Clean Eating meal plan to lose weight

How to eat clean

There are some basic principles to stick to when trying to ‘eat clean’. Once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s relatively easy to plan your meals and follow the diet – here are some things to look out for…

Ingredients

Check the ingredients list and avoid any products that contain ingredients you don’t recognise– you may be surprised to find that many ready-made foods are now created only with produce that you would use in your own home to create a meal.

Go organic

Choose organic foods if possible – it can be pricey to buy everything organic so concentrate on the foods you eat most often such as milk, chicken and meat.
With fruit and veg, choose organic produce where you’re most likely to eat the skins such as:

• Apples
• Peppers
• Grapes
• Cherries
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears

It’s the outside of the food that’s most likely to be affected by pesticides so if you’re going to peel off and discard a thick skin, such as with bananas, avocados and butternut squash, there’s probably little point in buying organic.

Buy local

Aim to buy British produce when it’s available and make the most of your local butchers, greengrocers and farmer’s market (if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby). Many of the products are likely to have been produced locally cutting down on airmiles and come without loads of packaging, which is an environmental bonus.

Experiment

Start experimenting in the kitchen – there are literally thousands of combinations you can put together from simple ingredients such as meat, chicken, fish, fruit, veg, potatoes and brown rice.

Create your own low-cal snacks

Stop relying on low-calorie versions of favourite snacks such as lower-fat crisps, cakes, biscuits or chocolate bars – they might be lower in calories but like the full-fat versions, they’re still low in nutrients.
Instead, start having a go at creating your own ‘cleaner’ snacks such as:

• homemade cereal bars (made from oats, nuts and dried fruit)
• plain popcorn
• homemade guacamole
• tzatziki with vegetable crudités
• homemade bread with avocado
• or simply fresh fruit.

Try anything

Have a go at making everything from scratch using fresh, natural ingredients – even those foods that you buy ready made and consider to be healthy such as muesli, bread and soup.

Breakfast

Bowl of porridge made with water and topped with a handful of blueberries, strawberries and spoon of low-fat natural yoghurt.

Mid morning

Piece of fruit and a small handful of unsalted almonds.

Lunch

Grilled chicken breast with a large salad and a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice with a slice of homemade bread made from wholewheat flour.

Mid afternoon

Bowl of homemade vegetable soup.

Dinner

Grilled salmon steak with boiled new potatoes and steamed veg. Plus a bowl of fruit salad topped with low-fat natural yoghurt.