When I chat to many of you in class about my eating habits and lifestyle, you’re often a little startled about what I eat, when I eat and why, so I thought I’d write a series of articles giving you a little bit more information about the nutrition plan I follow, how it’s helped me, and how it can ultimately help you too.

Clean eating works on the principle that you cut out all processed foods from your diet and go for more natural ingredients that are fresh, healthy and chemical-free.

I don’t really like the word “diet” in any context to be honest, and would argue that clean eating isn’t actually a diet, because I, and many other people I know around me, have been following clean eating for well over 4 years now, and seeing and feeling fantastic as a result.

I prefer to refer to clean eating as a lifestyle choice instead.

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Fancy a little chocolate treat?

St Valentine’s Day looming?

An Anniversary dinner coming up?

Like muffins?

Here you go!

My fluffy clean-eating chocolate muffins, using coconut flour.

If you’ve ever tried to bake with coconut flour before and failed, my heart goes out to you!

Coconut flour is hard to bake with – it’s often very absorbent, but I promise you these cupcakes won’t leave your mouth dry, ok?

And, they’re actually really light and fluffy, so give them a go!

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As it’s Pancake Day soon, I thought I’d give you a little recipe which is not only filling and healthy, but also clean-eating too!

For those of you who like me, are following a clean eating lifestyle nowadays, you’ll be pleased to know that even though you may be saying ‘no’ to preservatives, sugar and sweet treats…

…there’s no reason you can’t have a pancake on Shrove Tuesday.

So here goes:

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One thing that people struggle with when they switch to clean-eating, is giving up bread.

I’m here to tell you – you don’t have to do without bread in your quest for a clean-eating lifestyle…

…you just need to know how to make clean-eating bread instead.

Sorted.

I don’t eat a lot of bread nowadays, but every now and then I fancy some soldiers with a boiled egg…

…or, an accompaniment to my green soup recipe…

So, it’s nice once in a while to have some bread which DOESN’T bloat my stomach.

If you relate to that, then keep reading!

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If you’ve recently switched to clean-eating, or want to shift a few pounds, breakfast is one of the harder aspects of our diet to change.

We know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but switching from a ‘quick and simple’ bowl of cereal (which is highly toxic and laced with sugar)….

to a protein-packed breakfast instead, can be difficult.

What you need to do when switching to eating more protein at breakfast time is think about it more as a ‘lunch-style’ breakfast.

Below, I’ve listed a few pictures of the food I regularly eat for breakfast.

You’ll see they contain very few ingredients, are simple to put together, AND delish to eat.

Are you ready?

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So, when it comes to clean-eating, breakfast is often the HARDEST meal to change.

How quick is it normally, to just rush out the door, grab a slice of toast, a bowl of cereal and/or a breakfast bar, eh?

It’s very tempting, isn’t it?

But, when you’re trying to burn fat, give your system the BEST start for the day and stay fuller for longer, protein is definitely the way forward.

Read through those quick, simple, ‘normal’ breakfast examples above and tell me how much protein is contained in them?

Not much, huh?

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So, today I thought I’d share some time-saving clean-eating tips with you.

A lot of the reason why my clients aren’t too keen on switching to clean-eating, is because of the end to cook from scratch.

We’re so used to opening up a packet of food, bunging it in the microwave or oven for a few minutes and there you have it – dinner’s done!

I’d encourage you to try a few of these time-saving ideas for at least one or two meals a week, and see if you feel fuller, have more energy and/or don’t wake up as hungry.

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So, today, I’m going to share a quick sure-fire recipe you can use for your Sunday roast chicken, beef, pork, lamb or whatever roast meat!

If you’ve checked out the contents of the gravy granules lurking in your cupboard recently, you’ll see things such as:

• Maltodextrin,
• Flavour enhancers,
• Colours,
• E numbers (at least 4),
• Salt,
• Chicken/Turkey/Beef Powder,
• Emulsifiers, and
• Palm Oil

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So, when it comes to clean eating, I like to experiment a little bit with different textures and flavours and I’m always trying to re-invent those old classic recipes which we all know and love, yet struggle to come up with a ‘clean’ version for.

Following a clean eating lifestyle, where you cut out the processed junk and go back to cooking from scratch has made a massive impact on my energy levels, workout performance, weight management and mood.

If you’re not sleeping well, you’re constantly hungry and/or feeling bloated all the time, consider switching some of your meals over to clean-eating.  It might just make all the difference.

So, today’s post is a recipe for clean, fat-burning Bolognese Sauce.

INGREDIENTS

500g turkey mince (or any other mince you fancy)

1 onion (diced)

3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped/minced)

1 pepper (diced)

3 sticks of celery (sliced)

200g green beens (cut in half)

100g frozen peas

can of tomatoes

squeeze of tomato paste

handful of black olives

fresh or dried herbs to taste (I used thyme, rosemary and oregano)

salt and pepper

dash of water

METHOD

1. Fry the mince in a fry pan in some coconut or good quality olive oil until cooked, and set aside.
2. In another pan, saute the onions and garlic.
3. Add the green beans and pepper and stir until cooked.
4. Season with herbs and salt and pepper.
5. Throw in the olives.
6. Add canned tomatoes, a squeeze of tomato paste and stir.
7. Add the mince to the vegetable mixture and stir.
8. Gradually add water, half a pint at a time to the mixture until you reach the right consistency.
9. Simmer for 20 minutes

SERVE WITH

Because pasta is pretty much off the ‘clean-eating’ menu, here are some side suggestions for your sauce:

1. Raw baby spinach
2. Steamed spring cabbage
3. Fresh lettuce

Remember, it’s the green leafy veg that you want more of to help burn fat, neutralise your system and give you all the nutrients you need.

And there you have it!

Print it out, cook it up and let me know how you got on.

I’ve received a few emails from you recently regarding clean-eating and how it aids with weight loss, so I thought I’d put a little list of food ideas which will enable you to shred fat, have more energy, sleep better, get a flatter stomach, stop that bloated feeling and stop the insulin rollercoaster which you might currently be riding!

If you’ve not had a chance to read my previous article on “What is clean-eating?”, click here to take a look to get yourself educated about this nutritional lifestyle.

BREAKFASTS

Here are some ideas:

• Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs plus spinach on the side
• Omelette + watercress salad
• Mackeral + rocket leaves, avocado and tomatoes

Tip:  When it comes to clean-eating at breakfast time, I’d suggest more of a lunch-time style breakfast, so think omelettes/smoked salmon/full-English etc.

LUNCH

Here are some ideas:

• Egg-only frittata made your choice of filling + a side salad
• Prawn and avocado salad
• Chicken/lamb/beef stir fry with lots of kale/cabbage/broccoli

Tip: Batch cook a few chicken breasts at the start of the week, slice them up into strips when they’re cool and place in a Tupperware container in the fridge.  These are ideal to add to salads, omelettes and stir fries if you find you have to ‘eat on the go’, or haven’t had time to prepare a clean-eating meal.

DINNER

Here are some ideas:

• Stir fried chicken/prawns/beef
• Morrocan chicken + roasted veg
• Spaghetti bolognaise (minus the pasta!) served on bed/side salad of fresh baby spinach

Tip:  If you haven’t already got one, I’d suggest getting a slow-cooker, because, if you’re busy out and about during the day time, the easiest way to make healthy, nutritious food for the evening is to bung a load of ingredients in the slow-cooker in the morning, then when you come home, your house smells amazing!

And there you have it!  If you want to couple your clean-eating with a fun, fat-burning, full-body workout, then come along to Mummies and Buggies – no babysitter required, as baby comes too!