Eating Clean

Clean eating begins with colorful eating

Clean eating has become a trend in the past few years. A simple definition of clean eating is building a diet around whole, unprocessed foods: fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, whole grains and lean proteins. Clean eating will require you to change the way you shop, as well as the way you see food in general. It doesn’t mean, however, that you’re stuck eating bean sprouts and wheatgrass. Here are five quick tips that can help you eat clean and enjoy every bite you take.

Proteins: Think outside the box

The Standard American Diet has changed drastically over the past few decades: a timeline published by the New York Times shows how industrialization has made foods full of refined sugars and fats cheap and widely available. The modern feedlot method has also made meat cheap to produce and buy, which means that American eaters tend to build meals around high-fat animal proteins.

The New Food Pyramid Unveiled

For more than a year, the US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services have been meeting to formulate the new dietary guidelines which are required by law to be revised every five years.

Despite special interest groups’ involvement in the process, the government has done a great job with the new guidelines. The guidelines include focusing on reducing calories (2/3 of adults and 1/3 of children are overweight or obese) and eating fewer processed foods.

The confusing food pyramid has been replaced with a simple plate with a new look. Half of the plate is filled with vegetables and fruit, ¼ of the plate is filled with grains, and ¼ filled with protein.

Vegetables and fruits can be fresh, cooked, whole, frozen, pureed, or canned. Grains should be whole grains. Stay away from products and bread make with white flour. Try brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole wheat bread instead. And don’t forget the low-fat, low cost, healthier sources of protein including beans and legumes.

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by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com. 

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