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Five Principles of Clean Eating

Before embarking on a clean eating plan, it’s important to know a bit
more about the principles that are at the heart of this lifestyle. The
purpose of eating clean is to fuel your body with the healthiest, most
natural foods possible. Keep these five important principles in mind:
1 Choose whole, natural foods and avoid those that
are processed and refined. The easiest way to stick to a
clean eating plan is to buy whole foods and cook them yourself, like
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people did a couple of generations ago, before convenience items
were available. When you can, buy local produce, meats, and dairy,
which ensures freshness, supports local communities, and is good
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for the environment, too. Today, more supermarkets than ever
before are carrying locally grown and produced items. They are the
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optimal choices for eating clean. Your best bet is to stay away from
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packaged food that’s traveled from a factory or another country,
and processed foods with long ingredient lists.
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2 Read the labels. When reading packaged food labels, don’t
let low-fat, no-fat, or reduced-fat fool you. To replace the
fat and sugars, unrecognizable compounds have been added to
3e the product taste better. And who wants to eat something
mak
that sounds like a science experiment? A good rule of thumb to go
by is: If the label includes more than five ingredients, it’s probably
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not clean. And if an ingredient is unrecognizable or something that
does not sit on the shelf in your clean eating pantry (see page 50 for
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the first of four weekly clean eating pantry lists), it’s probably not
clean either.

3 Include some protein, carbohydrate, and fat at every
meal. Eating a balanced diet is the key to staying satisfied
throughout the day. The trickiest part for most people is getting
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enough protein. Protein is crucial for building muscles and it helps
you feel energetic longer. Adding a cup of beans to your meal or
munching on a handful of nuts is a great way to add protein to your
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diet. Pay attention to the composition of your meals and be sure
they are balanced.

20 28 Days of Clean Eating