Clean Eating Food List
Eating healthy doesn't mean having to sacrifice on taste and it defiantly doesn't mean going hungry. |
All the foods listed in this article are free from:
- Sugar
- Gluten
- High fructose corn syrup
- Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners
- Soy
- Bad oils such as canola, vegetable, etc.
Eating foods free of the ingredients listed above helps reduce inflammation and pain related to autoimmune issues. It can also prevent your chances of developing cancer.
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Why Should You Eat Clean?
Eating clean will help you reach your optimal health and restore your energy and vitality.
If you read my “about” page, you will see that I suffered for years with autoimmune issues, chronic pain, numerous health issues and eventually thyroid cancer.
One morning I looked down and I had 9 prescriptions in my hand. I believe the problems associated with the pills, were directly related to the way I was eating.
Once I figured out how to resolve all these issues, I went back to school to become a certified health coach to learn more so I can help you.
In my opinion, you don't have to live in pain and low energy all the time. Making your health a priority can make a big difference.
Even with chronic illness, eating clean healthy foods will make a difference in pain and energy in most cases.
What Are The Benefits Of Removing Sugar From Your Diet?
Sugar is one of the top inflammatory foods you can put in your body.
According to healthline.com, a study consisting of 29 healthy people concluded that consuming only 40 grams of sugar from one 12 ounce can of soda/day led to increased inflammatory markers, insulin resistance and LDL cholesterol. They also gained more weight.
Inflammation is the root of most health issues and diseases including:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Autoimmune disease
- Asthma
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Psoriasis
- Sluggish feeling / low energy
- More
Learn more about the dangers of sugar and how to beat sugar cravings in this video.
Retraining Your Taste Buds
If you are eating processed or fast foods, good clean whole food is not going to taste that great at first.
You taste buds are used to the taste of sugar and salt and they want more of what they consider the good stuff.
You can retrain your taste buds to enjoy good, clean food. I was addicted to sugar for YEARS and if I can do it, you can do it.
Try starting off disguising you food. For example, I would smash up avocado in my salad so I could barely taste it, and now I love it!
Keep trying to eat small bites of a food and as time goes on, you'll develop a taste for it.
The first time I tried Zevia drinks, I thought ewww…..because I was addicted to drinking Diet Coke. Now I love Zevia!
Scrapping your tongue daily helps too. You can use a big metal spoon or I got this tongue scrapper from Amazon. It comes in a package of 2 so you can share. Pop them in the dishwasher to sanitize them in between uses.
Scrapping your tongue removes that coating and open up the taste buds to taste the true flavor of the food.
Is Organic Food Healthier Than Regular Food?
A popular question is “Is organic actually better and healthier than regular food? The answer is in many cases is yes.
Conventional food growers use pesticides and your body doesn't need pesticides inside. When you buy organic, you can trust that in most cases, the food is pesticide free.
Did you know wheat is sprayed with Roundup before it is harvested? This is insane!
They claim the Roundup is removed when processing, but I have a hard time believing it doesn't soak in, resulting in you ingesting it. This is one reason I'm gluten free.
Organic food ensures you're not getting genetically modified foods (GMO). GMO foods are often created with chemicals such as Round Up or Agent Orange. YUK!
This list from the Non GMO Project, shows what foods are at high risk for GMO.
One common complaint about eating organic is it's more expensive. How sad is it that to get back to basic, just good ole organic food costs more money?
If you invest a little bit more for organic food, you can save on higher medical cost later. I look at it as an investment in my future.
Buying whole foods and making your own meals, saves on paying for the convenience of packaged foods and eating out, balancing out the cost.
Another benefit of eating organic food is they usually contain more nutrients. Since your body is getting more nutrients, you'll tend to actually eat less food. This also helps balance out the extra investment for organic food.
Read more about organic food benefits in this article from Nature's Path.
The organization, Environmental Working Group (EWG), was created to protect us from pesticides. They publish a “dirty dozen” list each year containing the top 12 foods highest in pesticides. You should purchase organic versions of these 12 foods whenever possible.
They also include a “clean 15” that are lowest in pesticides. I left the corn and papaya off the clean list because both can be GMO foods.
Download your free anti-inflammatory meal plan, including a grocery list and recipes here!
Printable Food List – Guide To Buying Organic
Reading Food Ingredients
It's so important to read food labels!
Just because something says it's “natural” or “healthy” doesn't mean it's clean.
When you see an ingredient list that is L O N G – pass! Try to stick to items that are under 5 ingredients. You should also be able to pronounce anything that goes into your body.
I've fallen prey to buying “healthy” protein bars and then realized they contained unhealthy ingredients.
You want to stay away from:
- Wheat
- Gluten
- Refined Sugar (white, brown, powdered)
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Aspartame
- Sucralose
- Splenda
- Equal
- Hydrogenated anything
- “Bad” oils – learn more here
- Added nitrates in deli meats, pepperoni and hot dogs
- Meat and Dairy from conventional raised cows
Clean Eating Food List
The best way to ensure you are eating clean food is by buying whole food and making your own recipes instead of buying packaged foods.
If you do buy packaged food, try to stay under 5 ingredients whenever possible.
When grocery shopping, try to stay on the outer aisles of the store. The produce, meat, dairy, basically whole foods are usually on the outer parameter. I also shop in the frozen food section.
Why Is Grass Fed Beef Better For You?
Always pick grass fed and finished meat and dairy over conventional raised.
Grass fed beef contains more:
- Key nutrients including
- Antioxidants
- Vitamins
- Twice as many omega-3 fatty acids as conventional beef
- CLA which has been associated with cancer prevention
For grass fed butter, you can buy a good brand of ghee, like this one, or Kerrygold pure Irish butter.
You can find healthy recipes here.
By far my favorite grass fed beef is ButcherBox.
ButcherBox has high-quality meat that takes meals to the next level. They are my go-to source for high-quality meat and cheaper than my local grocery store.
I trust ButcherBox to source grass fed and finished meat from cows, heritage raised pigs, and free range chickens and they are never given antibiotics or added hormones.
They also have delicious wild caught salmon, scallops and now lobster!
All this delivered right to my door – so convenient!
Printable Clean Food Grocery List
Drinks For Your Clean Eating Food List
Don't waste calories and sugar on drinks.
Even fruit juices, touted as “healthy” are full of sugar.
Sports drinks and energy drinks are not good choices either.
Alcohol, in moderation, can be OK if you choose wisely.
You can read more about alcohol in this article, but one good choice is vodka, water and lime. Keep in mind, any time your liver is removing alcohol from the body, toxins and fat aren't being removed.
Some clean drink options:
- BAI Coconut Water drinks
- Zevia Sodas (sweetened with Stevia)
- Water with lemon and/or ginger
- Coffee (organic to save pesticides)
- Tea (unsweetened)
- Green tea
- Bubbly water
Intermittent Fasting Combined with Clean Eating
To go along with your clean eating lifestyle, try intermittent fasting. Intermittent Fasting has so many health benefits along with losing weight. Two popular examples are organ rest and cell regeneration.
You can read more about this here:
19 Awesome Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting for Women – Ultimate Guide
Conclusion Clean Eating Food List
Hope this article about clean eating with food lists helps you with ideas for eating clean, and you start to see huge improvements in your health!
One more thing before you go –
Two of my favorite “super foods” are salmon and avocado. Both are excellent sources of healthy fat and should be included in your meal plan each week.
Learn more about the health benefits of avocado and ways to eat it in this video.
Leave a comment below, letting me know the first thing you plan to start on your healthy eating journey!
Download your free anti-inflammatory meal plan, including a grocery list and recipes here!
Keep it healthy!
Jamie
Medical Disclaimer: I’m a certified health coach, not a licensed medical professional and the advice on this page is from my personal experience, health coach certification training or from the experience of my clients. You should talk with your medical professional when seeking advice about a medical condition, new diet or exercise program.
The post you shared here is very useful for us. Thanks for providing such useful information to us.
I am trying to keep a healthy lifestyle as much as possible. My problem is the sugar addiction we are born with and makes our lives miserable. After a health shock, I replaced refined sugar with coconut sugar, but still not managed to eliminate it from my diet. I love your guide and food list, this is what I look for when I go shopping! I’ll print the list and stick it to the fridge as a reminder! Also pinned it. Thanks for reminding me to stay healthy, sometimes it is not easy …
So glad this helped and you saved it! Sugar addiction is so hard to break – been there done that! Why does it have to taste so good? I wrote an article about sugar also you can find by searching the site for “sugar”. Take care, you’re doing great!
Wonderful post! I love all of the helpful information on clean eating that you posted, I have followed this way of eating for years. Started when my mom read the Adele Davis books when I was a kid, but became more of my lifestyle once I went to college and started shopping at health food stores. Although you can eat healthy shopping almost anywhere, by choosing whole foods, buying organic (and from the Clean 15 list of non-organic but low pesticide residue fruits and veggies), or by growing a garden.
Hi Jamie. What an informative post, thank you. I refuse to give up my weekly drink of whisky … but there is certainly plenty of scope for me to improve my diet in other ways. We buy a lot of our groceries from local farm shops now rather than supermarkets and, although more expensive, it does taste better. Are such local outlets more likely to be ‘clean’ than supermarkets or is that too simplistic a way of looking at it?
Hi Richie! So glad to hear you interested in eating clean. I think you are right, local outlets are probably cleaner than bigger chains. This is especially true for farmers markets. Take care and stay healthy!
I really glad to have read this timely article! It definitely spoke to me! I need to seriously commit to clean eating. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for going into such detail, Jamie! That was an amazing post and I will definitely be referencing this in the future x always looking for more ways to incorporate a healthy lifestyle!
Hi Karen! So glad you found the information about eating clean food helpful. Come back often! Take care.
Very helpful having the printable lists. Eating clean is so important for health. I blame my old eating habits for my breast cancer. I’ve cleaned up my eating habits since then and it has made a huge difference in my life.
Oh Patricia, I hate to hear you had to go through breast cancer. #hatecancer Glad you cleaned up your eating and glad you found this post helpful. Take care and stay healthy!
Oh wow, I learned so much! I am one of those people that are highly addicted to sugar like crazy and after reading this and the stats, I am going to put some changes into place for my health before it’s too late. At first, I didn’t understand why people used spoon scrappers; I thought it was for stinky breath or something lol. But it’s good to know that it helps to remove the coating and open up the taste buds. Thanks for the info xxx
Hi Josie! So glad you learned about helping with sugar cravings. Come back often and take care!
Excellent info! I changed my health too 4+ years by switching to a plant based lifestyle. I avoid the goods you list too. It’s made such a difference in my overall well being!
Thanks for the helpful info! I’ve fallen into a habit of ordering food delivery lately, but I’m working on cleaning up my diet and your recommendations will definitely be useful for me.
Hi Kim! So glad you found the article about clean eating helpful. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of convenience with food delivery. Shame they don’t offer more clean eating via delivery. Take care and best wishes!