Clean Eating Dinner Recipes Index - My Natural Family (2024)

FAQs

What foods are best for clean eating? ›

A clean diet may include whole fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats while limiting highly processed snacks and other packaged foods with added sugar and salt. It may also be associated with terms like plant-based, grass-fed, sugar-free, or gluten-free.

For those who can tolerate dairy, cheeses can be a healthy and nutritious source of proteins and healthy fats if consumed in moderation. Cheese is allowed in the clean eating meal plan, but with an asterisk. Processed cheese slices or other packaged foods that contain cheese should be avoided.

Sour cream is high in saturated fats, so limiting your intake and focusing on healthy options is best.

Peanut butter can be a healthy addition to a meal or snack, but not all peanut butters are the same. Some are full of unhealthy trans fats and hydrogenated oils. Pick natural, simple mixes.

Bacon and other smoked, cured and processed meats are usually treated with nitrates or nitrites—chemical added to preserve shelf life and enhance color. Diets high in processed meats have been linked to chronic health conditions including migraines, asthma, heart failure, kidney disease and several types of cancer.

Clean eating also means cutting down on processed meats like cold cuts, bacon and sausage.

However, like with any food, enjoyed in moderation, refined pasta should not have much of an impact on your gut health. If you are worried about gut health, you can try whole grain pasta instead. Whole grains are good for your gut health and help to contribute to an overall healthy gut microbiome.

If a reasonable serving size is enjoyed, pizza can be a healthy part of a balanced diet. Enjoy your pizza with a side salad and skip the ultra-processed toppings to give your meal a nutritional boost.

Even popcorn is a whole grain. Buy the kernels and pop them on the stove or in an air popper for a clean snack that doesn't have the additives and buttery calories you find in microwave bags.

How to eat 100% clean? ›

It means choosing nutrient-dense foods like veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats over products that are highly processed. Through clean eating, you can remove unnecessary “junk” from your diet like artificial sugars, chemicals, and preservatives.

“For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet.” Hu said that moderate coffee intake—about 2–5 cups a day—is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson's disease, and depression.

Dark chocolate often contains high amounts of cocoa, less sugar and more flavonoids, experts said. Very dark chocolate is the healthiest form of chocolate you can eat. It's usually lower in sugar than other forms of chocolate and doesn't contain milk or added fats.

Mayonnaise. Yes, most versions you see on store shelves are anything but clean. They're filled with ingredients like soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, and emulsifiers, which research has shown can lead to obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. So, what constitutes clean mayo?

But it's pretty easy to get the recommended daily 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight—approximately 56 g daily for men and 46 g daily for women—even on a vegetarian or vegan diet. Eggs, dairy, beans and nuts are all suitable protein sources for a clean, vegetarian diet.

This elimination challenges you to eliminate certain items from your diet for 10 days: sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and processed grains. Eliminating these things will help break your bad habits, crush your cravings, reduce bloating, improve mood and increase energy.

Higher levels of mental focus and clarity. Any symptoms of brain fog or low concentration should begin to clear as you start noticing you can think more clearly. You'll feel amazed that you can eat so much food without gaining weight. You might even feel overly full for the first couple of days of eating healthy.