Eating a Clean Diet

A clean diet is the key to optimal performance. Eating clean is exactly what it sounds like. In a clean diet you restrict the amounts of refined sugars and white carbs that you would consume in a day. It also includes a diet rich in vegetables, proteins, and whole wheat grains consumed in moderation. Another key factor of a clean diet is portion control. It is very important to eat the recommended portion size listed on the label. These listed portion sizes will help keep you from over eating and adding unwanted calories to your daily intake. When eating a clean diet you will find that it is very helpful to have a snack in between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner, this will keep your metabolism running all day long increasing the amount of calories you burn at rest as well as during exercise. A clean diet also requires you to eat a large variety of green vegetables like green beans, broccoli, asparagus, snow peas, and the like. These deep green vegetables are great natural antioxidants that aid the body in the removal of free radicals. Removing these free radicals helps the body to stay healthy and vibrant purifying the body from the inside out. The removal of free radicals has been linked to healthy skin, cancer prevention, and also helps ward off heart disease. An example of a clean diet might look like this:

Breakfast
1 Cup Raisin Bran
½ cup 1% Milk
1 String Cheese

Lunch
1 Chicken Breast
1 to 2 Cups of Vegetables (green beans, broccoli, peas, carrots, cauliflower ect)
32oz of water
1 slice of whole wheat or whole grain bread
½ Cup of sugar free Jello

Dinner
A Healthy Choice Steamers meal From your local grocer. $2.30 at WalMart
Or
A South Beach Diet Wrap meal from your local grocer. $2.87 at WalMart

Both meals are only a total of 230 calories and are surprisingly filling.
I like to have a snack between meals usually a cheese stick and some whole wheat crackers like wheat thins between meals. Usually taken at 10:30 am and 3:30 pm. These snacks are light and keep your metabolism burning between meals.
You might have noticed that the biggest meal of the day is the mid day meal or lunch. The reasoning behind this is that you consume the bulk of your daily calories while you still have plenty of day left for your body to use them instead of storing the calories as fat your body will burn them as fuel. Another rule of thumb I try to stick to is o be done eating by 8:00 pm this will give your body time to digest and use the bulk of your diner intake as fuel before bed time. Eating clean is really pretty simple and after a few weeks of being conscious of what you are putting into your body it becomes a habit and not a chore. Eating clean has really helped me to achieve my fitness goals and I know that it will help you to improve yourselves and reach your fitness and strength goals.