General Recommendations for Cleaner Eating

When looking at your overall eating patterns consider this:

What percentage of your diet is raw, this includes fresh fruits and salads?

What percentage of your diet freshly cooked meats or vegetables, including homemade soup?

What percentage is unprocessed grains?

What percentage comes from a box, such as cereal, breakfast bars and other snacks?

What percentage comes from a bag, like bread or instant meals?

What percentage of your beverages have sweeteners added?

Are there any trans fats in your diet?

Which of these look like your current eating pattern?

 Which of these look like your current eating pattern?

If your eating pattern looks more like the left chart than the right chart, your diet could stand some cleaning up. The first four categories should make up the bulk of your diet. The more boxed, bagged, processed and sweetened food in your diet the more health problems you will develop over time.

The excess sodium and unhealthy fats, and sweeteners in prepared meals contribute to high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, and diabetes to name a few health problems. It is also not uncommon for people who eat these types of foods to feel chronically tired, suffer from headaches, and to suffer from joint pain.

The good news is it is fairly easy to improve your eating patterns. With a little planning you can be on your way to a cleaner eating plan.

Tomorrow I'll go over foods to include and foods to exclude for overall cleaner eating. After that I'll post strategies for improving your detoxification systems then I'll begin providing specific recipes for overall cleaner eating.