Clean eating for idiots

[Flingingmelon]

Morning,

I've signed up for a boot camp in three weeks and the advice they have sent me suggests clean eating for a couple of weeks before I go.

Their literature involves quite a lot of effort (making smoothies, soup from scratch etc) and I also have a picky family to consider.

Can anyone recommend a site I can use instead?

Thanks!

I don't know any specific sites but clean eating is pretty easy.

Basically....only eat whole foods, nothing that has anything added to it or is processed in any way.

So you stick to poultry, fish, meat, shellfish and fruit/vegetables, pulses and only grains that come as they were grown e.g. brown rice.

You can make most things an average family eats with tweaks....for example chilli con carne as long as you make it from scratch (no jars) and have brown rice with it.

I found it easier to start with what I would normally eat and then think...."How would I do this without any processed foods? What swaps would I make?"

You can also search 'clean eating recipes' on Pinterest.

Okay. That doesn't sound like a million miles from what I do now.

What about something like porridge? Oats in a pan with milk rather than the microwave stuff? Or is that too processed?

Not the first of fifty questions, just trying to calibrate my thinking.

Thankyou!

Oats are highly processed and don't resemble how they're grown so they're out for the clean eating brigade! No grains at all in fact.

I eat clean and exclude dairy, wheat and sugar, also anything that's processed. I eat brown and wild rice, quinoa, lentils, chickpeas etc as well as fruit, veg, certain meats, fruits etc. I follow the clean program here in the USA, it was devised by Dr Junger, I've attached a photo of his pocket eating guide but there is a website too at www.cleanprogram.com and a few books.

Clean eating is basically not eating anything out of packets. If you do eat out of packets, check the ingredients : if there's loads of stuff in it, avoid.

So a tin of chopped tomatoes is good : a jarred pasta sauce with loads of e numbers isn't. If you make a chilli just use veg, meat, chilli powder, garlic, tinned tomatoes.

Think fresh unprocessed foods.

Flinging , maybe post a day's typical food and we'll try and improve it?

Ooh good idea. Let's try today. I think I did quite well so this will be a learning experience!

Breakfast - frozen berries, natural yogurt, cucumber and honey in a smoothie.

• I already know my coffee was an error. Green tea tomorrow?

Lunch - mashed avocado with lemon and sriracha (would fresh chilli be better?). I had it in a multi seed flatbread.

• more smoothie. As an aside if anyone has a smoothie recipe a picky toddler would drink, I'd be very grateful to see it.
• dinner, linguine (do I need a spiraliser?) with fresh squid, tomatoes and basil. This was cooked from scratch with olive oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic and a bit of the pasta water.
• DH is currently downstairs eating a big bowl of muesli in 'secret'. An alternative for that would be really handy!

Linguine as in white pasta? That's not fresh or unprocessed (certainly not labelled as a "clean" food). Try courgetti with a spiralizer defo! Or cauliflower "rice".

I like The Kitchen Shed for recipes, as she's based in the UK. Many of the recipes I find online are American based with hard to source ingredients or strange measurements.

See, this is exactly where I get confused.

Oats are a crop, they are steamed and rolled and then stuck in the bag.

Cauliflower is also a crop, it gets diced and baked and then put in the bag.

I'm supposed to cook one with milk and one with oil or butter. Now I don't understand how one is processed and the other isn't, they seem the same to me.

I totally understand that shop bought pasta is heavily processed and therefore it's bad. What if I make my own pasta? What am I actually trying to avoid here? Sugar? Trans fats? Carbs?

Or am I just over thinking it?

Jamie Oliver Everyday Superfoods!

Read this about oats, also remember that they are a grain and not a veggie like a cauliflower at all! I have never bought diced or baked cauliflower in a bag or cooked it in oil?? and cauliflower is just not comparable to oats.

www.marksdailyapple.com/are-oats-healthy/#axzz41Hdf4B49

Oats are controversial! Some people (endurance athletes) love them for the huge energy surge they give them, but for people looking to lose fat they are not the right option at all. Too much energy that we don't burn off and you just suffer with the post spike dip and risk over eating again.

You aren't really supposed to avoid anything but definitely try to eat knowing what it is doing to you, then you can get your own balance. Making your own pasta is definitely cleaner than shop bought but it's still pasta - a hugely processed food with a serious amount of energy - so again, not good for weight loss. Read about it, you will learn loads.

I have a Morphy Richards soup maker. I love it, 21 mins and perfect soup. Can make smooth, chunky or blend to your liking.

I also have a Nutrininja smoothie maker (was a Christmas gift from Mum). It's great and easy, I get kids would like it.

I have been eating clean using Deliciously Ella and Get The Glow by Madeleine Shaw. Both are bloggers but I've bought their books. They have apps and Madeleine does newsletters. Both post recipes online. It's basically eating natural food so no processed meat or foods, natural fat (eg yogurt, milk), natural sugar (honey, maple syrup, fruit), veg, nuts, seeds, grains. I have also gone gluten free and reduced carb intake which has made a difference. I smoothie for breakfast, soup or salad at lunch and healthy tea (fish or chicken with veggies with rice or sweet potato). I've lost weight and feel better.

I think the online recipes sound like a good way to go.

With anything I have a habit of reading too much, finding inconsistencies and deciding it won't work for me (which I accept is a cop out.)

I'll check out the sites - thankyou!