Reality Check - 'Clean Eating'

With an ever-increasing focus on achieving a complete healthy and fit lifestyle I think some key points have become warped and misguided. First up, and the focus for this post – is ‘clean eating’.

Originally a term used to demonstrate the inclusion of more wholesome, unrefined foods, having traceability and getting in the kitchen for some home cooking, it seems to have developed into a social-media hype. Focus has shifted onto raw foods, cutting sugar or other food groups completely out of your meals or following the paleo or juice diet. I’ll admit, I tried to ‘quit sugar’ myself, and I’ve tried various different ‘diets’ to some extent but bottom line…they’re not sustainable for the majority of us. They’re also quite expensive and unhealthy!

Eating should be as much about enjoying your food as it is nourishing your body and fuelling your everyday. Try not to get bogged down in the #hashtag trends…they’re often only a snippet of the individuals’ day (myself included) and most likely fail to show a true reflection of anything.

Society is so filtered, manipulated, categorised and - dare I say it? - fake. People only show you what they want you to see. Which is harmless as long as the people seeing it can understand that to be accepted you don’t have to copy it. You don’t have to remove all elements of joy from your diet and a doughnut isn’t ‘dirty’ in the sense that a raw pad thai is ‘clean’.

Adopting a positive relationship with food is paramount and I’d like to reaffirm that, in my opinion, ‘clean eating’ is essentially eating real food for the majority without denying yourself anything long term.

My pointers?

• Eat veggies – hide some in pasta sauce, turn them into dips or add them to smoothies
• Incorporate wholesome carbs (brown rice, pasta, potatoes), protein and healthy fats into each meal
• Don’t cut anything out unless you truly need to i.e. you’re gluten intolerant
• Be prepared – keep some simple, no-prep snacks on hand to save you grabbing a daily chocolate bar
• Cook from scratch where possible but don’t think you’ve failed because you’re eating something that’s come out of a packet or box – pasta, beans and tuna come packaged and technically they’re ‘processed’ but we shouldn’t stop eating them
• Cut back on refined foods and sugars but don’t feel guilty when you want a piece of cake, some crisps and dip or a burger at a summer BBQ!

Enjoyed every last crumb...