“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.”

Margaret Mead

I recently posted a reel with the title, “3 foods They say are health foods but aren’t”. One person commented, “Then what CAN we eat? It’s exhausting trying to figure out what to eat if everything you eat someone says is trash”. I completely understand the frustration, confusion and defeat one can feel when trying to eat healthy or what I like to call clean eating, and don’t know what to do or where to start.

This confusion is generated by design. The US Health Care System has kept us mentally paralyzed when it comes to making decisions about what is best for our health and healing. We tend to doubt and question the knowledge inherently built into our DNA, and instead put our trust and faith in a system designed to see us fail. It is time that we call all of our power back to us.

There are two very simple guidelines to follow to help you determine what you should and shouldn’t eat. This will help you become a clean eater. Clean eating is a lifestyle. It is not a fad, a diet, or a quick fix. It is something you strive to do daily each time you eat and drink. The clean eating lifestyle has two important components:

1. You choose to eat food as close to its natural state as possible.
2. You eat foods with minimal ingredients you can pronounce. 

My favorite example of clean eating is the apple and the apple fritter . The apple is as close to its natural state as possible. It came right off the tree and into the store. The apple fritter on the other hand went through an entire process to be made. The manufacturer took some apples (I hope), flour, butter, sugar, mixed it together, fried it and then put some glaze on it. The apple fritter is as far from the natural state of the apple as you can get. The goal of clean eating is to choose food as close to its natural state as possible. When you choose food as close to its natural state as possible, you will have a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. You will eat foods from the earth and not out of a box. In other words, eat plants and not food manufactured in plants.

One of my favorite quotes is, “If you don’t recognize an ingredient, your body won’t either.” In addition to eating food as close to its natural state as possible, clean eating involves choosing foods with minimal ingredients that you can actually pronounce.

Many years ago, I regularly purchased boxed pancake mix. That was until I read the label and looked at the ingredients. My favorite had sodium aluminum phosphate and calcium carbonate. I asked myself, “what is this and why is it in my pancake mix?”  I then decided to make my own pancake mix with ingredients I recognized including flour, sugar, and almond milk because I certainly don’t have sodium aluminum phosphate in my cabinets. Clean eating means that you will make most of your food at home, with your own hands and with minimal ingredients. 

Without giving you a list of foods you should and should not eat to become a clean eater, just ask yourself two simple questions every time you eat or drink: Is this food or drink as close to its natural state as possible? Do I recognize the ingredients? If the answers are yes, you are on the road to clean eating.

In addition to clean eating, I recommend Intermittent Fasting to bring an increased level of health and healing to your life. Grab my FREE e-book on Intermittent Fasting, “Intermittent Fasting for the Melanin Rich today.