I am an advocate for clean food, meaning that I do not want to put food into my body that is full of chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, herbicides and any other form of toxic matter. A lot of people don’t realize just how harmful these pollutants that are found on our food can actually be for our health. For example, pesticides can disrupt our hormones, initiate certain cancers and cause problems with cellular growth and reproductive health. It’s pretty scary stuff.
Treating your body like a temple and filling it with clean, nutritious food will make you feel and look better. Clean food comes out in your skin (it will glow), energy levels (pollutants weigh you down), improve digestion and will boost your energy levels. To put it simply, if you eat trash then you’re going to feel like garbage.
If you want to make better choices and make your food and body cleaner and healthier, here are some simple tips to make it happen:
- Avoid processed foods! Processed food products, or simply anything from a box in which you simply add water and throw into the microwave for 3 minutes, is pumped full of salt, preservatives and sugar which have to be broken down and stored by the body. Your body will break down clean foods much more efficiently and not store them as readily in your body (aka, fat cells) then these processed ones.
- Cut back on salt. Again this ties in with the processed foods, so making your own meals at home will make it so that you are able to control the salt content of your food and make your blood pressure levels much more controllable.
- Cut back on the booze. If you think about it in a very simplistic way, the liver is the organ that detoxifies your blood, so overloading it with alcohol is going to slow down its availability to remove other harmful substances from your blood. A healthy happy liver = a healthy happy body.
- Chose whole grains. Whole grains are complete grains, which mean that they have not been broken down and torn apart into boring and unhealthy white grains. They are packed full of fibre and will keep you satisfied longer and help control your blood sugars.
- Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. These are packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants and flavour, plus are low in calories so you can eat lots without feeling any guilt. Fresh produce will help purify your system and make your body cleaner and healthier.
- Drink lots of water. Water is important for every internal system, so making sure that you are drinking at least 8 glasses a day will help to keep your digestive system moving, help circulate the blood and other fluids, plus push out unwanted toxins.
- Go organic wherever you can when it comes to produce. There is a lot of controversy around whether or not going organic is worth the added cost for your fresh fruits and vegetables, but my rationale for spending the extra money is that I do not want my fresh produce to be full of unwanted pollutants. And I think that is a pretty good reason!
- Wash your produce well when you get it home from the store. Even if your produce is organic, washing it will help to remove any bugs or contaminants before it ends up on your plate.
- Use lots of herbs when you cook. Herbs have so many amazing health benefits, plus they will bring so much freshness and flavour to your meals without adding any extra salt. Herbs can detoxify the blood, improve circulation, improve digestion, promote hormonal balance, inhibit disease, work as an antibacterial and provide so many more endless benefits.
- Read labels. Look at what you are eating and know what the ingredients mean. If you can’t pronounce an ingredient then don’t buy the product. The fewer the ingredients, then the better the item. Think about it. The best products out there with the best nutritious value have only 1-6 ingredients in them.
If you want to learn more about Clean Eating stop by the Moncton Wellness Expo Saturday April 20th. It’s hosted at Mathieu Martin High School in Dieppe. At 12:45 I will offer a FREE lecture titled, “Food as Medicine”, and will share even more clean eating tips! Want a complimentary pass to the Wellness Expo? Be my guest and click this link to register.