Keeping it Clean in a Very Dirty World
For those of you that know me, you know that I am a little over the top about my health and fitness. That is why I am so excited to share with you the The Eat-Clean Series. I have been (unknowingly) eating clean for many year, and it wasn't until recently that I realized there was a Clean Eating revolution taking place all around the world.
You maybe wondering, "What is Eating Clean?" Well, Clean Eating is a simple, common-sense approach to diet and nutrition. Its roots lie in sensible, nutritious eating with emphases on eating the way nature intended. Now, I know that may sound a little vague, but as the series moves forward, I hope to bring Clean Eating into clear focus for you.
Clean Eating dates back to the '60s; it started with the co-op-shopping, Birkenstock-wearing, granola crowd and through the years filtered down to the buff beach bodies and the health and fitness world. Clean Eating has been recently reignited by finess model and author Tosca Reno. Tosca is author of The Eat-Clean Diet; this book initiated a nine-title-series that has sold over a million copies. I interviewed Tosca in depth for my Eat-Clean series (Keeping it Clean in a Very Dirty World), and I think her insight will enlighten and inspire you to reevaluate your diet and exercise regimes.
During the Keeping it Clean series, I will introduce you to basic principles of Clean Eating, like how to choose foods your body can use, dietary duos (which is the pairing of foods for optimum nutritional absorption),and preparing easy, delicious recipes, right out of Tosca’s cookbook.
The first and most important principle I would like to cover today is just a basic understanding of Clean Eating. I feel there are two types of Clean Eating: Basic Clean Eating and (what I like to call) Uber-Clean Eating. For me, I needed to completely grasp and understand Basic Clean Eating before I could move forward and embrace Uber-Clean Eating.
Basic Clean Eating
To me, Basic Clean Eating is more than an organic idea; you see, all food is born clean (some more clean than others), whether it is fruits, vegetables, legumes, or nuts; beef, chicken, pork, turkey, or bison, etc. are all born clean; however, the more contact the food has with humans prior to being consumd, the dirtier it becomes. So, for instance, in the case of a box of oatmeal versus a box on supposedly healthy cereal, this is what I look for: hoy many ingredients (that are foreign to me) are included in this box? The fewer ingredients I read, the cleaner the food. Rembember, we are talking about healthful foods. Does that make sense? So, remember, in the beginning, less is more.
Uber-Clean Eating
Now, on the extreme end, you have Uber-Clean Eating (something I strive for daily but sometimes fall short). Uber-Clean eating (a name I attached to the extreme Clean Eaters) is everything Basic Clean eating is, plus a complete commitment to organic growing, harvesting, and raising. In other words, free of synthetic pesticides, insecticides, or synthetic fertilizers-and for meat, being raised without the use of any kind of chemicals or growth hormones.
The first part of the series will focus on Basic Clean eating, and the second part will introduce you to the world of Uber-Clean. To recap, we are exploring the concept of Clean Eating, a wonderful lifestyle diet that will result in you losing weight (if you need to), maintaining a healthy weight (if that is what is right for your body), and even gaining weight if need be. But, regardless of the effect, Eating Clean is a lifestyle diet that can have you feeling better than you ever imagined.
The Eat-Clean Series will air on my blog Monday, March 1, 2010, followed by parts two through five each Monday throughout the month of March on http://www.rememberlifesdelicious.blogspot.com/ (March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29). So, join me in discovering How to Keep Life Clean.
Finally, Life’s Delicious!!! is all about sharing our passion for food and family, and I am so excited to become connected to you through all of the wonderful new communication tools we have available to us today. So, let’s tweet, let’s share, let’s become a community that embraces life and just how perfectly imperfect it can be; yet, despite all of the imperfections, we still feel Life’s Delicious!!!
Let’s also tweet about the wonderful places to eat, shop, play, keep fit, and save money. I can be found at http://twitter.com/robinsheatv. Finally, join the Life’s Delicious!!! TV w/Robin Shea fan page on Facebook, a great place to share, learn, and grow together.
I am Robin Shea and until next time, remember . . . Life’s Delicious!!!
-Robin
