Here is the Simplest Approach to Whole Foods Eating

Starting Out:
Breakfast: Choose one breakfast for the week
AM snack: Choose an AM snack
Lunch: Utilize your local natural foods store or co-op deli
1.5 cups whole foods soup + spinach salad with 1/2 cup diced vegetables and 2 T noncreamy dressing
OR 3 oz grilled chicken or salmon with 1/2 cup prepared quinoa salad and 1 cup vegetable dish
Afternoon snack: Choose an afternoon snack
Dinner: Cook three times a week – make a 3-4 serving recipe three nights a week. This will offer 7 nights of meals PLUS 2-5 extra servings to freeze.

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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.

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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.

The most common pattern of eating that I see over and over again in my private practice looks like this: little to no breakfast (if breakfast is eaten, it often lacks protein), coffee all morning, late lunch, snack, snack, dinner, snack, snack. This calorie distribution is heavily weighted towards the end of the day. This is a pattern that will set you up for failure and here's why: skipping breakfast is seen as a stress in the body; the less you eat in the morning, the more likely you are to overeat in the evening. If you don't get in front of your hunger, you will feel like you are chasing your hunger all day (ever wonder why you are hungry after dinner even though you just ate?).

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To create a balanced snack, pair a carbohydrate (fruits, vegetables or whole grains) with a protein and/ or healthy fat. The goal at snack time is approximately 125 calories. The carbohydrate portions offered below are equal to 60 calories and the protein/ fat portion are equal to 65 calories, for a total of 125 calories. For a well-balanced snack, simply choose one item from each column.

Carbohydrates should never be eaten alone; they digest and absorb too quickly. Protein digest slower than carbohydrates and fats digest the slowest of the three. By pairing a carbohydrate with a protein and/ or fat, you will slow the digestion of the carbohydrate and create a more even energy burn across the day. However, if you wish to focus solely on protein and healthy fats, you may. Simply double the recommended portions in the "Lean Proteins and Healthy fats" column below to hit approximately 125 calories.

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Balanced Meal Formula: GRAIN OR STARCH* + PROTEIN + COLOR (fruit or non-starch vegetable) with a dash of HEALTHY FATS

Starch: banana, potato, sweet potato, corn, squash, bread

*Notice that the formula states a grain OR starch. Eating pasta AND bread or oatmeal AND banana or sweet potato AND rice together focuses a meal too heavily on grain and starch foods and less on lean protein, fruits, and vegetables (basically you will overdo with grain AND starch and displace much needed lean proteins and vegetables).

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Some of you are participating to shed pounds and some of you are not. I am going to explain how to shift the calorie load up or down to meet your goals and what to do if you shed pounds too quickly.

CALORIES

Through my years as a nutritionist I am often asked, "How many calories should I be eating?" Instead of using an arbitrary equation to arrive at this number (or using the standard "to lose weight, everyone should eat 1200 calories" line) I am more interested in the calorie load they are currently eating at AND if they are gaining, losing or maintaining at it. If someone comes to me eating 1800 calories and they are not losing weight, I will have them shift to a 1500 to 1600 calorie plan and work on what they are eating, how they are eating (the pattern that they are eating on — this is the topic on Sunday) and we will address stress, movement, effective exercise and how they are sleeping.

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If you need to further modify these smoothies to meet you individual calorie needs (to increase calories, not decrease calories — no one should drop below 1200 calories), feel free to add the following to your smoothie: instead of blending your smoothie with water, blend it with 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (averages 30-40 calories) or 1 cup coconut water, plain (averages 145 calories). I have included the average calories for the recommend portion at the top of each column. You can further adjust your smoothie calorie load using this information as well.

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Why Juice?

Juicing is the most natural and organic method of detoxifying and healing the body. The vast majority of phytonutrients and bioactive compounds along with 95% of the vitamins and enzymes our bodies need are found in the juice of raw fruits and vegetables. Juicing is a great way to expose our bodies to a concentrated amount of these nutrients. When you juice, these highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes rapidly enter the bloodstream. Our body absorbs all of the nutritional benefits of the fruits and vegetables. If you choose to do the juice fast challenge option you will also be giving your digestive organs a much-needed rest. The fruits and vegetables that you juice MUST be organic.

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The Clean and Lean Revolution meal plans are focused on healthy whole foods.

The meal plans provide 1420 calories a day. Click on 'Read the rest of the entry...' to access all the meal plans.

FOUNDATIONS Use These Templates To Build Your Own Meal Plan *You Choose the Dinners! Four Week Meal Plans

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If you feel like you just don't have time to cook and you still want to eat whole foods, then it is time to lean on your local natural food store deli. Here are your goals:

1. Stick with the foundation of the Clean & Lean Revolution eating plan: predominantly plant based, gluten free and whole food focused
2. Eat on the Ideal Eating Pattern (Read How to Eat)

Look at it this way; if you opt out of preparing every meal from scratch and choose to lean on your local natural food store deli, you will have a lot more free time on your hands to work on your restorative sleep routine, daily mindful movement practice, etc. Yes, I am a glass half full person!

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