Most folks love food and want to be healthy. Oftentimes, the two work against each other, leaving us discouraged and out of shape.
The Eat-Clean Diet uses one of our favorite things, food, and shows us how to make it work for us to help lose weight and achieve overall health, leading to a happier lifestyle with more energy and productivity.
Tosca Reno, the author of the popular “Eat-Clean Diet” series, has drawn attention to clean eating, but she did not invent it. The Eat-Clean Diet’s principles are based on the diet that bodybuilders, gymnasts, marathon runners and other athletes have followed for years, and that nutritionists and dieticians suggested to patients to help with health problems long before Reno released her first book.
Despite its name, the Eat-Clean Diet is not a diet at all, but a lifestyle change that takes weight off and keeps it off, unlike diets that require calorie-counting and depriving the body of certain food groups.
“I’ve done Weight Watchers in the past, but I always found myself obsessed with points,” said Nikki Banik, a wife and mother of two from Winder and the owner of Nikki Banik Photography. “(I would look for) processed food with the least amount of points so I could eat as much as possible — and never getting enough, or caring to get enough — of the good-for-you, healthy stuff.”
The Eat-Clean Diet shows people how to replace unhealthy foods that have little or no nutritional value with healthy foods full of nutrients that the body needs. It does not require counting calories and actually suggests eating more — five to six small meals throughout the day — to keep from getting too hungry, to provide extra energy and to keep the body’s metabolism running.
“A lot of people are trying to go extended periods of time without eating, and really we need to eat on a regular basis and be sensitive to our hunger cues,” said Connie Crawley, an extension nutrition and health specialist with the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and a registered dietitian. “If you are ravenous, you’re going to crave high-sugar, high-fat foods, which are going to make you eat more.”
In her books, Reno breaks down each of the Eat-Clean Diet principles, including eating several small meals, drinking lots of water and consuming healthy fats, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Simple sugars or white refined sugars are taboo, because they have been linked to immune suppression, inflammatory conditions and dramatic spikes in blood sugar, according to “The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged!”
“Basically, what (the Eat-Clean Diet is) recommending is for people to go back as closely to what I call the hoof and the plant as possible,” Crawley said. “In other words, trying to get as little between you and the original source of the food as possible, and that certainly is a very admirable thing to do, and it’s what we at the extension office are recommending that people do.”
Banik looked into clean eating after hearing about people who eliminated almost all white foods from their diet. She thought it couldn’t hurt to eliminate white bread and replace it with whole grain bread and eliminate white pasta and white refined sugar. Soon after that, she began following all of the diet’s principles.
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted to try a ‘diet.’ Rather, I wanted to create a better lifestyle for my family and myself where we would be in tune with our bodies and our food,” Banik said.
Banik and her family will have followed the Eat-Clean Diet principles for one year this March.
“For me, I dove in head first,” Banik said. “I emptied out our kitchen cabinets and refrigerator, donated the food and restocked it. That was expensive, but worth it. I’ve lost 25 pounds eating clean, and my husband has lost about 30 pounds. Also, my husband’s blood pressure is normal, and he is off of blood pressure medication. This did not happen when we did Weight Watchers but after we had been eating clean for a few weeks.”
Another change was the behavior and attitude of Banik’s 5-year-old daughter.
“My 5-year-old’s behavior completely turned around,” Banik said. “I feel like she is finally herself. The excessive whining, moaning and groaning is gone. It is amazing how negatively processed food affects our children.”
When people begin the Eat-Clean Diet, they typically lose 3 to 5 pounds in the first week, but the diet isn’t just about becoming leaner.
“Eating clean is just eliminating things that your body does not need,” Banik said. “It is not a diet. It is a cleaning of your system, and once you eat clean, truly 100 percent clean, you will really not want to eat any other way. We always eat clean at home. When we go out to eat or to someone’s house, (it’s harder to) eat clean. So we try not to eat out as much.”
Proponents say eating clean can lower one’s risk of heart disease, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases, and even give a person more energy, brighter eyes, healthier teeth, bright and clear skin and stronger hair and nails.
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The Eat-Clean Diet
