5 Tips to Start Eating Clean Today

Eating clean may seem like a simple notion but adopting the lifestyle itself can prove challenging for most. Whole foods like fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, plant-based proteins, and whole grains become the staple of your diet. Meanwhile, you reduce your intake of large amounts of sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, refined grains, additives, and preservatives.

Making such a change can be daunting. Upon transitioning into clean eating, it is highly likely you will encounter a few bumps in the road. The good news is that clean eating doesn’t have to be a difficult task. After all, this way of life is all about eating the healthiest of food groups. With proper tips and a clean eating playbook in hand, you can successfully navigate the bumps to reach the other side.

Here are five tips on how to start eating clean today.

Start with a Single Meal

Avoid making sweeping changes to your diet right away. Consider this; it may require a full year for you to make the transition. Instead, make gradual changes to your eating habits by starting with a single meal. According to Prevention Magazine, breakfast is an excellent choice for initiating your move to cleaner eating. Begin by removing processed meat like sausages and replacing it with two eggs or ditching those sweet cereals for whole-wheat toast and unsweetened peanut butter.

Plan Your Meals and Cook Your Own Food

Consistently planning your meals is the best first step you can take. This plan becomes the basis for your shopping list and what it is you will consume for the week. It also helps you to stay on track. Use the plan to introduce new foods into your meals slowly and as a method to gradually remove the bad stuff. Remember, try to avoid cutting everything out at once. Your body will not be able to adjust. Instead, plan each week out methodically. Keep a few of your favorites but make small changes.

Next, cook your food as much as possible. The only way to know what’s in your food and about to go into your body is to prepare it yourself. This action will enable you to feel confident in the fact that you are keeping with your new standards for clean eating. Research meals that fit the clean eating lifestyle. Sites like eatingwell.com and cleaneatmag.com are fantastic sources of information. YouTube university also offers a wealth of videos with clean eating recipes.

If planning to eat out with your friends, do all that you can in advance to prepare for the experience so that you can stay on track.

Keep Your Produce in Stock

One of the most significant components of clean eating is fruits and veggies. Make sure you stock up on your fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables will provide you with much-needed fiber which plays a critical role in reducing inflammation in the body, lowering cholesterol, and managing heart disease.

Eat Five to Six Meals Per Day

Eating clean will require you to eat frequent meals. This effort will help to ensure you are taking in adequate nutrients and keep your belly satisfied. Also, it will ensure that you avoid regular, unhealthy snacking.

Give Yourself Permission

Permit yourself to eat a little junk food from time to time without feeling guilty (Prevention Magazine). A taste of the bad stuff from time to time will not sabotage your clean eating lifestyle. If you deny yourself a few guilty pleasures all the time, it can set you up for failure down the road.

These are just five tips to help you start eating clean today. Every step you take towards clean eating will bring you closer to a healthier way of living. Make your experience a positive one. Your body will thank you.

Eric Dempsey

MS, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist

Living Life The Paleo Way

for

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry

Becoming A Healthy Eater

Being a healthy eater requires you to become both
educated and smart about what healthy eating
actually is. Being food smart isn't about
learning to calculate grams or ounces, or is it
about studying labels, macronutrient ratios, 

and calorie requirements.

Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate
eating, consisting of healthy meals at least
three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many
different types of foods, not limiting themselves
to one specific food type or food group.

Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You
might eat too much or not enough, consume
foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.
However, you should always fuel your body and
your brain regularly with enough food to keep
both your mind and body strong and alert.

A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy
eaters have learned to take care of themselves
and their eating with sound judgement and making
wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware
of what they eat, and know the effect that it
will have on their bodies.

When someone is unable to take control of their
eating, they are also likely to get out of control
with other aspects of life as well. They could
end up spending too much, talking too much, even
going to bed later and later.

You should always remember that restricting food
in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating
is a way of life, something that you can do to
enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you've
thought about making your life better, healthy
eating is just the place to start. You'll make
life easier for yourself, those around you, and
even your family.

Don't wait, start today!

Eric Dempsey

MS, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist

Dempseys Resolution Fitness

For

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry
 

Are Shrimp, Prawns and Shellfish High in Cholesterol?

Are Shrimp, Prawns and Shellfish High in Cholesterol?
Prawn and shrimp are technically different species. In common usage, the terms are often used interchangeably, although they can also be used to categorize size – shrimp smaller, prawns bigger.

Shrimp makes up a full 25% of the entire seafood consumption in the United States. Prawns and shrimp are also considered delicious seafood items in other countries. Worldwide, shrimp is the most frequently traded seafood, and along with prawns and other types of seafood, delivers a healthy form of protein that is also low in calories.

From a culinary and dietary perspective, and for the purposes of this article, any differences are small enough to be irrelevant. From here on, shrimp also means prawns.

Shellfish are High in Dietary Cholesterol

Shellfish is linked in many people's minds to high cholesterol, so a lot of people avoid it if their cholesterol level is elevated. Is this action justified?

Simply stated, shrimp are high in cholesterol. 100 grams of shrimp yields about 190 mg of cholesterol, more than half the recommended daily allowance. However, blaming shrimp for high cholesterol counts is a very simplistic response, based on a misunderstanding of how we get high cholesterol levels.

Dietary Cholesterol is Not the Same as Blood Cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol is not the same as the cholesterol that is measured in your blood. Most of the cholesterol in your blood in manufactured by the body, and dietary cholesterol is not the biggest factor.

This incorrect cause and effect conclusion is similar to the fat fallacy – for decades we have been led to believe that dietary fat and bodyfat were the same, so to lose weight we had to cut fat from our diet. How’s that working out?

Real science is now showing us that dietary fat is a safe form of energy supply, and simple carbs are most easily converted to bodyfat.

Similarly, if you have problems with high measured cholesterol, a couple of servings of shrimp per week are not the cause of your problem. If any seafood is implicated in raising cholesterol levels, it is far more likely that the true cause lies with the appended sauces and condiments, or the cooking method, rather than the animal itself.

Other Nutritional Benefits

Also, shrimp and other shellfish have other health benefits. While they contain many nutrients and are a good source of protein, they are often unrecognized for their omega 3 fatty acid content. All have a high component, and some species have similar amounts as highly acclaimed oily fish such as tuna and salmon.

Diets high in dietary cholesterol will contribute to high measured cholesterol, but are not the only factor. Gram for gram, shrimp will provide much more nutritional value than the highly-processed ‘foods’ that provide the bulk of many diets, and will contribute much less undesirable LDL cholesterol while doing so.

Part of a Healthy Diet

The key to overall health and well-being is eating a wide variety of healthy foods, and as few processed, fast and fried foods as possible. This means you can enjoy shrimp and other types of seafood, which have notoriously been vilified as cholesterol-boosters, as long as you eat them in moderation and in conjunction with other healthy foods.

Shrimp can be a delicious and nutritious part of your regular diet, especially if you choose broiled or boiled instead of fried. Eat shrimp, as well as other seafood, and you will be unlikely to affect your cholesterol level negatively.

Eric Dempsey

MS, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist

Dempseys Resolution Fitness

for

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry