Clean eating is about no junk, no preservatives, no fillers, etc. Many people write to me wondering what clean eating means and where they should start. Here are tips to eating clean for beginners.

1. EAT REAL FOOD: Just real whole foods is all you need to be eating clean. In fact, avoiding boxed food, or pre-made food is best since a lot of times they include fillers or preservatives or too much saturated fats/trans fats, salt or sugar. Also avoid artificial ingredients and colors. A good guide to clean foods is here: Clean Eating Food List
2. CLEAN OUT THE JUNK: Go through your cabinets, pantry, fridge and cupboards and clean out the junk! Use the guidelines and food list mentioned above and anything not on those lists or guidelines should be out of your house! Whether you donate it, give it away or throw it away – if you want to eat clean you will do this!
3. DRINK CLEAN TOO: water is best, of course. But really you should just avoid sugary drinks like soda or store bought juice. Tea and coffee are ok as long as you don’t add tons of sugar and processed creams. Stick with unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk instead. Also, fresh squeezed juices are great!
4. HAVE A PLAN: A lot of times we say were going to do something, then we don’t follow through. Having a set plan with goals can help. Even if you start out slow, take baby steps, get rid of one thing a week, this is good and you’re moving in the right direction of clean eating. This clean eating meal plan might help keep you on track.

As you can see, clean eating doesn’t have to be that bad. It’s a matter of being mindful of what is in your home and what goes in your mouth! Learn to love healthy foods and you’ll be on your way to good health and possibly weight loss with clean eating.

Tell me your clean eating tips in the comments below!

• fruity smoothies
• green smoothies
• protein smoothies
• dessert smoothies
• nutty smoothies
• meal smoothies (these are more filling with oatmeal, tofu or eggs included)
• quick smoothies

All you need is an iPhone or iPad, a blender and the ingredients and you can use our smoothie app. It even comes with a shopping list too, so you can add smoothies you like to your list which will make shopping for them easier.

Smoothies are tasty, fun and pretty easy to make. I make one daily, so having a variety of types to choose from is important. Buy the [app_link app="Smoothies" platform="iOS" text="200+ Smoothie" location="Blog Post"] app today.

Here are a couple smoothie recipes you’ll find in our app:

Mango and Cherry Smoothie

1 frozen banana
1 cup mango chunks
1/2 cup cherries, pitted
1/2 cup apple juice
DIRECTIONS: Blend everything together in a blender until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Apple Green Smoothie

1 banana, peeled
1 apple, cored
2 cups spinach
2 tsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
1 cup crushed ice
DIRECTIONS: Add everything to a blender, blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Almond Joy Smoothie

8 oz coconut water
4 oz almond milk
2 TBSP flaked coconut
1/2 TBSP cocoa nibs
10 ice cubes
1 tsp coconut extract
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
DIRECTIONS: Blend everything together in a blender. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Ok so it won’t actually make the recipes for you, but typically following Paleo requires the knowledge of what’s allowed or what’s not allowed, finding recipes that are Paleo and planning meals for the week ahead. With work, school, kids activities, and a social life to focus on, who’s got time for all of this? Well, look no further because we’ve done it ALL for you!

Paleo is essentially eating foods the way nature intended. Food must be real, unprocessed and natural. So we’ve done the hard part and gathered delicious Paleo compliant recipes and put them into meal plans just for you. A healthy and balanced selection of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes right at your fingertips. This app is all you need to succeed on this diet.

Not only that but every week you’ll get a new meal plan hand-picked by us, just for you. There’s even a shopping list for your convenience, plus the app has been designed to work great on both the iPhone and the iPad.

There’s nothing to lose because the app includes a free trial with dinner recipes for a week. If you choose to subscribe for just $0.99 a month – a ridiculously low price – you’ll receive personally curated & balanced recipes every day of the week with an auto-renewable subscription plan.

So make life easier and get the results you want with the Paleo Meal Plan app today!  

“I wanted to give you an update: My husband and I are on day 3 of cycle 2. I have lost 21 lbs, he has lost 27 pounds. We are excited to see such quick results. That is what keeps us going! Our joints don’t hurt like they used to and breathing is not as difficult either.” ~Mrs. R

For the past year and a 1/2 I have been chatting daily with HUNDREDS of people on the 17 Day Diet, Paleo Diet, 3 Day Diet and 3 Day Military Diet. We currently have iPhone and Android phone apps for all 4 of these diets and within the app we have a support chat feature where you can ask me ANYTHING! I am not kidding, I will answer any question you have that is diet related. Whether it is about the diet you are currently on, or just diet/fitness/health related… at no extra charge. Pretty cool right! So, like I said before, I speak with 100′s of people daily and I get just as much out of it as the dieters who are talking to me. It’s a pretty amazing experience. I have met so many wonderful people and HELPED so many wonderful people as well. It’s so rewarding when I get comments such as:

“The app is essential to this amazing diet! It keeps you on track with meals, exercise and water. It provides recipes and foods that are allowed in each cycle. I cannot stress enough how PHENOMENAL the support is on this app! Whenever I have a question, it is ALWAYS answered! It’s a flawless way to enter this diet!” ~Drea

Having a person or group you can talk to can mean a world of a difference for anyone trying to lose weight. I personally give guidance, help, answer questions, motivation, a little push, ideas and much more for the people I talk to on a daily basis. I share recipes, website articles I think they’ll find helpful, quotes, and I am always answering any questions they have in a timely period… Right there within the app! Whether you try out our apps for support, guidance and motivation or some other app – I highly suggest you find some kind of support group or mentor. It can help you so much in your journey. Why go it alone when you can have a helping hand to hold onto and give you the push you need.

One more compliment from another lovely 17 Day Dieter:

“I am so glad for this app! It is very helpful. I always have questions popping in my head and I love the fast response from the support center!” ~Ms. Z

1. AVOID THE SCALE!

The scale is so overrated! Trust me, the scale can drive you crazy! Our bodies fluctuate constantly, so measuring your progress this way isn’t the best way. I understand that losing weight can be hard mentally and emotionally (I’m right there alongside you on this journey, too!), but I find that many people panic when they see the scale not budging or go up a notch rather than down – and I totally get this! I used to do this, and I used to panic about tiny gains or if the scale didn’t budge, too. But, I’ve learned that looking at the scale on a daily basis only caused me to become obsessed with it. It’s best to focus on other ways you might see a change in your body such as how you feel inside and out, how your clothes are feeling baggier and how you look in the mirror. These are all WAY better forms of measurement, in my opinion. Also, get a measuring tape and measure around your waist, belly, hips, thighs, arms, etc. Write down those numbers and after a week or 2 measure again and I promise (if you’re working hard at this diet) you will see the numbers drop! It’s pretty awesome! Also, taking before/during/after pictures can be so rewarding when comparing them. Our weight can fluctuate all the time – sometimes we are gaining muscle and our weight can seem like its not changing at all, when in reality we have just been working out real good and built some muscle while burning fat at the same time, so the scale might not budge at this time…. I wrote more on the subject of fat vs. muscle here. Check it out for more info on that. Also, being a woman you might notice weight gain at the time of your period and that can also put a wrench in things. Basically, stop focusing on the scale, it’s not always right and it can sometimes cause frustration. Try the other ways of measuring your progress and you will feel satisfaction.

When following any diet plan, be proud of how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go. Be proud of any success you make whether its on the scale or an inch off your waist. All successes are created equal!

2. HAVE A PLAN!

Without a plan, where will you begin and where will you go? You’ll be confused and floundering when you could be making progress on your diet. When I say this I mean to plan everything! Doing this is like setting a goal. You want to reach your goals right? So, write it all out. Set goals and reach them! You’ll be amazed at how freeing you’ll feel. Plan your meals, plan your grocery list, prep your food ahead of time & plan your exercise. These are all keys to succeeding on this diet.

• Meal Planning: this can be daunting, and it takes time. But it’s so worth it. It will help you to not end up going out to eat and eating something you shouldn’t. It will instead guide you straight to the kitchen because you can’t use the excuse “I just don’t know what to eat?!”. You should plan at least a week ahead of time. I usually just plan dinners and eat leftovers for lunch the next day or plan for mixed salads throughout the week for lunches. And for breakfast & snacks you can plan on eating almost the same type of items every day, to make it easy on yourself. You can write it all out on a piece of paper or in a document on your computer. If you’re on the 17 Day Diet, we have created a meal plan for you. Pretty cool right? We do all the hard work: Meal plan for the week + grocery list. See it in the [app_link app="17DayDietMealPlan" platform="iOS" text="iTunes app store" location="Blog Post"] [app_link app="17DayDietMealPlan" platform="iOS" text="here" location="Blog Post"].
• Shopping List: this is the next step you take after writing up your meal plan for the week. Take the recipes you have picked and break them down into a food list. Remember to include any fruit or snacks you want to have during the week that are not listed in the recipes.
• Food Preparation: Preparing food ahead of time can mean a world of a difference to anyone who has a super busy life. By food prep I mean, take a day out to chop all the veggies and place in airtight containers in your fridge. You then will really have NO EXCUSE not to cook. Everything will be chopped up when you get home from work, exhausted. You can just throw what you need in a pot or pan (depending on what you’re cooking) and follow the recipe. You can also plan even further ahead by cooking up your meat’s ahead of time – grill chicken breasts or fish fillets and store them in airtight containers in the fridge until you are ready to heat up and use them throughout the week. It helps save time and keeps you from falling off the diet wagon. Prepare your food and you’ll always have healthy food waiting to be cooked or heated up for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
• Plan your Exercise: This is just as important as food prep or meal planning. We all get lazy. We all just don’t feel like working out sometimes. But, if you set a time and a place and what you plan on doing ahead of time – you just might follow through! Especially if you make plans to do it with a friend! Friends can help hold you accountable. Read more below on that subject.

3. NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP!

If you feel discouraged or overwhelmed or confused, ask for help! Find a support group online, seek out friends at your gym or work that you trust and ask them for motivation or support. Having to ask for help is sometimes hard, but a good friend pushing us is sometimes just the motivation we need. Friends can also help hold us accountable while on a diet, which can be a big help too. So be open with those you trust and this is just one more way you can be on the road to success. Having someone hold us accountable can make a world of a difference when following a diet. Letting your friends and family know you are on a diet can help – say you go out to eat with a family member and you are very tempted to order dessert…. well, if that family member knows you’re trying to follow a diet, they could help talk you out of “cheating” and help you realize its not the best decision. Another way having friends hold you accountable can help is finding a workout buddy. We all have our moments when it would be so much easier to just be lazy and not go work out – but if you have a workout buddy who relies on you, there is no way you would flake out on them – and they wouldn’t do that to you either. You push each other and that’s one of the best ways to help you get in shape – find an accountability partner!

I also wanted to point out that I am always here to answer any questions you may have regarding this topic or even if you just need a little motivation. Email me anytime.

Speaking of pumpkins… Have you ever wondered what the health benefits of eating pumpkin is? Here are 10 health benefits just for you:

1. Orange vegetables like pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots and butternut squash carry the antioxidant Beta-Carotene. This has been known to possibly play a role in cancer prevention. PLUS, the seeds of the pumpkin have sterols in them that have been linked to fight off some cancers, too! So save the seeds and roast them for an extra tasty treat plus extra health benefits.
2. Speaking of seeds – Pumpkin Seeds (along with other nuts and seeds) contain phytosterols that have been shown in studies to reduce LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
3. Pumpkin seeds are also a rich source of protein. One ounce of pumpkin seeds contains approx. 7 grams of protein.
4. One more benefit of pumpkin seeds is the amino acid Tryptophan – I am sure you’ve heard of this being in turkey and it making you sleepy, but that’s not all it does. It also is important in the production of seratonin which helps raise our spirits and puts us in a good mood!
5. Pumpkin has 7 grams of fiber per 1 cup serving or pumpkin puree. This is also only about 83 calories. Fiber has been known to help people feel full longer, so you have the desire to eat less, which in turn helps with weight loss. Fiber is also really good for digestion and keeping you “regular”, if you know what I mean.
6. Pumpkin is an excellent source of Vitamins A and E. Both are great for immunity – and keeping you well!
7. Speaking of your immune system – 1 cup mashed pumpkin contains nearly 20 percent of the 60 milligrams of Vitamin C that is recommended for women daily.
8. Pumpkin is high in iron – this also helps keep you from getting sick by supporting a strong immune system.  For women, a 1 cup serving of pumpkin gives you 20% of your daily required iron intake.
9. For smooth skin – pumpkin contains carotenoids which can help keep the skin wrinkle-free and may also keep cancer cells at bay according to Health Magazine.
10. Pumpkin has more of the refueling nutrient potassium than bananas! After a heavy workout, potassium can help restore the body’s balance of electrolytes and keep muscles functioning at their best.

Here is a simple yet tasty pumpkin smoothie recipe for your enjoyment! Great for cycle 2 of the 17 day diet.

PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE

1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Toss everything in blender, blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

We’ve taken 17 Day Diet compliant recipes and put them into meal plans just for you. The servings have been calculated and the meals have been balanced. This app is all you need to succeed on this diet.

You just tell us which cycle you’re on and every week you’ll get a new meal plan that’s been hand-picked by us, just for you. There’s even a shopping list for your convenience, plus the app has been designed to work great on both the iPhone and the iPad.

There’s also nothing to lose because the app includes a free trial with dinner recipes for a week. When you subscribe you’ll receive personally curated & balanced recipes every day of the week including breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. The app is free for the first weeks dinner recipes. You can subscribe for only $4.99 a month and get a months worth of hand curated meal plans! Not a bad deal!

So make life easier and get the results you want with the 17 Day Diet Meal Plan app today!              

You might also be interested in getting the 17 Day Diet Complete app to help you better understand the 17 Day Diet, or purchase the 17 Day Diet book written by Dr. Mike Moreno.

You could also jump right in to the Raw food world and try a raw food cleanse to see if the diet is right for you. First check out our previous post “What Can A Raw Food Cleanse Do For You?”. We have apps for trying a cleanse out. You can do 3 days, 7 days, 14 days or 28 days. These cleanses will help rejuvenate your body, mind and even your spirit. If you can feel a difference after 3 days – imagine what it would feel like after 28 days! AMAZING! Our apps simply give you loads of recipes (smoothies ((like this one below)), juices, soups, salads, entrees and snacks). We also let you track your foods, exercise, water intake and weight – because one benefit to a cleanse is weight loss! Let me know if you have any questions about these apps or suggestions you’d like to see in them by contacting me here.

Or, just check out the apps here:
Raw Food Cleanse 3 Day - $1.99
Raw Food Cleanse 7 Day - $1.99
Raw Food Cleanse 14 Day - $1.99
Raw Food Cleanse 28 Day - $1.99
Raw Food Cleanse Complete - $2.99
(The complete version gives you the option of choosing 3 days, 7 days, 14 days or 28 days within the one app)

And now for the tasty recipe!

Creamy Nectarine & Blackberry Smoothie

1 large nectarine, pitted
1/2 large banana, peeled
1/4 cup blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup water
ice cubes (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

And while I got you thinking about going Paleo I’d like to mention our awesome app for iPhone. It guides you the whole way. It’s called Paleo Complete. It’s got recipes, weight tracking, water tracking, exercise tracking and progress tracking. But, the absolute BEST FEATURE is the support chat we have in it. You can send us any questions about the diet or the app and we answer you pretty quickly. We give support or motivation as well. We have many other features coming soon too. Check out the app in iTunes today.

WAFFLES

My first recipe I’d like to share is these Easy Paleo Waffles by Civilized Caveman Cooking. Yes, you can enjoy waffles and whipped topping too, on Paleo! 

PANCAKES

We’ve shared with you our own Paleo Pancake Recipe here on the Women’s Diet Network Blog. A simple & tasty recipe.

And I also found these pancakes from PaleOMG look and sound so freakin’ good! Banana Vanilla Bean Pancakes with Mixed Berry Compote – doesn’t that make your mouth water? All her recipes make my mouth water. She even has a cookbook you should check out called Omg. That’s Paleo?.

CUPCAKES

Yes, I said cupcakes! And chocolate ones at that. See! You don’t have to give up EVERYTHING to be on Paleo. Just the stuff that’s not so good for your digestion. Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes with “Peanut Butter” Frosting sound so divine. They are made by Paleo Newbie.

OH how I love carrot cake! These Double Decker Carrot Cake Cupcakes sound so tasty! Made by PaleOMG

COOKIES

These cookies sound so yummy and the names is so cute: Chunky Monkey Paleo Cookies by The Lean Green Bean.

MUFFINS

Ok, these Paleo Blueberry Muffins look like they would melt in your mouth! Made by Living Healthy with Chocolate. mmmmmmmm.

And this is just a smidgen of what you can find for Paleo recipes. Find more on our app Paleo Complete or check out PaleOMG’s cookbook Omg. That’s Paleo?. I also highly recommend The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet for more info on the diet itself if you’re interested. We also provide direct chat within our app where we’ll answer any questions you have about the diet. It’s only $1.99. How can you lose?

Progress is progress, no matter how small!

Us over here at Women’s Diet Network would love to share YOUR stories of success. We will include a little questionairre on how you did it and any tips or advice you have for others. Let’s motivate each other! Want to motivate and inspire others? Or be inspired and motivated? This little bit of encouragement can go a long way! I was a little hesitant to share because it’s hard to show your body to the world, but it is what it is: Here’s my progress, from February of 2012 til March of 2013.

This is all from clean eating & adding exercise into my life at least 5 days a week (20-60 minutes at a time – sometimes more if I go on a hike). Cardio and Strength training (see the biceps I formed!). I do all my workouts at home or I go running, hiking, biking, walking. The workouts at home can be found right here on our website under “At-home workouts”. The only weights I really have are two 2 lb dumbbells! I use other objects around the house, a resistance band and my bodyweight for strength training.

For my meals: I am a vegetarian, have been for 16 years, and eat mostly vegan actually. I avoid processed foods like the plague. I eat tons of veggies and fruits throughout the day. My protein comes from beans, tofu, tempeh, veggies, grains and protein powder. I do eat out probably weekly and splurge. I try not to punish myself. I look at this as a lifestyle change. I know by going out to eat once in a while, I am not going to gain back all the weight I lost in an instant. I need to enjoy life and splurge with food (I LOVE IT TOO MUCH!) in order for me to be motivated enough to continue.

Do you have a progress picture story to share? We’d love to feature you and help others to be motivated by YOUR success. It can be even “during” progress, you don’t have to have reached your weight loss goal to participate. I think eating right and exercising is a life commitment anyway. I plan on doing this for the rest of my life anyway. It feels good and I feel good about myself. I hope we can all motivate each other and help one another.
Send me a message here and let me know you’d be interested in sharing YOUR story.