How To Start Eating Clean With 3 Steps To Ensure You Succeed

Clean Eating Made Easy

By Popular Health StaffUpdated January 1st, 2024

How To Start Eating Clean

After reading, what is clean eating, you may ask yourself how do I go from my current diet to how to start eating clean without feeling overwhelmed? The best way to start is to take baby steps.

About Clean Eating

It is important to know what clean eating is and why it is important. Clean eating involves consuming foods in their most natural state, or as close to their natural state as possible.

With that said, the preparation of the food also plays a role in how to start eating clean. That makes clean eating more than a diet, it's a lifestyle.

Create a healthy shopping list comprised of fruits, dried fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, natural sugars and 100% whole grains with high quality protein based on your diet preference.

The best types of foods to focus on eating are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and local or organic meat.

Depending on your dietary preference, you can pick and choose between these food groups.

It is also important to avoid any processed and refined foods.

Be sure to avoid junk foods, fast foods, sugar, flour, pasta, and anything containing toxic binders, colour additives, fat replacers, and emulsifiers.

The last thing to keep track of is preparation. Not only is the food you choose to eat important, the way it is prepared is critical. It is best to steam, bake, grill, or eat foods raw.

This keeps the food closest to its natural state. While clean eating may be difficult for those starting out, the benefits of doing so are too great to pass up.

Consuming healthy snacks consistently can be a challenge. Enjoy our list of 160 natural, flavourful snacks below without worrying about unnecessary artificial ingredients.

Try to use clean eating ingredients as much as possible to prepare healthy clean eating snacks that can be prepared quickly.

Read below the steps we suggest to get you started:

Step 1: Do A Thorough Audit Of Your Current Diet

a) Start a food journal. For at least 2 weeks track everything that you eat, not calories, just what you consume.

This will help you identify patterns that you need to change.

b) Make a list of the foods you want to introduce into your diet, again use our free tool in a structured environment to help you. You can work on making changes gradually.

c) Make a list of what you are consuming that is not healthy. Deal with one unhealthy food at a time if your list is extremely long, i.e. soda, chocolate bars, chips, donuts etc.

The best way to get rid of an unhealthy habit is to work on that habit and nothing else. Or if you want to go for it and remove a group of unhealthy foods at once then try our 7 day no junk food challenge.

d) I have compiled a list of top 100 clean eating recipes that are quick to prepare and simply delicious. It focuses on gluten free, vegan and paleo recipes.

Step 2: Secure A Membership And/Or Shop Smart

Join your local CSA (Community Support Agriculture). CSA is a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Visit local harvest to locate a CSA in your area.

Get a Costco membership as Costco sells clean packaged foods and produce affordably.

If you do not have a Costco or CSA in your area, another option is to purchase online and have items delivered directly to your home.