Eating Clean Go Green!
Are You Ready to Live Healthier?
Do you want to improve your immunity? Are you ready to increase your energy? Do your allergies or your hay-fever have you down? Or maybe you just found out you have high cholesterol, your blood sugar is a little high, or you just want to lose a little weight.
There are many reasons we decide we want to live a healthier life style and our diet is one of the largest components of healthy living. Healthy eating is equal to clean eating. Clean eating means whole natural foods, no more prepackaged foods full of preservatives, added sugars, additives, bad fats and refined grains.
Sugar is an empty calorie, which means it has calories that contain no nutritional value. This quickly adds to weight gain that can lead to obesity. Obesity leads to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, inflammation, and certain types of cancer.
Preservatives and additives are added to foods to prolong shelf life and to keep the food from spoiling. However, according to Mayo clinic they can cause asthma symptoms to be more severe and cause shortness of breath. There was also a study published in the Archives of Diseases in Children that showed behavioral changes in children especially hyperactivity caused from preservatives in food. Preservatives have also been shown to cause heart damage and cancer.
Fats, or the bad trans fats, this is a byproduct of a process called hydrogenation and it turns healthy oils into solids to prevent them from going bad. There is no health benefit from this and no safe level of consumption so trans fats were banned in the US. This is when partially hydrogenated vegetable oils came in to play and this can be found in everything from commercial baked goods to fast food. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils cause increased bad cholesterol and lowered good cholesterol which can cause inflammation, insulin resistance, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Refined grains such as white flour, white bread, white rice, sodas, snacks, pasta, sweets, and breakfast cereals. Also sugar and an ingredient found in most processed foods. Nutrients and fiber is removed from refined grains making them empty calories. Refined grains are also digested quickly and are high on the glycemic index, meaning they cause a rapid spike in your blood sugar. After the rapid spike in your blood sugar your blood sugar levels drop within one to two hours. This stimulates your brain to crave more food and causes overeating, which leads to obesity. All of this can cause inflammation, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone and has been referred to as the satiety or starvation hormone.
Unhealthy foods leading to heart disease, inflammation, type 2 diabetes and more.
Advise from Scott Gooding and Agela Greely
The first step is to eliminate sugar and processed foods from your diet, Gooding says, adding that he believes sugar is the cause of many diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. "Processed foods predominantly use cheap, rancid oil, sugar and myriad additives and preservatives that aren't suited for the human body," he says. Also limit grain intake to nutrient-rich whole grains. Greely recommends buckwheat, spelt and quinoa.
Clean Foods to Eat
- Organic Fruits and vegetables should be a very large part of your diet. It's best if you can grow your own, but if you cannot local farmers markets would be a great choice. You want to try to stay away from the grocery store where the produce isle is full of fruits and vegetables covered in pesticides.
- Free range, grass-fed meat and dairy, such as grass fed beef or wild caught salmon. Local meat markets may have free range meats that were not antibiotic fed, it is something to look into. Also you can get your protein from beans and nuts. This can lower blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease.
- Whole grains such as quinoa, wild rice, and oats. These grains contain more fiber and antioxidants which can fight inflammation, decrease your risk for obesity and the diseases associated with obesity.
- Drink water instead of soda and sugar laden drinks. You can even flavor your water with fruit, mint or unsweetened herbal teas.
- Lower your sodium intake.
More advise from Gooding and Greely
Load up your shopping trolley with fresh, natural produce, such as nutrient-dense greens and whole grains, as well as organic meat and fish, and healthy fats such as avocado, nuts and good-quality coconut oil.
Dairy in small quantities is fine but pay attention to the details. "You want things to be as natural as possible," Greely says. "This means choosing naturally churned butter over margarine that's made in a lab." Your trolley shouldn't contain any packets - no "low fat" products or items
Why I am Interested in Clean Living
I have started researching clean living to heal myself. I have been diagnosed with autoimmune problems and started noticing on my own that certain things I ate or came into contact with caused flares, or times when my symptoms became worse. The more I noticed this the more I became interested in trying to find out if other people had the same type of problem. If there were ways to make myself better and stop the flares before they started.
As I researched for myself I saw that it wasn't a small problem, it was everywhere. As my health declined I spent more time at home and I had more time to research. I do not want to use this information just for myself, I want to share it with as many people as I can. If I can help people than I won't feel as angry that I am sick and in pain all the time, I will feel like it is for a reason. So please, share my information with as many people as you can, especially those that may be getting sick from eating unhealthy or being around some type of chemical. In return I will continue to look into everything I can and try to help as many people as I can, however if you are reading this, use my advise but use it along with whatever your doctor tells you. Do NOT stop anything that your doctors advise as they too are trying to help.
Keep it Healthy! Love Yourself!
