Small Changes that make a world of difference and that are simple and easy to apply to our busy lives.
As you are well aware when I started The Clean Cook it was my goal to help people eat healthy food that tasted great and made them feel good. During the last 11 years this has continued to be my mission and I have constantly read, listened and researched to understand better how the food we eat can improve our health and well being and make us feel better.
During this time it has given me and all those I've been fortunate enough to feed and coach some simple, easy to apply practices that have helped us in a non depriving way feel so much better health wise.
When I first started this journey I initially lost almost 3 stone and for 11 years now I've simply kept it off, even whilst having a baby in the middle.
Four years ago I set up The Clean Cook Club which gave my members these principles and the knowledge behind it and they also saw the benefits so now I wanted to share them with you.
As regular customers, choosing to buy our food, I know you are consciously choosing to make the right choices to be healthier and, in some cases lose a bit of weight and do it in a healthy and sustained way, so I wanted to share these simple practices with you and give you some simple tweaks to apply to your eating habits that we know will make you feel even better and that your body will thank you for.
This therefore is the first in a series of blogs that we are putting together to share our knowledge and support you find those easy to apply tactics we all need in our busy lives, that make the biggest positive impact to your health, both in the short term and long term.
Choose to make these simple switches, they're easy I promise and when you do give them a go its always great to have feedback as ultimately helping support you improve your health and well being is what drives us the most.
Big Love Clean Cook Family
Michelle
The First tweak for you to try this week.
Week 1
Ditching Starchy Refined Carbs (Bread, Crackers, Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Potatoes, Cakes, Biscuits, Crisps and Sweets) for more fibrous carbs such as Fresh Fruits, and all varieties of Veggies.
Why in a nutshell
Less Cals, More Fibre, better for weight loss and health
You’re Fuller for longer and your body works more efficiently as a result
So, for this week that’s the simple switch, the simple focus, think of veg as the main event and your Clean Cook meal as the icing on top.
Dunk Carrot, Pepper, Cucumber sticks in your soup instead of bread.
Have your curry or stew on a bed of chopped up cauliflower or broccoli, spinach or spring greens instead of rice or potato
Grate Courgette or finely chop mushrooms and dry fry instead of Pasta
Ditch the sweet stuff in favour of peanut butter spread on apple or natural yoghurt with berries and a sprinkling of our nutty granola, or have one of our clean treats.
You’ve probably heard it takes 28 days to form a habit… well actually it takes lots longer and is only usually successful if you bolt onto an existing habit otherwise it takes about 9 weeks
That is why this health switch really is the foundation and your biggest ally in terms of success.
You will feel full and satisfied when you can fill up on low calorie, lean goodness.
Plus no one ever felt guilty leaving a spoon full of cabbage, whereas the chips……………………we know the answer there 😊
Give it a go and keep us posted.
And if you want to learn more on why these changes are of benefit keep reading the blog below.
Here’s a bit more info and detail if you’d like to know more.
Most people think only of Rice, Pasta, Noodles and Potatoes as Carbs but forget things like cakes, biscuits, sweets are too and things such as and dates, honey, maple syrup.
Basically, carbs give you energy and we NEED energy but we can make a better carb choice every day and that is choosing the amazing fibrous carbs, packed with nutrients to protect us and make us feel great everyday instead…
What are these super carbs – Fruits and Veggies that’s what.
Yes, Fruits and Veg are Carbs… so the right carbs are super good for us. They are whole foods, foods in their truest form, meaning the most nutrients, less waste and therefore maximum benefit to your health, the health of your microbes living in your gut, which power your health and the planet.
These ‘Super Carbs’ (fruits, veggies and legumes), coupled with nuts and seeds, great healthy fats are the key foundation of our health and well being.
Herbs and spices too, we love those for their flavour enhancement and powerful health properties.
By choosing these as a foundation to our plates we are also giving our bodies a Fibre rich diet and with most of the nation (over 90% here in the UK) being fibre deficient, which in short means they do not eat enough plants in their whole form (Fruits, Veg, Nuts, Seeds, Legumes), there lies the direct correlation with people carrying more weight than they want to and more at risk of the biggest illnesses Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancers and Diabetes.
On a side note, constipation is one of the biggest reasons for absenteeism in children from school too so this problem spans all age ranges.
Solving the lack of Fibre issue has many upsides from making you feel fuller through the least amount of calories to making your body work efficiently (Go to the toilet regularly😊)
Here’s a few simple facts to convince you to have your dinner on a much-needed variety of veggies instead of refined carbs such as Bread, Rice, Pasta or Mash Potato
Did you know you can eat 10 portions of broccoli for the equivalent of 1 average portion of rice? (And believe me when I say nobody eats an average portion of rice, they always eat more).
Did you know a head of broccoli will give you 15g of protein, so keep you super full too?
Did you know the goodness in all fruits and veggies are just too long to list, the positives outweigh any downside!
When you initially say this mission, people jump on the OMG Health Band Wagon thinking you are doing some drastic diet and depriving yourself in some way, when really you are making a sensible conscious switch that has massive upside for you and your health to thrive.
Atkins, Paleo, Keto and diets like them are known for ‘ditching the carbs’ the main and absolutely crucial difference being these diets is that they don’t focus on ensuring you eat loads of fibre packed veggies unlike my suggestion here. They instead focus on high animal protein and high fats, which can be as harmful as a diet packed with high refined carbohydrates.
Any diet high in animal products (Meats and Dairy in particular) have negative side effects such as the following
- Constipation
- Halitosis
- Nausea
- Renal Stones
- Osteoporosis
- A potential risk of bowl cancer (our microbes in our gut feed off plant-based food and the lack of these and the lack of fibre this results in puts us at risk of bowl cancer)
For lots of people these diets (Atkins, Paleo, Keto etc) are not sustainable and as a result they return to them time and time again after they regain any weight they have lost and with often more weight to lose and with other health factors too.
A variety of Fruits, Veg, Nuts and Seeds, Legumes are what we need, because, like us they are all unique and packed with differing nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to boost our health and well being, mentally and physically.
If we eat and live to help our microbiome population thrive, it supports us, and we live healthier lives and are less likely to suffer disease. Why?
1) 70% of our immune cells live in our 9 metre long digestive track
2) If we have a poor gut-health no matter what we eat the body will not be able to extract the nutrition from the food we eat
3) All the trillions of microbes crucial to gut health live in the lower digestive tract (colon) and it is our job to nourish and help them thrive
Eating as many different plant-based items per week is key. A good starting point is clock where you are now and just aim to eat more.
30 is a figure some experts are suggesting is a good goal but the simple aim is to just improve and keep improving through conscious choices.
Find your starting point and progress from it and if you're eating our food anyway you will find it easy as our menu prioritises.
Choose variety in your meal times and through your veggies with which you have your meals that will enhance this too.
Great news too is that different types of the same ingredient count individually toward variety too
For Example
If you have Red, Green and Yellow Peppers that’s 3 different plant-based components as are chestnut mushrooms, closed cap mushrooms and Porcini, so choose diversity for your health
A diet based on plant-based nutrition far outweighs one focused around meat, we are not saying NO meat here we are saying prioritise fruits, veg, nuts, seeds, legumes, herbs, and spices to help your health, make them the main event and give them a chance to repay you with the results and energy levels you crave.
Remember Fibre is essential for the proper functioning of our digestive system and the healthy bacteria in our guts feed on fibre so the more you eat the more good bugs flourish and the more you flourish
Now go thrive you lovely lot and share your journey with us through pictures and feedback we love to see how you're applying things to your very unique life and all the success it brings.
This is a really interesting read, Michelle. Thank you so much. Another great reminder to up the fruit and veg and some lovely suggestions for replacing eg rice and pasta in a dish. Will try the dry-frying of mushrooms etc. Fab!