By Emily Hershberger
Group Fitness Instructor & Personal Trainer at Beacon Health and Fitness-Granger
With so many fad diets out there and new diet trends constantly cropping up, it can be very difficult to make healthy choices. The word “healthy” alone can be extremely misleading when marketing trends are labeling food as a “healthy” choice, when they really may not be. When I think of a healthy food, I think back to elementary school when we were taught to eat our fruits and vegetables. So that’s a good start, we know whole fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that our bodies need; but what about everything else?
I remember a few years ago, I started to hear about eating clean. So, I started to research and read more about it. It seemed all the celebrity bodybuilders and fitness leaders were touting clean eating. But what is clean eating and why is it becoming popular? Clean eating essentially is eating whole fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, and limiting highly processed foods. Pretty simple really. So many of our foods are so highly processed anymore that we really don’t know what is in everything we eat. Here is a personal side note: the less processed the better! Stick with whole fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, and lean protein. These contain absolutely no processing and keep shopping simple. If there is something you need that is packaged or may be slightly processed, make sure to read the label. If the ingredients contain words you don’t recognize or cannot pronounce, it is highly processed. You may want to see if you can find a less processed alternative. Same with breads and grains, check the ingredients. If the label says it is “whole grain”, it may have some whole grains in it but it may also contain processed or bleached flours.
Why all the fuss about cutting out processed or highly processed foods? Think about what you are putting in your body. Two sayings come to mind, “your body is a temple” and “you are what you eat”. By putting unknown ingredients, chemicals, and fillers in your body you may be eating food that does not contain a lot of nutritional benefits and instead are mostly “empty” calories.
Here are my take-aways from eating clean or cleaner. By eating food that contains vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed and steering clear of empty calories; I feel much more energetic, my appetite is under control, and I feel confident I am eating as healthy as possible. I highly recommend giving it a try for a month (with your doctor’s permission of course), and keeping a diary of how you feel from start to finish. I think you might be surprised and thrilled to see the difference eating smart and eating clean can change how you feel.
