Clean eating food list
Let’s start at the very beginning! What kinds of healthy foods are a great choice to stock up on while grocery shopping? Your shopping list should include fresh fruits, lean proteins, fresh vegetables, leafy greens, healthy fats, raw dairy, and whole grains.
The term clean eating is going to mean different things to different people. In general, it means real foods in their most whole form, without any added extras. It means avoiding processed foods, seed oils, and anything that isn’t pronounceable.
Eating this way increases our nutrient consumption and helps our bodies do what they were created to do!
A clean eating grocery list is pretty simple and that is the best part! Whole foods are what should make up most of your diet and shopping purchases. Meaning, foods without an ingredient label! When possible, buy organic or try to follow the dirty-dozen list and clean 15 list.
The current dirty dozen list includes strawberries, spinach, kale, collard, and mustard greens. Peaches, pears, and nectarines. Apples, grapes, bell, and hot peppers. Cherries, blueberries, and green beans. (Fun tip: sing that list to the tune of your favorite song to memorize! This means that these are the top sprayed produce items and have the highest likelihood of being exposed to pesticides. When and if possible, these are the produce we want to avoid buying conventionally grown and look for organic.
The current clean 15 are the top 15 least likely produce items to be contaminated with harmful sprays, so you can be a little less diligent in finding these items organic. This list includes avocados, sweet corn, and pineapple. Onions, papaya, and sweet peas (frozen). Asparagus, honeydew melon, and kiwi. Cabbage, mushrooms, and mango. Sweet potatoes, watermelon, and carrots.
It is true what they say, the perimeter of the store is where you should shop first. It is where most of your healthy ingredients for your weekly meal plan will be found. Foods in their natural state make for easy recipes and tasty meals, I promise!
So much hard work goes into meal planning and preparing food that we should all want to be sure what we are eating are healthy foods that are going to increase our energy levels and give us the amazing health benefits that clean foods are intended to give.
Let’s talk about what items are always on our list! We order our produce through a local vegetable farm, weekly. We pick our favorite fruits and vegetables that are in season on their site, and they show up on our door days later. Look online for local farm fresh produce delivery services in your area. If you don’t have one in your town, the grocery store or your local farmers market or produce stand are obviously great options.
Protein is another essential in clean eating because our bodies need it to survive! Both animal proteins and some plant-based proteins are nonnegotiables for our family. Grass-fed beef, organic antibiotic-free chicken, and even things like black beans and lentils are great options. Lean meats are great for growing children and adults who need to meet their daily protein requirements so that we can do all the things our days require!
We love to source our meat from local farmers. This way, we know exactly what they ate, and how they lived and are able to have any other questions answered by those who would know best, the people who raised them. A quick search online should connect you to local farmers in your area.
Olive oil and avocado oil are both healthy oils and good fats that we keep stocked at our home. They are great for healthy recipes, salad dressings, and are not going to cause inflammation like vegetable oils.
Another form of healthy fats that we love are nuts! My family absolutely loves almonds, macadamias, Brazil nuts, and cashews. Always look for them in their whole raw form, without being roasted or salted. They are also the most versatile in their raw form because you can use them for salad toppings, as a snack alone, in your favorite granola or even to make homemade nut butters.
Nutrient-dense foods also include dairy, but not your typical gallon of milk from the grocery store. If you can source it, raw whole milk and raw dairy products such as cheese are our family’s favorite ways to get in good fats, minerals, vitamins and they are a great source of protein.
If you are allergic to dairy, there are some great and healthy alternatives, our favorite is coconut milk. We use it to make super creamy smoothies, curries, and sometimes even whip it up to have a special topping on our berries.
We love baked goods in our home! There is a healthy way to eat them, that is both nutritious and delicious. I have been learning to make our own sourdough bread. It has been so much fun to know the nutritional value of our sandwich has been upped big time. Grains are still very much welcome in our home, we just opt for organic and non-GMO when possible.
Grains are also something we keep stocked in our pantry. We simply opt for more single-ingredient grains such as millet, quinoa, oats, and brown rice.
Extra points if you mill your own flour! It is something I am learning to do and has so many health benefits. But, that is a whole other topic for another day. Back to clean eating!
Let’s talk about the types of foods we try to stay away from! A great way to know what to avoid is anything with artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, and anything that has an ingredient list that includes artificial ingredients. Unprocessed foods are always our first choice! Processed foods are our last.
Fast food is something we have always tried to avoid. We also do our best to avoid seed oils, extra added sugar, processed white flour, unhealthy fats such as shortening, and all of the other “fluff” put in conventional foods these days.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have treats or ice cream here and there. We just swap them for cleaner, healthier versions of things we used to enjoy. We do that by adding less sugar, and a lot of the time swap sugar all together for maple syrup.
All of this has taken years to master, and I am still learning. I hope that I am able to help you feel less intimidated when switching ingredients and products out in your home. The recipes I share will help you see that there is such simplicity and there is always room for substitutes that may fit your family’s diet needs better.
We all have different dietary needs. Even from family member to family member. In our home, we have dealt with gluten allergies, dairy intolerance, and even egg allergies. Personally, I have done full lab work to determine food sensitivities because of some health struggles I have been working through.
It is important to be mindful and observe what foods seem to work best for you and everyone in your house. For example, raw dairy is full of benefits! BUT, if you are allergic to dairy, those benefits are void, because instead of the inflammation that sensitivity causes.
Food is meant to make you feel your very best. If you notice when you eat something, you feel bloated or sluggish, that could be a possible indicator that you have a sensitivity or even an allergy. Food sensitivities and/or allergies can cause inflammation in the body. Something we want to avoid!
I know the amount of information about food and the quality of the foods we eat can feel overwhelming, so take it one ingredient at a time. When in doubt, stick with whole organic foods.
Also, keep in mind everyone is on their own journey. What is deemed “clean” to me, may not be to you.
It is also important to note that we are all just doing our very best! We aren’t going to be perfect, but intentionality in what we put into our bodies is so important and can have lasting benefits for our overall health and well-being.
The more intentional we are about the clean foods we ingest, the simpler eating becomes. Once you have done the work, again one food at a time, you have the knowledge you need to continue to feed and fuel your body well.
Clean eating not only affects you but your whole family! If like me you are the shopper and chef, your spouse and children will benefit from this knowledge as well. My hope is that my children will continue to be mindful of what they put into their bodies, even when they are no longer in my home.
This knowledge they are storing away and building upon in their little minds now will continue on when they teach their children and even their grandchildren one day.
Back to the basics is something I fully embrace in our home and in our kitchen.
Something I love to do with my kids is sit down each season and look at what fruits and veggies grow at this time of year where we live. We like to write down our favorites, have a fun day date at our local farmers market, and create or find recipes that include them.
This is a large run down of how we view clean eating in our home. I really hope to unpack this further in much smaller bites. Maybe food group to food group and specifically how we stock our home and pantry with our favorite staples.
All this said, and like I mentioned earlier, what is “clean” to one family, may not be for another. That is OK! I think we can all agree that we are doing the best we can with the knowledge we have. I truly hope that learning these things and keeping it clean and simple in your home is a blessing to your home as it has been to mine.
Remember intentionality breeds simplicity, even with clean eating!
