What Eating Clean is NOT...

What exactly is Eating Clean? You may ask.

First of all, the term itself leads to some confusion. The term is used in the old testament of the Bible, with God teaching people which animals are clean and which are unclean. Then there is the term used for proper food handling to prevent contamination. Also the practice of washing up for supper. None of these has anything to do with today's phraseology, "Eating Clean".   

Eating Clean is also NOT synonymous with eating Organic or Vegetarian or even Vegan !!! I have seen the most unhealthy recipes made with all organic ingredients (cakes, cookies, ice cream, etc) I have also been served a pile of french fries boiled in vegetable oil at a vegan restaurant (no, I did not eat them). 

Basically, eating clean refers to giving your body only the nutrition it needs for optimal function, limiting fat, sugar & sodium and balancing the carbs to protein ratio. From there it becomes a very gray area.

Trying to determine exactly what is considered to be clean eating is tough to do since, at some point, it's a matter of opinion and practices. For instance, clean for a vegetarian is going to be different that that of a vegan and both would be vastly different than that of a carnivore. 

However, that being said, all are in agreement with many foods that are NOT considered to be in the "eating clean" category. Here is a short list of what would definitely not be considered to be clean..

- Over Processed foods (usually in a package with numerous additives, most being unpronounceable)

- Foods with added sugar, fat, or both

- Foods with a high sodium content

- Foods that are unrecognizable as anything found in nature (like a twinkie, haha)

As with anything else, there is always the extreme side that in this case would say, eat nothing out of a bag or a box. That, however would eliminate things like steel cut oats or dried beans or frozen fruits & veggies, all of which would generally be considered healthy and clean. The other side of that coin would be to say, just stay away from foods with a laundry list (pun intended) of added chemicals, preservatives and GMO (genetically modified organism) foods, allowing for canned veggies or frozen entrees (like Healthy Choice), which I, personally don't consider to be healthy choices.

The point I'm trying to get across here is that you have to use your brain when choosing what to eat. Don't think you can order anything you like at a vegan restaurant or that you can eat anything organic and think you're eating healthy. That is simply not true. You first have to know WHAT your body needs, then you need to determine if what you're putting in your mouth is on that list. Sticking to simple, single ingredient foods is always a safe bet.

As I've said in previous posts, food is fuel. Anything extra you give it that it doesn't need or know what to do with gets stored (period, end of story). If you want a Ferrari or a Corvette body, then, like those vehicles, you'll need to give it premium fuel. If you're happy with your VW Bug body, then go ahead and use cheap, "regular" fuel.

Here are a couple of sites that will help you figure out just what nutrients and how much of each your particular body needs (they are all free to use)...

MyFitnessPal.com

DailyBurn.com

SparkPeople.com

You may field any questions, comments, critiques or criticisms to: Fitness4Ever2@Gmail.com 

Make it HARDER!!

For those of you who thought this was going to be some kind of erotic advice, See Part I, if not skip to Part II...

Part I -
 Here is a special exercise for you: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms out to the sides. Bend forward at the waist, stretch your arms forward and down, reach down even further and pick your mind up out of the gutter! haha  Now, see Part II for a really good tip.

Part II -
 This concept came to me over the holidays when I was making my pumpkin pie crust from scratch. Are you time challenged when it comes to working out? Only able to squeeze in 20 to 30 min? Wish you had more time to get better results? Or maybe you are a crazy, like me, always wanting to get more out of your workouts. Well, back to the pie crust... As I was kneading and rolling out the dough, I noticed that I was using different muscles that I apparently don't normally use and I was really feeling it. That lead to a whole chain of thoughts...
 It is an undeniable fact that humans are getting fatter every year... when did this start?... Is there perhaps another culprit besides the touted fast food rage? Yes!! That beast would be called convenience. When I was a child, Disneyland had a ride called "Carousel of Progress", in it were several devices designed to make work easier. That's where we started to go to pot (our bellies that is). As things continued to get easier and more convenient, our physical work loads on a typical day have become next to nada. It is so easy to wash a load of laundry today, compared to using a wash board and a wringer then hanging it on a line as in days of old. Hopping in your car to go get a loaf of bread, no grinding, mixing or kneading required, again, easy. You get my drift.


Our bodies were created for hard work, we can take it, in fact, we NEED it!!


So, here's where the "Make it Harder" phrase comes in...
I'm certainly not saying we should start using wash boards again or toss our microwaves out the window, but there are several little changes we can make to work a little harder and give our metabolism a boost, burning more calories and helping us get in some extra "workout" time in, just doing things we would normally be doing anyway. I'm sure most of you have heard the ol' adage, "Park further away from the store and walk", to which I often get the excuse, "I can't, I'm in a hurry" to which I then reply, "Good, then you'll have to walk faster and burn even more calories!"
Here are a few ways that I've found in my life to get in a little workout in the "Urban Gym"...

- If I'm going to the store for just a few things (milk, apples, yogurt...) instead of grabbing a cart, I get a hand basket (sometimes even two) and carry my items through the store doing little bicep curls.

- Instead of walking out to my mailbox (at the end of our street) I sprint as fast as I can both directions, some days even passing the mailbox a little ways to make it longer.

- I quit using my rolling laundry basket to take the laundry down a loooong hallway to the laundry room. Now, I do a couple of extra squats while picking up each load and lunge my way down the hall.

- While on hold with tech support or the cable company or (fill in the blank), see if you can hold a yoga pose for the entire time. Warrior 3, is a workout!! whew!

- While waiting for my toast to toast or oatmeal to cook, or water to boil or whatever in the kitchen, I do all kinds of exercises, like doing triceps dips with toes on one counter and hands on the opposite counter, or, I'll hold myself in an "L" press in the corner of the counters. There are lots of things you can do here, be creative!

- When putting away all the Christmas decorations, instead of using a dolly to roll all the boxes out to the garage, I hand carried them, doing deep squats then lifting them over my head a couple of times on the way to the garage and then carrying them up the ladder.

There, you have half a dozen examples, now do some creative thinking and post what you come up with here to give others even more ideas!! Let's encourage and challenge each other! :D