Have you heard this phrase, “Abs are made in the kitchen”? If you have ever wondered if you could crunch your way to a sleek, trim mid-section, then I’m here to remind you that seeing that sexy six pack starts in the kitchen!
Eating clean is a bit of a buzz word right now, and if you go into any book store or supermarket, you will be sure to find a plethora of books on the topic. In the fitness industry, the phrase “eat clean” was really made popular within the last 10 years, by a lady named Tosca Reno. Through the health and fitness magazine, Oxygen, her ‘diet’ was made popular. Now, ‘diet’ really isn’t the best word to describe an eat clean lifestyle, but Tosca herself said that she put the word ‘diet’ on the cover of her eat clean books, because that word SELLS! People want a quick fix, a magic product that will help them achieve what they have not been able to on their own. Of course, Tosca would say that eating clean is really more of a lifestyle, something that you can stick with for the long haul. Not surprisingly, the books have become increasingly popular as people have found incredible results with eating clean.
Simply put, eating clean is basically looking at the foods from nature that you can PICK, CHASE, or GROW! It doesn’t include foods that man has had a hand in creating. There is nothing processed, and a good rule of thumb while shopping for eat-clean foods, is to shop the outside of the supermarket. The outside holds the lean cuts of protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and eggs.
Portion sizing is a big part of eating clean as well. It is no secret that our portion sizes are astronomical compared to 50 years ago. This super-size society has taken what would have been the ‘king’ size back in the day, and made that the ‘child’ size of today! No wonder obesity is a problem. We eat too much! Tosca gives a great visual in the following YouTube video, of what we can expect our portion sizing to look like when we follow an eat-clean lifestyle
I have talked about this before, but as a reminder, eating clean works incredibly well, when we can put a log on the fire so to speak, every 2-3 hours. Your body is like a fire, its needs fuel to burn! If you can jump start your metabolism by eating within an hour of waking, and then eating every 2-3 hours, your body will become a calorie burning machine! When the logs you put on your fire are clean, whole foods (no added sugar, low sodium, healthy fats), the process of your body burning that fuel for energy works! Fat begins to melt away and that six pack we have been training hard to see eventually begins to make its way to the surface! Here is a link to Tosca’s eat clean grocery store list, to help you make some wise choices next time you’re doing the shopping ;) Happy clean eating! http://www.eatcleandiet.com/uploaded_files/downloads/ecd_grocery_list.pdf
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