Eat Clean…..Eat Less Salt

For those on the fat-loss journey and those who want to maintain a healthy life style, you may have heard about the hype surrounding eating clean. I quite often get asked “what does clean eating actually mean?”  Well, the rules are fairly simple, steer clear of processed food. If there has been human interference with food (unless of course a human picked it off a tree) try and keep away from it. Go for nutrient rich whole foods eg. fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds low fat dairy, lean meats, fresh eggs etc.

A good rule of thumb is to go for the 80% 20%  rule. Eat clean 80% of the time and try not to go over the 20% for the, let’s call it- dirty eating . Otherwise we can set ourselves up for failure as it all becomes a little hard to do it 100% of the time.

One of the biggest things that can impact eating clean is salt. We are all aware of how bad sugar, saturated and trans fat can be for our nutrition, but sometimes we over look our salt intake. Salt can be hidden in all types of foods. We can be consuming huge amounts off the stuff without even knowing it. Things like breakfast cereals, bread, tinned foods, packet mixes, biscuits, sauces and even wraps can contain high amounts of salt. If it comes in a packet it’s probably high in salt.

In one of my previous posts I talked about how much salt (or sodium as it’s called on the nutritional panel) we should try and aim for per 100g. Any thing over 420mg is considered high and anything processed under 120mg is good. So always check the panel on the back of label as you could be surprised as to where it is sneaking into your diet.

Salt causes us to retain fluid.  Eating too much can result in a build up of fluid in our bodies and high blood pressure which can lead to cardiovascular disease. So it would be a shame to be doing all this marvellous exercise, which is so good for our health, only to be doing the wrong thing for our insides by consuming too much of the wrong foods.

So why wait until the new year, make a conscious effort to eat clean 80, eat dirty 20!!

And hey bootcampers, let’s train hard come Monday and smash out a boxing session before christmas. You know it will be fun!!