What is clean eating?

This is a new buzz word around town, I’m sure many of you have heard of ‘CLEAN EATING’. But what exactly is it? What does it mean?

It’s not a diet (I hate that word), it’s NOT a fad, it’s a lifestyle that is simple, very good for you, easy to maintain, nutrient rich, and you can make it as delicious as you want to!

Basically, you only eat food that has come from nature – you don’t eat any processed or anything pre-packaged which are both high in sugar, salt, flavours, colours, preservatives and additives. I’m sure I will lose a lot of you there, but stick with me! One of my BIG rules in maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to live by the 80/20 rule. Be ‘good’ 80% of the time, have treats 20% of the time (but only if you really need to).

Why Clean Eating is becoming more popular and why it is SO good for you:

• You eat foods that nature intended
• You eat foods our bodies function best on
• You eat foods that will make you feel, and look FANTASTIC
• You will be full of energy, you will feel great.
• You will sleep better, have better digestion, glowing skin!
• You eat lean proteins, good carbs and good/healthy fats.
• You will be fueling your body with the best possible sources of vitamins, nutrients, energy, protein and fats which your body will easily break down, be digested and used by your body for all round health and nutrition.

If you Eat Clean your blood sugar levels remain stable and keep you fuller for longer, so you will be less likely to snack on sugar filled snacks!

The best bit…if you follow a Clean Eating plan (like the Mummy Bootcamp @ Home program), you will lose weight (if you need to), by just watching what you put in your mouth!

When Eating Clean, you don’t have to:

• Starve yourself
• Count anything – points, calories, grams etc
• Buy anything in a packet or pre-portioned food.
• Miss out on going out for dinner – just make the right choices

Eating Clean, will keep you lean!

One thing to note is that if you haven’t been eating very clean, once you start, your body will start to detox itself, which means for the first week, while your body is getting rid of all the crap in your body, you may not feel fantastic. But stick with it, drink LOTS of water and remember, it’s your body just getting rid of all the bad stuff!

Amanda is a mum to 2 year old Chelsea, a Personal Trainer and owns her own Women’s Only Outdoor Fitness Business, Blue Sky Health & Fitness, based in Melbourne. Blue Sky Fitness offers Women of all ages, sizes and abilities a supportive & friendly environment in which to get fit, get healthy & be happy (but it’s also challenging!) For more information on Blue Sky Health & Fitness classes, please visit www.blueskyfitness.com.au

Amanda has recently launched Mummy Bootcamp @ Home, to help women (mums in particular) lose weight, tone up & feel great about themselves. For more information on the 28 Day Body & Mind Transformation Bootcamp visit www.mummybootcampathome.com.au