
Eating Clean
Sat Jan 17 2015

Mandy Mortimer tackles Clean Eating on our behalf, and explains what it’s really all about.
So, what’s this “Eating Clean” business all about? No, it doesn’t have anything to do with scrubbing your fruits and veg vigorously before preparing them, although a rinse off is always advisable, Clean Eating is about the types of food we should be eating. More importantly, about the types of food we shouldn’t be eating!
Clean Eating has a few things in common with the Paleo diet, which you can read about (here) but it’s far less restrictive, a good thing when you have fussy eaters in the house!
The concept is simple. Eat the way your great, great, great grandmammy ate. That is; no processed foods, no foods with strange and unpronounceable ingredients on the label, no foods with refined sugars or man-made fats.
Think about how people would have eaten three or four generations back. They would have bought most ingredients on the day of cooking as cold storage wasn’t as we’re lucky to have it today. They would have enjoyed fruits and vegetables in their seasonable prime, bursting with nutrients and flavour. Any meat bought would undoubtedly have been “organic” and “free-range” as they would have known no other way of farming their herds.
Basically, good quality whole foods packed with flavour, vitamins and minerals.
If going back to the basics of nutritious living sounds good to you, then here are the basic do’s and don’ts.
Eat Whole and Natural Foods:
- Whole foods is a trendy word at the moment, but basically it means foods that haven’t been overly processed either in a lab or by the manufacturer.
- Stick to fresh ingredients where possible.
- Choose wholegrains like brown or wild rice, quinoa and barley.
- Choose wholegrain, multigrain or wholeseed breads.
Eat Unrefined Foods:
- Use natural sweeteners like raw honey, palm sugar or maple syrup.
- If you enjoy baking, substitute some of the plain flour for wholemeal flour.
Eat Natural Fats:
- This includes butter, coconut oil, macadamia nut and sesame seed oil. Also lard, goose and duck fat.
- Avoid trans-fats which can be found in margarine and other bread spreads.
Cook Your Own Meals:
- Use fresh ingredients to make your own meals from scratch.
Don’t Drink Your Calories:
- Fruit and vegetable smoothies may seem like a healthy option, but if you were to take the ingredients from one smoothie and put them all on a plate in front of you, would you eat them all in one sitting? Probably not, that’s because it would be too much. When combined in a smoothie, you’re effectively eating at least double the amount of calories, a lot of those being sugars. You’re also losing out on a lot of the fibre content.
- Fizzy drinks are also a no-no, even diet ones. They’re loaded with chemicals and refined sugar.
- Instead, stick to water, or if you do enjoy fruit juices, choose juices not made from concentrate and dilute them with some water, sparkling if you enjoy the fizz.
Even if you don’t have the time to make everything from scratch, you can at least make Clean Eating decisions. Go for the unsweetened and unsalted jar of peanut butter instead of the alternative. Choose wholegrain over white. Read the labels on your food and put back anything that looks as though it went somewhere near a lab.
You’ll find that going back to basics with food will make a big difference. You’ll have more energy and feel healthier, and, you won’t feel as though you’ve chosen a rabbit’s diet!
About the author
Mandy is the writer and photographer behind the popular food blog, “What the Fruitcake?!”
She loves to cook but is a fanatic about all things baked. She spends most of her free time perusing foodie sites for delicious inspiration.