Rules For Clean Eating

** Keep Your Food Real - What goes in your mouth has to be whole, unprocessed, nutrient dense and properly prepared. For instance, an apple is an apple, it looks like real food.

**Eat More Not Less - Skipping meals slows your metabolism. Eating frequently helps moderate blood sugar levels, so you don’t binge or overeat.

**Eat Like A Baby - Babies eat every two to three hours; you should too. This powers up your metabolism, keeps your blood sugar level and helps prevent overeating.

**Break the Fast – Never skip breakfast. This is you opportunity to nourish yourself properly after several hours of not eating and sets your metabolism in motion to burn fat.

**Plan Your Meals – Think eating clean takes too much time? Planning ahead is the answer. Plan your meals for the next week on Saturday or Sunday.

**Smaller Potions equals Small Pants – Too much of a good thing is still too much of a good thing. Use your hands as a guide to keep portions in check (e.g. one serving of lean protein = 4 ounces or the palm of your hand; one serving of complex carbs = one cupped hand; and one serving of fat = size of your thumb).

**Chew – Too often we gobble, hoover or inhale our food. Slow down and try chewing each mouthful 25 times.

**Treats Are Not Cheats – Make eating clean your lifestyle, it’s a powerful choice for better health. It’s okay to eat a treat now and then, but save it for special occasions, not every day.

**Can’t Read It? Don’t Eat It – If it’s got a label, chances are the food is processed and contains ingredients you can’t read or spell – leave it on the shelf.

**Don't be Fooled - Be on high alert when you see glitzy food label claims like "sugar free," "new and improved," "low calorie," or "diet" and other nonsense. These claims usually mean more hidden sugar and unwanted chemicals.

**Carbohydrate Addiction - Get addicted to complex carbohydrates (vegetables, especially greens, fruits, legumes, and whole grains like brown rice and quinoa).

**Eating on the Go - Planning ahead will help you skip the fast food trap. Pack a cooler with 1 apple + handful (12) raw, unsalted almonds; or veggies (carrots, sweet pepper slices, celery); or hard boiled eggs; or your favorite fruit.

**Wetter Water - Our No. 1 nutritional deficiency is water - even though we seem to drink more it, we are in fact dehydrated thanks to diuretic beverages including coffee, tea, soda and sports drinks. Here's a tip to turn you water into an electolyte-rich drink that will hydrate you (add the juice of 1/2 lemon and a pinch of sea salt).

**Smart Salt - Only use unrefined sea salt. Regular table salt has been stripped of nutients. It even contains sugar. Unrefined sea salt contains 92 trace minerals and elements that are ideal for our health.