The Clean & Lean Revolution promotes a healthy whole foods eating plan. I call it eating food and not “food” (processed food items). Whether you are omnivore, vegetarian or vegan or you choose to include dairy, eggs, meat, fish and poultry, each of these paths is healthy as long as it is based off of a variety of colorful nutrient dense plants. I recommend organic dairy, pastured eggs, grass fed beef, and organic poultry.
A healthy Clean & Lean eating plan is a predominantly plant based eating plan that is focused on whole foods and contains as little processed foods as possible. It is low in non-organic animal foods and sugar, and high in plant foods: vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lentils, fruits, nuts, and seeds, and healthy oils. Notice that I said ‘predominantly plant based.’ The key to a healthy clean and lean eating plan is that it is mostly plant based.
The Clean and Lean Revolution’s food plan is gluten free and virtually dairy free (cheese is included on occasion in the recipes and may easily be omitted). Recommended dairy portions are included in the snack and balanced meal charts so that you may include these when desired. I choose to promote a gluten free plan for a few reasons. The main reason is that Americans as a whole overly focus on wheat, corn and processed soy. My goal is to help you expand your choices to non-gluten containing grains. By focusing on non-gluten containing grains (like quinoa, amaranth, millet, and wild rice) you will shift inflammation down and nutrients up. These grains are much, much more nutrient dense than their wheat counterparts (so really, it is a win, win situation for you). Second, gluten is inflammatory. The majority of people that remove gluten will experience a quick shift down in water weight.
Certainly what you eat has a direct impact on your health. How you eat across the day is AS important as what you eat across the day. Eating at appropriate times will help you maximize your metabolism and help keep hunger at bay.
Before you learn about what to eat, let’s talk about how to eat.