28 Days of Clean Eating – The Healthy Way to Kick Dieting Foreve

Book Preface

Everyone seems to be on some kind of diet or detox these days. It’s easy to understand why. Most of us want to live healthier lives, lose a little bit (or a lot) of weight, and generally feel better about the food we put into our bodies. But given what we plan to get out of diets and detoxes, why do they feel more akin to punishment than reward?

For the most part, changing how and what we eat, whether it’s for 10 days or 3 months or more, involves restrictions. And math. Certain foods must be cut out. Calories must be counted. Specific foods, regardless of how they taste, must be consumed. Diet fatigue and diet failure happen for a reason. The work involved to diet successfully is exhausting and, due to that very difficulty, it’s a struggle to keep it up for the long term. We take a break, and start again later, take another break, start again later, and so on.

Eating healthily does not have to be so hard. It does not need to involve worksheets or calculators. People who have adopted the clean eating “diet” are living these truths firsthand. Clean eating is not a diet in the conventional sense of the word, where you give up certain foods for a period of time to achieve a specific health goal. Clean eating is more of a food philosophy, grounded in the notion that meals should contain all sorts of foods—fruits, vegetables, meats, grains, beans, nuts, and so on. The only restriction is that these foods should be as close as possible to their natural, unadulterated state. Foods should be made of, well, food, rather than combinations of food and chemicals.

Natural does not mean raw. Flip through the recipes in this book and you’ll see that clean eating meals make use of an array of ingredients from a variety of cuisines that can be cooked easily and in numerous ways. The 150 recipes offered here are downright delicious and filling, too. From Roasted Butternut Squash and Israeli Couscous Pilaf to Cajun Pork Chops with Grilled Okra and Creamed Corn, you’re about to find out that clean eating isn’t about restricting what you eat, but expanding your palate with the very best whole, fresh ingredients.

What you will eliminate are processed ingredients. It’s true that processed foods tend to be cheap and quick to prepare. It’s also true that they are usually high in sodium, refined sugars, additives, preservatives, and unhealthy fats. These ingredients sabotage good health. A clean eating approach to food removes these offenders, and replaces them with “good” fats, whole grains, and protein that will keep you satisfied throughout the day. Eating clean ensures that what you put in your body promotes good health.

In the pages that follow, you’ll learn more about how to make clean eating an effortless part of your everyday routine. The fourweek meal plan will let you dip your toe in without having to wonder what is and isn’t clean. You can shop for the weekly meal plans at your local markets—access to specialty health food stores is not required. What is required is the willingness to give up dieting and allow yourself to enjoy eating. Are you ready?