Clean Eating Transition- Part 2 Clean Eating

CLEAN EATING

Clean eating means maintaining a well-balanced diet, focused on long term sustainability, free of the JUNK that has crept into America's Standard American Diet (S.A.D. because it truly is..) 

Brendan Brazier has a wonderful book called "Thrive; The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life."  

The basis for this blog is what is essentially outlined in that book.  

Clean eating simplified.  Nutrition simplified.

Clean eating does not mean you will be deprived of wonderful delicious foods.  That is a big misconception that people came up with because they couldn't visualize it being more than eating a bunch of salads.. Nope.  There is sooooo much good food that you can eat.  The best part really is that with the plan I will walk you through, there is NO calorie counting.  You eat the amount of food required to fuel your body and no more, no less.  AMAZING!  

So, how do we eat clean without having to count calories as the current American diet trends wish for you to do so you buy their 100 calorie pack foods instead of checking the ingredients.

**We focus on eating High Net-Gain Foods.  These are the baseline.  Foods that have the most Value to us nutritionally.

"Net-Gain= Energy and usable sustenance AFTER digestion."

Since a Calorie is supposed to measure the amount of energy in a food, wouldn't that mean eating MORE calories??  NOPE!  If it were that way, Burger King and Mc Donalds would be a great source of energy through food but instead we feel sluggish and disgusting afterwards... 

That is because it takes a lot of energy to process those foods.  The amount of energy that remains after this process with these foods is slim to none and often leaves us in a deficit.

I know, I know, the last diet trends taught you that you WANT a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, right?  Well, we have to be able to rebuild our cells, have enough energy to perform required daily tasks.

When we eat high net gain foods, we have more usable energy after the digestion process and you will feel and probably look much better!!

Since we are giving our cells the energy they need to rebuild, you will also experience quicker recovery after hard workouts!  Bam!  Winning!

So, what foods are considered High Net-Gain Foods?  Brendan describes them as "Raw, Alkalinizing, enzyme-intact foods."

When eating clean, we avoid processed foods.  Don't try to over-complicate thinking about this "clean eating business."  If you think simply, it makes it so much easier!  You know what foods are processed.  They come in fancy little packages that promise reduced fat or low calories, they probably even have a catchy gimmick to try to get your kids to convince you to buy it, even if you already knew it was bad!  

Clean foods are easy to find in grocery stores.. yup! They are most often around the outer edges of the store vice those aisles filled with cute little packages and promises of slimmer waists..  

So, why Alkaline? Our bodies function best in an alkaline state.  If we consume too many foods that are acidic, our body will try its best to keep our blood alkaline which means it will rob nutrients from other places in our body like our alkaline bones in order to maintain alkalinity.  If your body fails at remaining alkaline, well acidosis and death may occur.  Also, Cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment.  Could there be a tie between the rise in cancer and the S.A.D.?

Easy ways to figure out whether a food is more alkaline or acidic:

1. You can Google it!  There is so much out there!

2. Ask yourself, "Is it Processed?" Yes= Acidic

3. "       "            , "Has it had the fiber removed?" Yes= Acidic

4. "       "            , "Has it been isolated?"  Yes= Acidic (ex: removal of carb and fat to create                                                                                                     protein isolate)

5. "       "            , "Is it RAW?" (flash pasteurization is okay)

6. "       "            , "Does the protein source contain chlorophyll?"  Is it green?

Another thing that we want to strive for is something called "One-step Nutrition"

These are foods that are already in a form that is usable by the body.  No breakdown/conversion required.  

These are foods that are rich in simple carbs, amino acids, and fatty acids.  If you are following along in Brendan's book they are listed on p58, 59, and 60 respectively.

Your goals in transitioning to a clean diet:

1.  Drink a Nutritious Shake/Smoothie each day  (Shakeology or a Vega smoothie for those                                                                                            on the go)

2.  Eat a BIG Green Salad Daily  

3.  Eat a Raw Energy Bar Daily  (Can buy or make your own!)

4.  Eat a substantial, balanced afternoon snack

Start transitioning slowly.  Bring one of these items in until you are ready to add another.  Jumping into it will add stress and will likely result in bad cravings and a relapse after a few days..

Some foods to start cutting out of your diet (due to common food sensitivities) are corn, wheat (especially Gluten), dairy, and soy.  You can slowly bring them in, one at a time later.  When bringing these foods back in, allow several days (4days to a week) before bringing in another item because sensitivities may not be evident immediately.

XOs,
Jess

If you are interested in purchasing Shakeology, here are the links: 

Shakeology Website

BeachBody Website

If you are interested in producing Vega products and Brendan's book:

Vega's Website

Clean Eating Transition- Part 1 Addressing Cravings and Stressors

CRAVINGS!!

We have all been there, driving home from work or walking through a store when, BAM!  A craving hits you! It doesn't matter what the craving is for, what matters is what your brain is trying to communicate.  

There are many things that trigger certain cravings, one of them being a need for a certain nutrient that you are currently running low on.  Here are some examples:

Other types of cravings are triggered by stressors that trigger an emotional need for a certain food.

So, how do we approach cravings?  Well, first, you should try to identify if something is stressing you and causing the craving or whether your body is deficient in a nutrient.  If you feel like it is not stress but rather a nutrient issue, reference the column "What to Eat Instead" related to your craving.

Sugary foods are also craved to release seratonin.  The best ways to naturally boost seratonin are Natural light and Healthy, Nutrient-rich foods.

In order to relieve stress-related cravings, you have to target the stressor itself.  
There are 3 main types of stress (according to Brendan Brazier's Thrive):
1.  Complimentary- Ex: Exercise
2.  Uncomplimentary- Ex:Psycological stress/general stress
3.  Production- Ex: Meeting deadline for work/personal goal

Complimentary and Production stress yield benefits where Uncomplimentary does not.  Because of this we are going to focus on Uncomplimentary stress primarily.

There are 3 Main causes of Uncomplimentary stress, do you want to try to guess what makes up 70% of this stress?  

No?

The Foods we eat.  Nutritional stress is the largest percentage in a normal person's daily stressors, psychological and environmental make up 20 and 10% respectively. 

Eating processed garbage is a huge stress on our body.  Our body has to try to figure out how to process this unnatural thing and pull whatever fuel it can salvage to keep our bodies functioning and generating new cells, etc.  Not eating enough nutrient-rich foods is also stressful.  We could talk about this for hours which is why my next post introduces us to clean eating.  

If we do not give our bodies the proper nutrients and maintain a generally alkaline diet, our body will begin to pull resources from other places within our bodies, like our BONES!  No thanks!  

I know homework sucks, I hate it too, but you have homework!  Write down all of your Stressors and identify which ones are beneficial and which ones we need to get to work on!  

The next post is about Clean Eating.  This means eating a well-balanced diet that focuses on long-term sustainability.  ;)

XOs,
Jess