I’ve found the best things in life are not only free, but also simple! Back when I started taking my health seriously, I found myself confused on what a balanced diet and eating healthy really meant. It was like every time I got on the Internet to find some answers, I found myself confused by the millions of options, choices, diets, plans, and routines out there. Whether this is your first or tenth time doing the 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse, I bet you can relate. There are so many different weight loss tips that promise you a flat stomach and your ideal weight, but don’t follow the principles of a balanced diet. Clean eating doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re trying to get healthy, get rid of the chaos and simplify things! These guidelines below are your instructions on how to eat “clean and balanced” foods:
1. No Empty Calories
You should always make sure you’re choosing nutrient-rich foods, and not empty calories. This means you’ll search for foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber, and omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids have a variety of health benefits related to their anti-inflammatory properties. They’ve been proven to help with high cholesterol, depression, and diabetes. People often ask me how to lose weight fast and I always say omega 3 fatty acid-rich foods like salmon, flax seed oil, walnuts, and spinach all contain the essential fatty acids your body needs to be looking good on the outside, and feeling good on the inside!
PSA: Every single type of junk food classifies as empty calories!! You want your calories to provide you with nutrition and health benefits that will help you heal your body and maintain a permanently healthy weight. Before you eat anything, ask yourself, is this a healthy, nutrient-rich food that’s going to get me one step closer to my weight loss goals, or are these empty calories that I’m going to regret later? Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now– commit to be mindful of everything that hits your plate.
2. Power of the Protein
In case you didn’t already know, protein is one of the most important parts of a balanced diet and has a number of key health benefits your body can’t get anywhere else! For example, it helps produce important hormones (including ones that make us happy and relaxed) to help avoid a hormonal imbalance, boosts our metabolism to aid in melting off that belly fat, and most importantly, it helps to build and repair almost every tissue in our body. Let me bless you with a VIP weight loss tip: Eat protein with every meal, and eat it first before the carbohydrates or fats (Think lean meats, fish, and beans). Why? Because eating protein foods doesn’t cause insulin spikes which makes it a key staple in my balanced diet.
Now, you may not have diabetes, or worry about your insulin levels, but it’s important to recognize the glucose your cells don’t use is stored as fat! Blood sugar spikes make it easer for your body to pack on that belly fat, so prioritizing protein is the way to go!
3. Find Your Balance
Whenever you eat protein, eat a carbohydrate along with it. Believe it or not, good, whole carbs actually help in eliminating belly fat! No, I’m not encouraging a high carb diet alone will get you to your ideal weight—some people do better with a lower carb intake, while others do just fine eating plenty of carbs. However, a balanced diet suggests that we get about ½ of our calories from carbohydrates.
If you hear the word “carbs” and think white bread, cane sugar, and Cheetos, you’re not thinking about the right things. Whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, whole-wheat pasta, and legumes are the carb-rich foods you should be seeking out. As a general guideline, the protein intake should be ½ the amount of the carbs. So if you had 30g of carbs, then eating about 15g of protein along with it will prevent insulin spikes that get stored as stubborn body fat. Check food labels to find your balance between net carbs and protein, you won’t regret it! Until next time…
-xo JJ