One of the best things you can do for you and your body is to eat clean. Dr. Oz tells us this, our own Doctors tell us this, and we tell ourselves this. But is eating clean and green really as hard as we think it is? Some of the basics to eating clean are:
- Fresh foods – Pick fresh food over processed foods. Eat organic when you can afford to.
- Cooking Cleanly – Don’t rinse raw meat (USDA says not to due to cross-contamination) and clean as you cook (that’s my motto)
- Shop seasonally and locally – Yes that means cranberries in the winter! Eating local also reduces your carbon food print.
- Eating Cleanly – Know the dirty dozen. This also means drinking plenty of water.
- Whole grains.
Here’s some interesting and startling facts from EWG’s website when the FDA conducted a study on vegetables and pesticides between 2000-2010:
- Some 98 percent of conventional apples have detectable levels of pesticides.
- Every single nectarine USDA tested had measurable pesticide residues.
- Seventy-eight different pesticides were found on lettuce samples.
Don’t worry about eating cleanly everyday of your life. Think about it as a 80/20 ratio. 80% of the time you eat green and clean, while 20% of the time you can go eat out with your friends for dinner or have that can of corn or non-organic lettuce. It’s all about the portion control in the end. Now go out there and find your local fresh markets (and yes there are some available in the winter), or hit up your health isle in your local grocery store. Maybe even try to start up your own local share program. You grow the fresh herbs, and maybe your neighbor grows the peppers, and ya’ll two share them weekly.
Resources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/livestrongcom/clean-eating-5-simple-ste_b_632545.html
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/healthy-eating-23-ways-eat-clean/1-apples – This has a really great slideshow.
http://cleaneatingmag.com/How-To/Article/What-Is-Clean-Eating.aspx
http://ewg.org/foodnews/summary/
http://ewg.org/foodnews/press/
http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/nutrition/how-to-eat-clean.html
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Does_Washing_Food_Promote_Food_Safety/index.asp
