What is Clean Eating? Tips, Meal Plans and Recipes

We learned about clean eating 5 years ago. It’s been a gamechanger not only for our weight loss journey but our overall health. Now we’re breaking down the basics for a Beginners Guide to Eating Clean.

In this guide you’ll find:

• Clean Eating Diet Defined
• Tips on How to Eat Clean
• Sample Food List
• Easy Clean Eating Recipes
• Clean Eating Meal Plan
• Eating Clean on a Budget
• Reading Nutrition Labels Made Easy
• Our Favorite Books and Magazines

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Why We Eat Clean

We found clean eating 6 years ago when our digestion, energy, and bloodwork was all out of whack. We considered our diet to be healthy most of the time, but on a stressful week, the drive-thru became a definite crutch.

Add in lean cuisines, instant oatmeal, and an occasional protein bar and it’s no wonder our bodies were upset.

But it’s hard to know what to eat, and then make the time and budget to make it happen. After all, lean cuisines and instant oatmeal sound pretty decent from a weight loss perspective, right?

In fact, we had weight loss down! We knew about counting calories, worked out 3x a week and our friends would say we were the healthiest person they knew.

Mind you – we are in a small Southern town, but still. Yikes!

Within 2 weeks, we learned clean eating was more than just a diet to promote weight loss. It was about fueling our body in the right way.

WHAT IS CLEAN EATING?

Clean eating is focusing your diet on whole, unprocessed foods. This way of eating focuses on whole foods which help limit sugar, saturated fat, and processed foods.

If I had to summarize eating clean in 1 rule, it would be:

If it doesn’t come from the ground or have a mother, don’t eat it.

This means choosing foods in the least-processed state. For example, an apple over apple juice.

While some boxed foods are okay, a general rule would be to avoid them because they are usually very processed.

It’s getting back to the basics. We know things from the ground have been eaten for thousands of years whereas the long-term of effects of Cheetos are unknown.

An Eat Clean Overview from its creator, Tosca Reno:

“You will eat lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. These practices keep your blood-sugar levels stable and keep you satisfied. The best part is that if you need to lose weight it will happen almost without you having to try. And yes, you can have a treat now and again.”

Eat Clean Principles

• Choose foods in their basic form or foods with fewer ingredients.
• Plan time to fuel your body. You’ll eat 3-5 times a day, and you’ll need to make those meals mindfully.
• Choose more local, fresh foods when possible.
• Eat more plant-based foods

You may also like to read: The Difference Between The Paleo Diet and Eating Clean

CAN YOU HAVE MEAT, DAIRY OR GRAINS ON THE EAT-CLEAN DIET?

Yes, you can have all 3! The Eat Clean Diet is not an elimination diet; it’s more about choosing the highest quality foods.

If you believe you could have a food allergy to one of those, I would highly suggest the Whole 30. It’s a 30-day elimination diet to find out what is upsetting your system.

What Can You Eat on the Whole 30 Diet? Your Guide & FAQ

6 TIPS ON HOW TO EAT CLEAN

1.  Avoid Processed Foods

I know – I sound like a broken record.

This is the biggest rule in the eat clean diet though.

By cutting out processed foods, you’ll also cut back on your consumption of added sugars and salts, GMOs, MSG, and other possibly harmful chemicals. By avoiding these foods, you’ll likely feel better with improved digestion and energy, and you will also likely have fewer cravings.

Even foods marketed as healthy may contain added ingredients which is why we’ll talk about reading nutritional labels in detail below.

Unprocessed Foods:

• Fresh Produce
• Dried legumes
• Nuts
• Farm-fresh eggs

Minimally processed foods include:

• Unrefined grains (whole wheat bread and pasta, popcorn, steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa, and brown rice).
• Frozen Produce
• Good quality meats: Wild is better than pastured, and pastured is better than grain-fed. However, all 3 options are okay.
• Organic, Hormone-free dairy
• Oils

You might also like How to Find the Best Clean Bread

Grab our Clean Eating Grocery List

2. Shop Local

Shopping your local farmers market can cut down on chemicals used during travel, and the packaging is also usually better.

Some locations are easier than others due to climate though. Challenge yourself to try a new seasonal veggie each season.

3. Eat Throughout the Day

Tosca Reno, the creator of the diet, suggests eating 5 to 6 times a day. For us, this looks like 3 meals and 2-3 snacks. One of our snacks is pre- and post- workout.

Eating like this keeps you feeling full and wards off any last-minute temptations and cravings.

4. Practice Portion Control

Just because you’re eating healthy foods doesn’t mean you can eat huge portions of them. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll want to especially watch your portions.

The diet doesn’t require you to count calories; however, I like using a meal plan or portion-controlled containers to keep my eating in check.

11 Surprising Portion Control Tips to Hit Your Goal Weight

If you check out the post above, it outlines what a serving and a portion is for each food group, and how to find your magic portion size.

5. Watch What You Drink

Water is a staple in clean eating. It helps detox the body, keeps our energy up and promotes an overall healthy system.

You will need to skip all sodas, water-add ins like Crystal Light and processed juices. Freshly brewed teas are okay.

Its recommended that the average adult drinks 64 oz a day. This amount should be evenly spaced throughout the day as well.

6. Shop the Perimeter

Having a clean eating grocery list going into a shop is the most helpful hack to staying on track.

Then, the freshest foods are in the perimeter of the grocery store. It usually starts with fresh fruits and veggies, goes to minimally processed meats, and then to fresh dairy items.

The aisles of the grocery store are where things get tricky. How processed is too processed? That’s where reading labels come in handy.

If you want to keep it simple though – shop fresh!

11 Secrets Shop Healthier at the Grocery Store

The exceptions to the avoiding-the-aisle-rule are for steel cut oats, frozen chicken or veggies. Keep in mind professional marketers will have you thinking anything is healthy with enough money. Those “Wheat Thins” – aren’t wheat and they aren’t making anyone thin.

READING FOOD LABELS FOR CLEAN EATING

As we mentioned, marketing food is a huge business. It’s up to us as the consumer to know what we’re eating.

Mind you – this guide is based on our experience and thoughts on the subject – everyone’s food label tolerance may be different.

How Many Ingredients

We want to choose something with no more than 5 to 6 ingredients. This keeps the level of processing down.

The type of ingredients matters too. You want to be able to read and know what each one is, and you want to avoid chemical words and partially hydrogenated oils.

If it has a ton of ingredients ask yourself, how else could I make this? An example of this would be when shopping for marinara sauce. There is no reason for it to contain more than 6 ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, onion, mushrooms…).

EASY CLEAN EATING RECIPES

We aren’t exactly the ones to create recipes, but we have some amazing resources and love finding new yummy meals to try! We hope you enjoy these easy clean eating recipes.

Breakfast Recipes

• Wild Blueberry Orange Scones
• Protein Pancakes
• Waffles
• Snickerdoodle Oatmeal
• Apple Pie Overnight Oats

Snacks

• Sweet Potato Bars
• Pumpkin Spice Latte Bars
• Apple Crisp Muffins
• Pumpkin Pie Energy Balls
• 51 Snack Ideas
• Ebook with 42 More Snacks

Lunch or Dinner Recipes

• Crockpot Savory Superfood Soup
• Arugula, Grape, and Sunflower Seed Salad
• Corn, Black Bean, and Mango Salad
• Healthy Chinese Recipe
• Broiled Flat Iron Steak with Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes
• Clean Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken
• Clean Eating Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
• Mushroom Stroganoff 
• Vegetable Soup

Desserts

• Chocolate Chip Fudge
• Golden Donuts
• Pumpkin Roll Cake
• Baby Almond Joys

Struggling with Meal Prep?

We love this meal prepping guide, as well as, this 7 week meal plan!

CLEAN EATING MEAL PLAN

We are meal plan girls. We love them, and we try to incorporate them in everything we do. They hold us accountable to our goals, help us meal prep and track our food without obsessing over it.

We wanted to provide our personal Eat Clean Meal Plan for your inspiration. It includes Shakeology which helped us with our meal prep time and it’s a minimally processed shake. You can always sub in something else. We just have loved the superfoods shake for years, and it along with eating clean has helped our overall weight loss and health the most.

If you’re new to the diet, also check out Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Recharged book! It has 3 different meal plans in it from the creator of the diet. Each meal plan has a specific goal in mind as well which was so helpful!

Print this Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan

What is Shakeology?

FAVORITE EAT CLEAN BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

We wanted to also provide access to our favorite resources for eating clean.

BOOKS:

• Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Recharged (Master the basics and meal plan)
• Eat Clean Diet Cookbook for Family and Kids
• Tosca’s Vegetarian Cookbook

MAGAZINES:

• Clean Eating Magazine
• Oxygen Magazine

DOES EATING CLEAN GUARANTEE WEIGHT LOSS?

In short, no. You will still need to track your food in some way to eat the right amount. You could track by counting calories, using a set meal plan or watching your portions.

But clean eating doesn’t guarantee weight loss. There are several cases of people losing weight and being able to improve their fitness as well through this diet plan though. We’ll share Carol’s testimonial below as a video.

You may also enjoy our Healthy Living Guide with Free Meal Plans

EATING CLEAN ON A BUDGET

We know it can be expensive to shop fresh. It’s a lot cheaper to eat off the dollar menu for now – but what are those foods doing to your body long term?

This way of eating has to be a priority in order for it to work. Not only is it more expensive than you might be used to, but the meal prep takes effort as well.

We are definitely ones that hate to see the grocery bill rise and rise. We’ve broken down some of our favorite tips to save.

• Buy beans, whole grains, oats, and whole grain flours in bulk. They’ll have a longer shelf life than fresh veggies.
• Shop seasonal, local produce. Sometimes local communities offer a break if you buy a monthly box of produce. Seasonal items can be cheaper as well.
• Clip coupons. Apps like Ibotta  even have rebates on fresh fruits and veggies! Also, keep your eyes peeled for deals on frozen fruits and veggies.
• Cook more. Eating out is harder on this plan, and it’s more expensive than cooking usually.
• Do a meatless Monday. Since meat is expensive, why not make it a family tradition to do a meatless Monday meal. Healthy and cheap!
• Buy the whole chicken. You can always freeze what you don’t use. You could have chicken breast one night, use the bone for broth, and dark meat for a chili.

Get $10 for signing up for Ibotta from a desktop or mobile device

Don’t skimp on the Diry Dozen.

These foods contain the most pesticides so it’s worth looking into organic options.

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Bell Pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Pears
9. Grapes
10. Spinach
11. Lettuce
12. Potatoes

A way around this is to choose produce with a thicker skin like bananas, oranges, and pineapples.

IS THIS A SUSTAINABLE DIET PLAN?

If its important to you – yes. You aren’t cutting out any food groups in this plan, and it’s not restrictive on your calories. It’s more of a lifestyle than a rigid diet plan.

With that said, we (mom and I) believe that everything in moderation is good (including moderation!). We eat clean 80-90% of the time, and the other 10% is our wiggle room for a good wine, cheat meal, and desserts.

You can, of course, have a wine or dessert on the plan, but I’m pretty sure Mrs. Edward’s pecan pie isn’t on the plan.

Not having to worry about following every rule 100% of the time really helped our perfectionism let go a little. Plus 80-90% clean is a huge improvement from our lean cuisine days.

If you’d like to learn more about out 80/20 way of eating and gain more tips on healthy eating in general – check out our Healthy Living Guide.

What do you think about the Eat Clean Diet?

Does it work for you? Why or why not?