The Best Clean Eating Recipes From My Natural Family (2024)

FAQs

What foods are best for clean eating? ›

A clean diet may include whole fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats while limiting highly processed snacks and other packaged foods with added sugar and salt. It may also be associated with terms like plant-based, grass-fed, sugar-free, or gluten-free.

For those who can tolerate dairy, cheeses can be a healthy and nutritious source of proteins and healthy fats if consumed in moderation. Cheese is allowed in the clean eating meal plan, but with an asterisk. Processed cheese slices or other packaged foods that contain cheese should be avoided.

Cottage Cheese – Technically, it's not clean. *gasp!* (Read the ingredient list). However, for many clean eaters, it is often included in day to day menus because it is such a fantastic source of low fat, non-meat protein.

Eggs are a great choice—and don't skip the yolk, or you'll miss out on extra protein and nutrients not found in the egg whites. Nuts, seeds and beans are all fantastic choices for plant-based proteins. Just be sure to look for lower-sodium options when possible.

Peanut butter can be a healthy addition to a meal or snack, but not all peanut butters are the same. Some are full of unhealthy trans fats and hydrogenated oils. Pick natural, simple mixes.

Clean foods fill your body with plentiful vitamins and minerals, high-quality protein and healthy fats, which improve heart and brain health, assist with weight management, build a stronger immune system and increase energy levels, among other benefits.

It means choosing nutrient-dense foods like veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats over products that are highly processed. Through clean eating, you can remove unnecessary “junk” from your diet like artificial sugars, chemicals, and preservatives.

“For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet.” Hu said that moderate coffee intake—about 2–5 cups a day—is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson's disease, and depression.

Are potatoes clean eating? ›

Like any food, potatoes are fine to eat in moderation. “Healthy food choices should include a variety of starchy and non-starchy vegetables,” says Dunn. “In fact, the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans includes up to 5 cups a week of starchy vegetables for those needing 2,000 calories a day.”

Bacon and other smoked, cured and processed meats are usually treated with nitrates or nitrites—chemical added to preserve shelf life and enhance color. Diets high in processed meats have been linked to chronic health conditions including migraines, asthma, heart failure, kidney disease and several types of cancer.

Clean eating also means cutting down on processed meats like cold cuts, bacon and sausage.

This elimination challenges you to eliminate certain items from your diet for 10 days: sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and processed grains. Eliminating these things will help break your bad habits, crush your cravings, reduce bloating, improve mood and increase energy.

Others adopt a “clean eating” lifestyle because they want to lose weight and body fat. And some even turn to clean eating to gain weight and lean muscle. While eating this way can and does produce weight loss for many people, it doesn't happen that way for everyone.

This means staying away from processed foods and instead opting for 'whole foods' — those that are naturally derived from the earth. Often, this involves lean proteins, fatty fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy fats like avocado and whole grains such as brown rice and oats.