Define CLEAN.

I got a little ahead of myself and my friend Allie brought this to light. I think this should have been my second post! Some of you may be very familiar with the basics, others however are not, so here goes. WHAT IS CLEAN EATING?  WHAT SHOULD I AVOID? WHAT ARE SOME ESSENTIALS I SHOULD BUY?

Loaded questions, right?...how on earth did I miss this entry (kicks self)!?

I would define clean eating in a nut shell as ridding your diet of processed, refined, toxic food-like products and replacing it with healthier whole food alternatives. I'll leave it at that for now as you'll learn a little more in depth as we go along.

Foods to avoid:

• ANYTHING WHITE. Seriously. Not only are white products severely processed and stripped of almost all nutritional value, they are bleached with chlorine (hence the whiteness). So when you eat products that contain white flour, sugar, rice, breads, noodles, ect you are consuming toxic chlorine. Cool, right? :-/
• Other extremely processed foods/substances (artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, ect)
• Foods with long uncomprehendable ingredients lists. It's important to KNOW what it is you're putting in your body. By doing this you will be decreasing the amount of food additives, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives that can be harmful and toxic when consumed in excess amounts. Try to stick to ingredient lists with less than 5 ingredients when possible.
• ALL Trans fats. And minimize Saturated fats.
• Most pre-packaged and frozen pre-made meals and snacks. 
• Fatty cuts of meat, and meats that come from factory farming instead of free range grass raised animals. Factory farmed meats are loaded with steroids, hormones, and antibiotics which we then ingest secondarily. 

That about wraps up the bulk of foods to avoid, there are many specific clean eating diets that would add to the list of foods to avoid, and that would take away from some of the foods I am about to list as clean. Clean is a very relative term to one's beliefs. Some of these more specific diets include paleo, vegan, vegetarian, raw foodists, ect... I kind of eat a combination of all of these diets because I believe in some of the benefits from a lot of these diets but I also believe in listening to your body and choosing the clean lifestyle that works best for your bodies needs.

So you just clean swept your kitchen. Where do you start? This can be a daunting task to those unfamiliar with clean whole foods. This is a grocery list of some of the major basics that I always keep on hand.

Clean foods:

• PRODUCE, PRODUCE, and more PRODUCE. Obviously only keep on hand about a weeks worth of what your household will consume but you want variety. This will keep your meal options endless. Switch up the types of fruits, greens, veggies you purchase weekly so that nothing gets boring. We get a local produce basket (bountiful baskets) every Saturday. Our baskets are never the same and often gives us new fun fruits to try that I otherwise would have never opted to buy myself. Then once we see what we have in our basket I buy whatever other produce I want to use for the week. 
• 100% whole grain products (not multi-grain, multi-grain just implies they use multiple types of grains, it doesn't necessarily mean the entire nutritious fibrous grain is included). These include whole wheat/grain noodles, breads (watch ingredients lists and sugar content though), tortillas, steel cut or 100% rolled oats, and brown rice.
• Quinoa is an excellent mild versatile grain-like crop that can be used as a rice or pasta substitute as well. It's also a complete protein- score!!
• A variety of raw unsalted nuts, seeds, and dried fruits (however watch the added sugar on the dried fruit) make great quick snacks, granola, and additives for salads and such.
• Find your favorite healthy fat substitute: the two I use religiously are olive oil and coconut oil.
• Greek yogurt. I use it as a substitute for mayonnaise, sour cream, or eat it as a snack with some honey and fruit.
• Sugar substitutes such as raw honey, agave nectar, and stevia. 
• Lean grass fed, free range meats and eggs (look for labels like organic, grass fed, no hormone added, free range)
• For those cheese lovers try to stick to white cheeses as they are generally leaner

This is a list that will get you started and although it's all simple relatively whole ingredients that possibilities are endless. Organic is always the best option when feasible. 

Here is a smoothie to get you started on your clean eating endeavor using your freshly bought produce! CHEERS!

Creamy Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

6-8 fresh strawberries

1 ripe banana

2 TBSP plain greek yogurt

1 c. vanilla almond milk (or other milk of choice).

about 5 ice cubes

optional add-ins I commonly use: handful of spinach and chia seeds. 

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Indulge guilt-lessly.