Keep It Clean

It's time to clean up your diet!

The best way to keep healthy and stay in shape is to forget about any silly fad diets and to eat clean and stick to a few simple guidelines -

1. Eat within half an hour of getting up, this will get your metabolism kick started for the day.

2. If you eat bread/complex carbs for breakfast do not eat them for lunch and vice versa. (Try to eat only 2 slices of bread a day).

3. Try stay away from simple carbohydrates and sugary foods but if you can't curb the craving you are better to eat these in the first half of the day so you have the rest of the day to burn it off and try to stick to only one cheat day a week.

4. Eat fruit in the first half of the day as it is high in natural sugars and you will have the day to burn these off.

5. Portion control your meals and have 5 to 6 small meals a day. This helps speed up your metabolism and keep you energised throughout the day.

6. Stay away from processed foods and stick to clean, natural, organic foods.

7. Have a high protein snack in the afternoon around 3:30pm, such as almonds, a protein bar or protein shake. The amino acids in the protein help you to stay awake and keep you feeling fuller for longer to help you tide over until dinner.

8. Dinners should be a piece of meat preferably chicken, fish or turkey and occasionally red meat. Pair the meat with vegetables, preferably green ones such as peas, broccoli, asparagus, beans, spinach etc.


Here is an example of a clean eating plan to help give a guideline when trying to come up with your own clean eating plan -

- Breakfast
2 x boiled eggs. Eggs are high in protein and you can boil them in advance and put them in the fridge so you can grab them and eat them on the go.

- Morning tea
3 - 4 tablespoons of organic yoghurt with 3 - 4 strawberries cut up or a handful of blueberries.

- Lunch
Wholemeal bread, chicken breast and a slice of cheese toasted and a piece of fruit such as an apple or banana.

- Afternoon tea
10 x almonds and a protein shake

- Dinner
2 x turkey mince rissoles and a mix of steamed round beans, broccoli, spinach and asparagus.

Here are a couple of clean eating recipes I like to whip up for dinner when I feel like indulging a little and am craving something a little more fancy and not just the usual meat and veg.

Chicken Bruschetta

Ingredients
Chicken breast sliced in half
1 x tomato
1 x Avocado chopped
2 x garlic cloves crushed
1/2 red onion diced
Basil leaves chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to season

Method
1. Combine the onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Combine the tomatoes and avocado in a large bowl with the garlic, basil and onion-balsamic mixture. Set aside and let it sit for about 15 minutes.
3. Season the chicken with a little salt and fresh pepper and cook it on the grill.
4. Plate the chicken and add your bruschetta mix on top and garnish with some extra basil.

Mini Sweet Potato Pizzas (I got this recipe concept from the instagram user @twohealthy these girls have some amazing healthy clean recipes)

Ingredients
Sweet Potato
Pesto
Garlic crushed
Spinach
Eggplant diced
Zucchini diced
Sundried Tomato
Feta

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180c
2. Slice the sweet potato into 1cm pieces and cook in the microwave for 5-10 minutes, just to soften the potato a little.
3. Bake the sweet potato in the oven for 10 mins so the outsides start to crisp a little.
4. Take the sweet potato out of the oven and spread with pesto and top with garlic, spinach, eggplant, zucchini, sun dried tomato and feta. Put them back in the oven until the cheese starts to melt.
5. Serve sweet potato pizzas and enjoy.