6 Benefits to Clean Eating

When we last met, we launched a communEATi New Year’s Resolution Challenge: to eat clean in 2016. And while we gave you some guidelines on how to go ahead and get started, some of you might still be waiting on the why before you make a complete lifestyle change. So we found six of the most important benefits to ditching the overly-processed foods and green-ifying your kitchen!

Boost Your Mood
Feeling mopey? Down in the dumps? Getting unnecessarily irritated over these questions? If your mood is constantly more “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” than it is “Disney princess awoken by singing birds,” it could be because of what you’re eating. A New Zealand study found that a higher intake of fruits and veggies resulted in more energy, calm, and greater feelings of overall happiness, and that these effects lasted past the days more produce was consumed.

Reduce Your Environmental Impact
While eating meat isn’t strictly prohibited from when eating clean, it does require more processing for human consumption, so eating less tends to be a natural side effect of a clean diet. Which is good news for the Earth, because meat preparation takes a significant toll on the environment. Animals raised to be eaten require far more land and resources than raising vegetables do (although fish farming can be fairly sustainable when it involves fish lower on the food chain, like tilapia and shellfish). Eating mainly vegetable-based foods rather than meat greatly reduces your environmental footprint.

Sleep Better
More and more sleep research is indicating that eating the right foods can help you get better sleep at night. And as numerous studies have already pointed out, better sleep improves overall wellness. Not surprisingly, many of the staples of a clean diet - like fish, whole grains, nuts, and dark leafy greens - have been linked to getting a better night’s sleep.

Start Glowing
University of Nottingham scientists found that healthy, clean eating really does give you a natural glow. And another study at the University of St. Andrews found that people who ate more fruits and vegetables daily over the course of six weeks were rated as more attractive than those who didn’t eat as many. So it’s true: if you’re feeling good on the inside, you’ll look your best on the outside too!

Get the Most from Your Workouts
It’s not surprising to hear that several healthy foods have been shown to enhance athletic performance, either by building muscle, boosting recovery, or improving endurance. After all, diet and exercise are the keys to healthy living, right? But did you know that beet juice is great for stamina? Or that honey can provide time-released “fuel” for endurance if eaten before exercise? Or how the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon can help build muscle while fighting off heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes? If you’re really serious about your workout, start with what you eat.

Optimize Your Brain
You may have heard people talking a lot lately about the Mediterranean diet, which is a good starting off base for clean eating. This diet requires eating a lot of vegetables and fruit, along with fish, beans, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and seeds and requires you limit your intake of fatty meats, dairy products, refined grains, and sugar. Sounds familiar, huh? Well, the research shows those who eat a diet similar to this were less likely to have brain infarcts, which are small areas of dead tissue in the brain linked to cognitive problems. Mediterranean diet eaters were also found to be 36% less likely to have brain damage and have a 28% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment with aging, with a 48% lower risk of cognitive impairment progressing to Alzheimer’s.

“You are what you eat” is much more than that weird vegetable man poster from high school health class. What you eat affects essentially every part of your life: from your mental to physical health, from your skin cells to the whole, wide world. Isn’t it time to start putting in the effort to eating your best so you can have the best life possible? We certainly think so!

So let communEATi help you as you take the steps toward a happier, healthier you! Follow us here, on Facebook, and on Twitter for more healthy food and lifestyle tips. And keep an eye out for the launch of our app, which is guaranteed to help you stock your kitchen with some of the freshest, cleanest, healthiest food around.

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3 Reasons to Avoid OVERcooking Your Food

It rarely takes more than one time eating undercooked food to learn that there’s a good reason to not eat anything that hasn’t been cooked all the way through. And while undercooked food is certainly something to be on the lookout for, did you know that overcooking your food can also be risky for your health?

When we say “overcooking,” it isn’t as simple as just plain burning your food. For example, over-frying your eggs changes the protein structure and makes them less beneficial; and broccoli and other veggies that have been overheated can lose a lot of their vital nutrients. Cooking food over a certain temperature has been linked to many health risks, some incredibly serious.

Overcooked Foods are Harder to Metabolize
Raw foods are easier on your metabolism which, in turn, makes things easier for your digestive organs. But what happens when you heat them up? Once it’s been cooked past a certain temperature, food becomes more difficult to metabolize, which can result in it staying in your gut for longer than it should. And if it stays too long, it can become toxic. Cooking techniques like steaming and boiling can help your food remain below that dangerous temperature while still cooking it all the way through.

Overcooked Foods Lose Nutrients
Many vitamins (particularly vitamin C) are sensitive to heat, which means the longer you cook your source of vitamins, the more you deplete them. Your veggies are especially at risk for this, and studies show we should be eating more of them raw. That being said, cooked vegetables still have their own health benefits to offer. Try serving a raw veggie and a cooked one (steamed or blanched) with every meal to be sure you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need.

Overcooked Foods Can Contain Carcinogens
When cooked until charred on the outside, certain foods can contain dangerous carcinogenic substances. Foods with carcinogens have been known to act as triggers that can convert normal cells in the body into cancerous ones. This is particularly true of meats, which produce harmful chemicals like heterocyclic amines or benzopyrenes, which can cause an increased risk for pancreas, distal colon, and breast cancer. You’ll especially need to watch out for this when grilling: if fat or juice drips onto the coals, hydrocarbons can rise off of them in the form of vapor and permeate the meat. To counteract this, try cooking your grilled foods en papillotte instead (that’s fancy chef speak for “in paper or a wrapping”).

Overcook No More
We’ve already provided a few pointers for preparing your food so it’s balanced between undercooked and overcooked, but here are a few more ways to help cook your food at the optimum temperature:

• -With all cooking methods, cook with less intense heat at lower temperatures.
• -Keep your grill clean, making sure to scrape off all the charred residue after each use.
• -Avoid well-done meats and blackened or charred areas of any food.
• -Cook with liquid: boil, steam, poach, or stew your meals.
• -Marinate your food; some research shows marinating foods can reduce the production of carcinogens.
• -A lot of yummy marinades use ingredients like olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, orange juice, garlic, salt, pepper, cooking wine, or herbs and spices. Get creative with your marinades for healthier, tastier meals!

Want more cooking info like this? Keep up with communEATi here on our blog -- and on Facebook and Twitter -- for even more informative how-tos and pointers for your food preparation, from garden to kitchen to plate!

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