15 Transition Tips to Clean Eating

To transition to a clean eating lifestyle, consider the following tips and tricks.

Increase Your Water Intake

Drinking plenty of water is beneficial for clean eating for numerous reasons. It can boost your energy, help you feel full from fewer calories, improve exercise performance, detoxify your body, and allow you to shed pounds or maintain a healthy weight. Men should aim for 16 cups of water daily. You might need more or less, depending on your unique needs. Aim to keep your urine clear or light yellow in color, which is a sign of proper hydration.

Eat More Plant Foods

Many types of plant foods aren't processed at all or are minimally processed. Increasing your intake of plant-based foods can optimize clean eating, reduce cholesterol and heart disease risks, and help you achieve a healthy weight. When eating clean is your goal, increase your intake of plant-based foods. Choose plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, unrefined oils, and other nutritious fats.

Shop for Whole Foods

Shopping for whole foods is as simple as knowing what to look for and reading nutrition facts labels to ensure the foods and drinks you choose are minimally processed – or better yet not processed at all. Choose fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats over those that are canned, cured, fried, or breaded. When in doubt, check the ingredient list on food labels to detect or rule out preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, added sugar, syrups, and other additives.

Divide Your Plate Into Sections

A simple way to eat clean is to choose foods from the clean eating list above and divide your plate into halves. Fill half of each plate with non-starchy vegetables and the other half with protein foods plus whole, fiber-rich starches. Eat healthy fats at each meal plus three servings of calcium-rich dairy foods or plant-based dairy alternatives. Add in fruit once or twice daily and drink plenty of water.

Eliminate Processed Foods (One at a Time)

What is clean eating? It involves eliminating highly processed foods. While it may be difficult to eliminate all processed foods on your first day of clean eating, you don't have to go all or nothing – especially right away. Begin by slowly eliminating specific unhealthy foods, one at a time, until eating clean feels like a breeze. You might start by eliminating soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks from your diet for a week or two, before nixing additional junk foods (one food at a time) from your meal plan.

Splurge Once and Awhile

Even if you decide to follow a strict clean eating meal plan, allow yourself a chance to splurge once and awhile if you'd like to. Give yourself a cheat meal (or an entire cheat day) once weekly or as needed. Don't be too hard on yourself if you have an off day or even a bad week of eating. Simply start fresh the next day to get back on track.

Write Down What You Eat

Without writing down what you eat, it's often difficult to determine whether or not you're really eating clean. Use a paper food journal or app to track foods and drinks (including amounts) you consume on a daily basis. Set goals and track your progress over time. You might be eating more (or fewer) processed foods than you think! Studies show that recording your food intake can help you eat fewer calories overall to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Aim to eat three meals plus two to three snacks (or five to six small meals) throughout the day. Try to eat at the same times daily as part of your regular routine.

Nix Alcohol

Alcohol is a toxin you don't need in your body as it can make you feel tired, give you headaches, and add unnecessary calories that contribute to weight gain. Alcohol is also a risk factors for six common types of cancer. While alcohol isn't part of a clean eating diet, don't feel bad if you have a drink or two from time to time. Limit alcohol as much as you can and don't exceed two alcoholic drinks daily for men. If you do drink, choose light beer or hard liquor mixed with calorie-free club soda.

Listen to Your Body

Listen to your body when deciding what you should eat. You might crave foods or nutrients your body needs more of. For example, you may experience cravings for citrus fruits, dark red vegetables, avocados or other high-fat foods, or protein-rich options. You might even have an urge to eat sodium-rich foods after a long workout in which you loose large amounts of sodium through sweating. Aim to eat clean as much as possible, but listen to your body when deciding which foods you should choose.

Shop at Health Food Stores

Shopping at brick-and-mortar or online health food stores makes choosing whole foods a lot easier. Examples of whole food stores that offer numerous healthy options include Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Thrive Market, and many others. While it's still important to read nutrition facts labels, shopping at whole food or organic grocery store chains makes shopping for clean foods and drinks simple and fast.

Dine Out Less

Eating at restaurants can take a toll on your waistline and overall health. While possible, it's more difficult to eat clean when you dine out. One reason is that you can't be entirely sure which ingredients get added to favorite menu items, or the nutritional and total calorie content of foods. If you do dine out when eating clean, order grilled or baked meats without breading or sauces – and always order salads with the dressing on the side. Or, you might choose restaurant foods as part of your weekly cheat meals!

Go Organic When Possible

Choosing organic options when you eat clean is a good way to ensure the foods you put into your body are free from hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. While organic foods are often more expensive, you can have peace of mind knowing what you're eating adheres to strict guidelines during the process of growing, harvesting, and preparing for consumption.

Try Health Food Delivery Services

To avoid grocery shopping and measuring your own ingredients, or even skip food prep entirely, consider trying a home delivery meal service. Upon doing so you can receive nutritious foods, ingredients, or ready-made healthy meals you simply have to heat up. Consider Freshly, Daily Harvest, Snap Kitchen, or other healthy home delivery options.

Analyze Recipes

When eating clean, make sure the ingredients in your favorite recipes are free from added sugar, preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, other fillers, and excessive sodium. Analyze the recipes to ensure their ingredients mainly consist of whole foods, or make healthy ingredient substitutions as needed. For example, you might substitute olive oil for butter, low-sodium broth for traditional chicken broth, herbs for salt, very lean (organic) fresh meat instead of highly processed or canned meat, rolled oats in place of bread crumbs, and brown rice instead of white rice.

Join an Organized Healthy Living Program

If you struggle to eat clean and would like additional guidance, custom meal plans, and health coaching support, as well as unlimited access to nutritious recipes, social support, weekly newsletters, and fat-burning or muscle-building workouts, consider signing up with us.