8 Things You Should Know When You Start Eating Clean

When you first learn about eating clean, it can be hard to figure out exactly what you should be eating, how much you should eat and when to eat. Don't get caught up in the details - you will never start living the lifestyle if you do! We get countless emails from people wondering exactly what their macros should be and even if they are doing it the "right" way. The truth is, eating clean does have some fundamental rules, but all the other "specifics" have to do what works for you.

Below, you will find 8 of our rules for things you should know when you start eating clean. These rules are easy to follow and leave some room for personal interpretation. At the end of the day, for you to make a lifestyle change, it has to make sense to you. Make eating clean work for you!

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8 Things You Should Know When You Start Eating Clean

1. The fundamental idea of eating clean is "If it has a mother or grows in the ground, eat it."
2. If you cannot pronounce an ingredient, don't buy it or eat it.
3. Try to eat 6 small meals per day, but if you can't, eating 3 clean meals per day is better than stuffing your body full of junk! Get started with our 1,500 Calorie Clean Eating Meal Plan.
4. Eating clean lends itself to A LOT of variety - you do NOT have to eat chicken day in and day out! Try one of our Most Popular Recipes!
5. The exact ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fats is specific for you. The amount of calories your body requires is different from the amount of calories your friend requires. Nutritional needs are never static - they are always changing.
6. You can jump into eating clean with both feet, all at once or take baby steps toward your ultimate goal. You do what is right for you as long as you are making positive progress toward changing your eating habits.
7. Eating clean isn't a diet - it's a lifestyle. Making lifestyle changes vs. dieting is key to shifting your views toward eating clean. 
8. Do not deprive yourself. Find alternative methods of making your favorite desserts and snacks that contain less preservatives and more closely resemble the eat clean spectrum. Have you seen our desserts/treats recipes?!

Need more help with getting started eating clean? Join our FREE Healthy Living Challenge, check out our "Lifestyle" resource page and grab our workout plans and eBooks to get the information all in one place.

What do you wish you knew when you started eating clean?

5 Ways to Increase Variety with Clean Eating

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Eating clean doesn't mean that you are locked into a lifestyle where you eat the same meals every day or even each week. (Of course, if you would prefer that, you are more than welcome to do so.) Adopting the clean eating lifestyle can provide as much variety as no dietary restrictions.

As soon as we start talking to people, a few will mention that they have a hard time sticking with clean eating because they got sick of eating the same thing week after week. If you are they type of person that enjoys trying new foods, why pigeon-hole yourself into a situation you won't WANT to stick with! There are countless possibilities for foods when eating clean - don't get in a rut!

How do we do it? We follow 5 rules when we plan our shopping lists and menus for the week.

5 Ways to Increase Variety with Clean Eating

1. Try at least three new recipes per week. Think breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, dessert, shakes, protein bars, etc. 
   
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2. Try one vegetable that you haven't tried each week. If you have tried them all, find a new way to cook a more "rare" vegetable.
3. Have a theme day, not just a theme night. This will force you to cook a certain food a particular way, including your breakfast, lunch, dinner and side dishes. Think Mexican, Italian, etc.
4. Let your spouse, children or a friend choose one of their favorite dishes for a weekly meal. It may be the same as last meal, but if others are excited about it, it will make eating it more appetizing.
5. Set a rule in your home for how many times you will repeat a meal (perhaps during food prep) per week. For example, if you make Salsa Chicken this week, you cannot make it again for 2 weeks. 

How do you increase variety week to week while still eating clean?

Eating Clean Means Consuming Calories!

We are going to assume that since you are here you want a healthy, lean body.  In order to achieve that you must EAT!  Knowing that we eat 5-6 times per day you have probably realized that we eat a lot of food! For some reason our society thinks that you need to restrict calories.  You NEED to eat.  You NEED calories.  Don't obsess over the number of calories - pay attention to the quality of the food!  It's true...you might lose weight initially by restricting your calories but you will wreak havoc on your metabolism and that is a long road to recovery!

It is okay that you don't know everything about nutrition (neither do we!) - unfortunately it is not a widely taught subject.  We mentioned in our previous post "Clean Eating: How Much Should You Eat?", that we do not count calories or macros on a normal basis (only when preparing for a special event).  There are a few reasons for this and they are that counting everything can become very time consuming and obsessive plus we tend to eat the same things so there really isn't a need to count the same foods each day!

What is a calorie?

CALORIE (according to Merriam-Webster)

cal·o·rie (noun) : a unit of heat used to indicate the amount of energy that foods will produce in the human body

Most clean diets consist of a balance of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. If you eat the correct proportions of each you will be on your way to a healthy lifestyle and you will probably notice you have a ton of energy (and I bet your cravings will go away!).

The chart below shows you how many calories are in a gram of each "source".

If you are new to the clean eating lifestyle, check out our "Start Here" page and read our "Getting Started with Clean Eating" post as it will give you more information on the overall lifestyle.  We also have eBooks on Getting Started with Clean Eating and Food Prep to get you started or to continue your journey.  If you are looking for a workout plan to get you headed in the right direction you can get started with our She Sweats 12-Week Transformation and then once you are ready move onto the She Sweats Extreme 4-Week Shred.

- The Gang