When you begin eating healthier and eating clean in general, you will receive a lot of criticism from your friends and family. You have to remember that many of them hung around you when you ate poorly so they are going to wonder why the sudden change.

You will try to explain to many of them what you are doing and some will cheer you on. Others will say negative comments because they don’t believe you can do it or they are jealous that they aren’t doing it. For the haters all you can do is ignore them. You can try to get them to join you in a healthier lifestyle but if they refuse, you will just have to blow off their comments.

How to Handle Eating Clean at Work

Friends and family are usually easy to deal with. How do you handle your clean eating lifestyle at work? You see your co-workers for 8 or more hours per day. They will definitely have something to say when you stop eating out at lunch or you are blending your protein shake in the break room.

The best thing to do is stay focused.

1. Continue packing your meals to eat throughout the day.
2. Stick to healthier items for company pot lucks.
3. If you do eat out - salads (watch the dressing) and low-carb items are best.
4. On coffee runs avoid fancy drinks (whip cream, syrups, etc.), stick to plain black coffee or tea.
5. Happy hours - diet colas in your drinks if you must, avoid fruity cocktails and beer.

You will receive a lot of criticism in the beginning but once your friends, family, and co-workers realize that you are sticking with it and it is your new lifestyle, they will get used to it and the comments will settle down. Just keep your goals in mind and know that you are doing something positive for your health.

image credit: sxc.hu

Alcohol is generally a no-no when you make clean eating a lifestyle. This is because alcohol postpones your progress due to the high amount of calories and lack of nutrients. Personally, I have quit drinking any type of alcohol. In fact, whenever I hear about people getting wasted, it makes me think back to the horrible feeling of waking up with hangovers and feeling like crap most of the day.

Can You Drink and Eat Clean?

In my opinion, this is a bad combination if you are looking to get healthy and lose weight. Many people don’t realize that you can drink a significant amount of calories from alcohol. Let’s take a look at the average calories in several common drinks below:

• 1 can of beer - 150 calories
• 1 glass red wine - 160 calories
• 1 glass white wine - 120 calories

Mixed drinks can be even higher in calories when you account for the calories from fruit juices and soda. If you are drinking several times per week, of at least two drinks each time, the calories can add up fast by the end of the week.

Besides the empty calories, alcohol can also:

• Damage the liver and kidneys
• Increase appetite
• Cause weight gain
• Cause alcoholism
• Postpone fat loss

Why do this to your body when you are doing your best to follow a healthy lifestyle? Many health conscious individuals will drink red wine for its known heart health benefits. Of course that is a matter of doing your own research on whether red wine will truly benefit you. I feel if you do not already drink, it’s probably best not to start just because red wine may be healthy.

In general, you can eat clean and enjoy an occasional drink. It is best to limit your alcohol consumption to special occasions, and even then, stick to wine or champagne.

The egg is one the best protein sources around and unless you don’t like them or are not a meat eater, there is no reason why this protein source shouldn’t be a part of your diet. However, the egg gets a lot of flack for the high cholesterol the yolks contain. I decided to take a look at the nutrition facts of an egg.

Source: aeb.org

As you can see from the image above, the cholesterol in 1 large egg accounts for 70% of your daily value. That can be bad news for people concerned about cholesterol. The good news is, you can leave out the yolks and eat only the whites. The yolks are a major source of vitamins and minerals where as the whites are a major source of riboflavin and protein. Seeing as 1 large egg contains over 6 grams of protein, it’s no wonder bodybuilders and strength trainers tend to consume such a large amount of egg whites.

Should the Egg’s Cholesterol Content Worry You?

There have been many studies that say dietary cholesterol isn’t the cause for elevating blood cholesterol levels. I have even read that diets high in saturated fat have never been proven to be a major cause of heart disease. The real culprit is believed to be a diet high in carbs combined with one high in saturated fats.

Lowering your carb intake and increasing the saturated fats consumed has been said to lower your overall level of saturated fat in your blood. The reason being that eating a diet high in carbs increases our insulin levels which triggers our liver to produce more saturated fat. However, when you significantly lower carb intake, our insulin levels lower as well as the production of saturated fats. The lower insulin levels also causes our bodies to burn more fat for energy which further reduces the level of saturated fat in the blood.

This type of diet is also outlined more in what is called the anabolic diet. This diet consists primarily of high fat, high protein, and low carb during the week and then shifting to high carb, low fat and protein on the weekend. It is a popular diet amongst body builders.

The choice of course is up to you when deciding whether or not to eat the yolk. Personally, I usually throw in one whole egg with my egg whites. There is a lot of nutrition in the yolk, particularly lutein which is an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of eye diseases such as AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration.)

If you’re still on the fence about it, having your cholesterol levels checked and discussing it with your doctor is a good place to start, or you can stick with eating only the whites and getting the protein benefits.

Steaming food is one of the best ways to retain nutrients. Steaming vegetables is a favorite of mine because I know I am not going to cook out all of the vitamins and nutrients had I boiled them - an easy way to overcook vegetables. You also get the bright beautiful colors that come from steaming vegetables. When I see them in that state, I know they are perfectly cooked. Many people turn away from steaming food because steamed foods have the reputation of being mushy, bland, and overcooked.

This doesn’t have to be the case if you want to add another fun and healthy method of cooking your meals. Steaming meals can be easy and a great change for the typical way you prepare your food.

Types of Steamers Available

Steamers are available in bamboo, metal, and electric. The bamboo is the most popular and probably the least expensive. The way steamers work is by placing a little water into a wok or pot and then placing the steamer (bamboo or metal) on top of the water. You place your ingredients into the steamer then cover the entire thing in order to let the hot water vapor cook your food. You can also purchase folding steamers that sit right on top of a pot. Those are great for veggies and can fold up and be put right into a drawer after use.

Electric steamers do the same job but come with more functions like a built in timer. You can also steam foods in parchment paper or aluminum foil packets right in the oven. That is a good way to steam chicken or fish with vegetables in one little packet.

Tips for Steaming Food

• Keep food at least 1-inch above water
• Cut food to even sizes for even cooking
• Steam strong flavored foods separately to prevent overpowering other food
• Put space between foods so steam can circulate
• Marinate foods to add flavor
• Add marinade to cooking liquid or use stock, wine, soy sauce, etc.

Steam Times

These are just estimates but once you get the hang of steaming, you’ll know how long for most items.

• Vegetables - 1 to 3 minutes
• Fish - 7 to 12 minutes
• Chicken - 8 - 10 minutes

It’s not surprising for the average person to immediately cut their carb intake when cleaning up their diet. With all of the low-carb or no carb information attached to losing weight, many may cut carbs too low or eliminate all together. Of course the option is yours, however, there are some things to keep in mind.

Myth - If you eat carbs you will get fat

Carbs are not going to make you fat unless you overeat them or eat them at the wrong time. Eating more calories than you can burn is what adds on the pounds.

Eat carbs wisely

Carbs are essential for providing energy for your workouts. Without them, the body’s glycogen stores can become depleted which causes your body to begin burning muscle. That’s definitely not something you want to happen. Eating starchy carbs like potatoes and oatmeal are great to consume at earlier times in the day and should be avoided very late in the evenings, particularly before bed.

Eating carbs right before bed isn’t a good idea since our insulin sensitivity decreases. Our bodies must release more insulin than it usually does to process the carbs you eat before bed. Higher insulin levels slow down fat-burning.

Don’t be afraid to eat carbs, just eat the right carbs at the right time to give your body what it needs for your workouts.