HOW I DISCOVERED EATING CLEAN Would it surprise you to learn that when Eating Clean you will actually be eating more? I was stunned to discover this fact for myself when I began to prepare for a bodybuilding contest. I admit that I was not particularly interested in becoming a fully flexed out, bodybuilding she-man, but I was curious to see how the preparation would take place and how I might transform my body. I always admired Rachel McLish for her lean and toned physique and wanted one just like it for myself. This was an example of female strength I could live with, even if my own body was not as genetically gifted as hers. I began the preparations with two simple instructions from my coach: "If you are going to compete, you need to eat more of the right kinds of food and you need to train smart." Those instructions seemed simple enough and I did like food, so eating more seemed like something I could commit to. The reality of those commands issued seriously by my erstwhile coach proved enlightening. The single most important lesson I learned through this process was that the body is not predominantly shaped by exercise, as I had previously believed. Rather, a lean physique is shaped primarily by nutrition - the right kind of nutrition - Clean Nutrition. "A lean physique is shaped primarily by nutrition - the right kind of nutrition - Clean Nutrition." I discovered this a few weeks after experimenting with eating more frequently and partnering lean proteins with complex carbohydrates as directed by my coach. While getting dressed for work I tried on a skirt that had been my favorite. It was a denim pencil skirt that I had not been able to wear comfortably for some time - the zipper wouldn't do up by a long shot! I tried that skirt on and it fell to the floor. I had lost enough fat that the skirt just slid over my hips and down, even after doing up the zipper. It was one of those crystallizing moments for me. Right there I knew I'd discovered something very powerful about the good food I had been eating (in quantity, may I remind you) and weight loss. The improved food choices I had been making along with moderate amounts of exercise, mostly in the form of strength training, were the catalysts for change. My breakfasts went from toast with peanut butter and jam, followed by a double sugar, double cream coffee to a bowl of oatmeal dressed with flaxseed and mixed berries, accompanied by four hardboiled egg whites. This was remarkable to me as a newcomer to Eating Clean. I want to make it clear to you that I did not develop the concept of Clean Eating. The idea is borrowed from the physique industry, where this kind of nutrition is practiced by hundreds of thousands of followers. You can see them in the pages of Oxygen and numerous other fitness magazines. Scanning through the pages of publications like these gives you a pretty good idea of how powerful a paradigm shift in eating can be. There are numerous examples of tight, toned physiques, which were created for the most part by practicing Clean Eating. By following a formula I call the Body Beautiful/Body Healthy Formula, you too can rework your physique to look like those bodies you may already be admiring. I used this formula to accomplish the daunting (so I thought) task of preparing myself for my physique contest, but it works so well many thousands of you have now learned it too. Here's what my formula means: Body Beautiful/Body Healthy Formula 80% Nutrition + 10% Training + 10% Genetics = Body Beautiful/Body Healthy If you have been reading correctly you may be wondering if I have made a typo with this formula. 80% nutrition shapes a lean healthy body? Really!? I know you are asking yourself this because I have done countless seminars where I have quizzed the audience on what number they would assign to nutrition. Virtually everyone thinks it is 10% nutrition and 80% training. I have to admit that before I discovered Eating Clean I thought that too. I also believed that you had to be genetically gifted to own a killer physique. In some ways you do have to live with the genetic package your parents gave you, but nutrition is far more responsible for creating your shape and your health than you ever could have imagined. If you have trouble believing food is the primary factor in shaping your physique and consequently your health, let's consider the opposite - the current state of health and fitness affairs in North America. For the first time in the history of this country, researchers find themselves wondering whether children will lead shorter lives than their parents because of ever-expanding waistlines and the prevalence of what I like to call "anti-foods." Obesity is burgeoning here and in the rest of the world, where it is in fact exploding not only with fat but with disease. There are numerous causes for this problem but the most significant include the quality of the food we consume and the toxic food environment in which we live. Both of these subjects could fill the pages of book after book and I predict they soon will. "Nutrition is far more responsible for creating your shape and your health than you ever could have imagined." The landscape of eating has changed. Food corporations see people like me and you as a free-for-all market of hungry consumers upon whose backs they would like very much to profit. Hence a fast food, drive-thru, get-it-quick, super size it, pull-up-to-the-buffet-and-stuff-yourself attitude toward food. By presenting food at every opportunity, from school cafeterias to hospitals, a toxic food-saturated culture results with no idea of how to stop the insanity (as Susan Powter used to say). It's eat, eat, eat, and the more we eat, the better. You can't order a plain black coffee today without the server asking if you are sure, absolutely sure, you don't want sugar and cream. Even when you say, "No thanks, just black," they bring the dreaded sugar and cream anyway! An egg white omelet is, by definition, low fat, and the mere idea of putting cheese on it is laughable if you are already avoiding at least some of the yolks, but a chef hardly knows what to do with himself if you ask for it without, so he loads on the cheddar anyway because heaven forbid you don't get your money's worth! "Two out of every three North Americans are overweight or obese and the problem is only getting worse." The quest to eat more food and the biggest size to get the best value possible has brought us partly to the place where we can't see our weight on the scale anymore. The other problem is the quality of food we are presented with. Our food has literally been doused with chemicals at every stage of its life from seed to consumption - so much so that even at this point (some 40 years after the food explosion began) we still don't have any idea what the results of such chemical "warfare" are or will be. But one thing is certain, at least from the visual standpoint. Two out of every three North Americans are overweight or obese and the problem is only getting worse. Let's go back to the Body Beautiful/Body Healthy Formula, where I asked you to believe me when I suggest that nutrition is 80 percent responsible for shaping your physique and your health. Good or bad, the proof is all around you. Ask yourself, if you continue what you are doing and continue eating what you are eating, will you look and feel any different five years down the road? Finally, you have an obligation to be a much more active human being than you are now. If you accept the Eat-Clean lifestyle you will certainly shed unwanted pounds, but you will still be just a leaner version of your current self. A vigorous strength training and moderate cardiovascular exercise program is needed to round out the renovation of your new physique. You will find guidance for implementing the Eat-Clean lifestyle into your home in every page of this book. WHAT ARE THE EAT-CLEAN DIET PRINCIPLES? You now understand that food is a critical factor in your health and wellness. Eat poorly and you become sick and overweight. Eat well and you become a glowing example of health and vibrancy. You will look so good you won't be able to stand yourself! So how then do we get there, and fast? To the right are the eight principles involved in the Eat-Clean lifestyle. Accompanying that is a list of what to eliminate from your current eating habits. Remember, Eating Clean is not about eliminating every tasty item from your diet or being hungry. You need to recognize that some "foods" you are currently eating are things I would rather call "anti-foods" and you must work hard to avoid these, since they are destructive to both excellent health and stunning form. As you read the following dos and don'ts, try to keep in mind the idea that you may want to go all out (as I did) and jump right off the cliff into Eating Clean full force. That is just the way I am. I have to do it that way or I know I will be too lenient with myself and never get the results I long for. Alternatively, you may want to eliminate just one or two things at a time from your diet to make the transition to Eating Clean easier on yourself. May I recommend that "one thing" be sugar? I helped one young father lose his gut and his sleep apnea headgear simply by asking him to quit drinking the ten (yes, ten!) sodas he was ingesting each day. He hardly had to do anything else! Now that man who couldn't see his feet or make love to his wife is competing in a triathlon. He is reenergized, and there are countless stories just like his. Approach Eating Clean as the lifestyle it is and make the changes you know you can stick with right now. If you are wired like I am and you must go big or go home, then jump in and feel confident that you will lose weight at a rate of about three pounds per week. If you have to do it in stages, which is equally laudable, then do so, but commit to Eating Clean and begin to add more good practices (good principles) when you are ready. "Keep in mind the idea that you may want to go all out into Eating Clean full force, or you may want to eliminate just one or two things at a time from your diet." Excerpted from The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged!: Lasting Fat Loss That's Better Than Ever by Tosca Reno All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
