol, save it for special occasions and keep healthy snacks on hand. This will prevent you from snacking

♦ Don’t over indulge in sugar. Excessive amounts of sugar raise the risk of high blood pressure, inflammation, obesity and diabetes. Processed foods, fat foods and packed snacks are usually laden with unnecessary amounts of sugar. If you really need to feed your sweet tooth, pick some sweet apples or find snacks with natural sugar.

♦ Don’t serve buffet style or super-sized portions. Even if you’re eating healthy, serving something that is larger than your face is not recommended. You can’t substitute a small unhealthy snack to a sumo size healthy snack. The key is portion control. Learn about the right portions for your
plate and nutrition.

♦ Don’t start the week without a meal plan. The last thing you want to do is to pick up fast food since you forgot to prepare dinner or lunch for the family. Be organized and plan your meal ahead. Pick out a weeks’ worth of healthy recipes and go shopping to get the freshest ingredients.