6 Tips for Clean Eating

Getting cleaner foods into your body will help you get leaner and healthier.  

Where to begin?  Start with these tips:

Red Fire Farm carrots really do taste amazing!

1. Shop the perimeter of the store – skip the aisles of packaged, canned, and processed foods.  Whole nuts, oats, and brown rice are a few exceptions.  You can only eat what you buy, and if you shop for clean foods from the start, you'll make clean eating possible and easier then saying "no" to other junk.
2. Freezer friendly finds – try new vegetarian burgers, fish/shrimp, steamer bagged veggies, and ripe frozen berries.  Skip the freezer entrees, Haagen-Dazs and fast-food knock-offs like freezer fries.  And try my favorite freezer veggie:  soybeans in the shell, or edamame.
3. Join a CSA or shop the farmers markets – prepare to spend a little more on local organic foods to eat truly clean.  Cook and appreciate kale, spinach, and raw gems like real, earthy-sweet carrots.  A great Boston based CSA is Red Fire Farm and www.localharvest.org will help you find other CSAs.  
4. Clean those fruits and veggies – take 10 minutes after shopping to rinse, chop, and make-ready your veggies.  Drop them into plastic boxes or baggies and leave them on the top shelves of your fridge.  Then in a hurry you can just pop them into your bag for easy snacks.  Or just streamline the evening meal prep by having it all ready to cook or eat raw.
5. Focus on whole grains and short ingredient lists – foods that are best for you will have fewer than 10 ingredients and all they won’t read like a chemistry book.  Even CLIF bars have 20+ ingredients.  Why not try to make your own?  If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, or your grandmother had never heard of it, then you probably shouldn’t be eating it. 
6. Alcohol and sweets really should be treats – and not every day is a “special day”.  Think of your diet as the building block of your healthy life, and ask “what would an athlete eat before competing?” and if they wouldn’t eat it or drink it, then why should you.  After all, you are planning to workout hard tomorrow, right?  Another great post-race meal may be waiting for you...

Lobsterman Triathlon post-race healthy feast