Springtime has arrived and with this season comes spring cleaning. While you’re getting ready to clean out old storage items and organize closet spaces, why not spring clean your bodies as well by throwing out processed foods in your kitchen and replacing it with fresh fruits and vegetables? Spring clean your metabolism by clean eating and improve your life one meal at a time.

What exactly is “clean eating”?

“Clean eating” is a trend that is suddenly everywhere, but what does “clean eating” really mean? The term means to eat the best and healthiest options in each of the food groups, embracing foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy proteins. This includes staying away from junk foods and processed foods. When you are eating clean, you try to give your body the best fuel that is out there, which are foods that will keep you healthy and at a healthy weight. Clean eating is not necessarily about weight loss, but it focuses on general health.

The current craze of “cleansing” or eating only raw food or fresh juices for a set period of time is not the same as clean eating. In fact, our organs are what cleanses are bodies of toxins. The main idea is to replace processed foods, pastries, and fried foods with more fruits and vegetables. You’ll definitely feel the difference!

Clean eating can also entail looking more closely at where your food comes from. This could mean buying organic produce to avoid pesticide residue, or avoiding meat that comes from large factory farms. It is possible you might spend a little more money on high-quality meat and produce and more time preparing meals from scratch rather than heating up packaged convenience foods. But, as clean eating advocates say, it may be more expensive to eat clean and healthy, but it is an investment in your future health that you may otherwise pay for in the long run.

Here are some tips to get you started on clean eating:

• Try fresh fruits and vegetables instead of salty and sugary packaged foods to eat as snacks.
• Instead of buying blueberry yogurt with added sweeteners and less than 5% real blueberries, buy unsweetened yogurt and add your own fresh fruit.
• Try to buy meat from a farmer’s market in your area or at a grocery store, look for grass-fed meat and dairy products without hormones or antibiotics.
• Instead of margarine, try substituting it with grass fed butter or avocados to have with your whole grains or veggies.
• When you’re screaming for ice cream, save calories and fat by drinking a fruit and low-fat yogurt smoothie instead.
• If you love to savor the crunch, skip the full-fat chips and try more satisfying crunchy snacks such as pretzel chips, nuts, or whole-grain tortilla chips.

Clean eating has been a recent major movement amongst people who want to feel good about what they put into their bodies. The main principle of eating clean is replace processed foods with wholesome, fresh, and natural foods. For example, instead of a banana nut muffin, eat a banana and a handful of nuts. Clean eating may be a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you have a lot of changes to make. Try to make little changes every day and don’t beat yourself up if you make mistakes. It is what you do the majority of the time that counts.

Here are 5 steps to get you started on eating clean and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

1. Let the ingredients guide you. The first thing a clean eater looks at is the ingredient list of the product they are interested in buying. Reading the list is the only way to really know what is in your food and help you choose foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. A good rule of thumb is to look for the number of ingredients (the fewer the better) and if they are all “real” and recognizable ingredients—a list that practically reads like a recipe you could recreate in your own kitchen.

2.Eat lots of plants. Eat mostly foods that are off a tree, bush, plant or vine. The idea is to stay away from anything that has been altered in any way (by food corporations).

3. Enjoy whole grains. Eat grains that are still complete and haven’t been broken down. Stick to brown rice, whole wheat and other whole grains. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that at least half of all the grains you eat are whole grains. They are good sources of complex carbohydrates and some key vitamins and minerals. They’ve also been linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and other health problems.

4. Eat a healthy breakfast. Eating a nutrient-rich morning meal shortly after getting out of bed literally wakes up your metabolism. For example, try an oatmeal with almonds and berries or a spinach and feta omelet with a slice of whole grain toast.

5. Do it yourself. One aspect of clean eating is replacing packaged foods with homemade versions. These days, with the internet at our fingertips, you can find a clean recipe for just about anything. For example, for a stir-fry, instead of buying a pre-made sauce, loaded with sodium, sugar, and preservatives, whisk together a little brown rice vinegar, fresh squeezed citrus juice, minced garlic, and fresh grated ginger.

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 Images courtesy of Marianna Lyubskaya