The Pro-10 Blog

One thing you will hear often on fitness forums, muscle magazines and in the gym is that you have to eat clean. It’s a very catchy saying, but what does eating clean actually mean?

Eating clean is looking at what you eat and eliminate the highly processed, manufactured foods in your diet and replacing them with whole foods, fruits and vegetables and flushing out your body with plenty of water.

Eating the wrong types of foods can have a really negative effect on energy levels and the body’s ability to synthesise protein and burn fat. A lot of processes meals and foods contain hydrogenated fats/trans fats that man make you feel sluggish and de motivated, which is the last thing you would want when you want to train. Eating clean, fresh and good foods will improve your energy levels helping you achieve those fitness goals faster than ever.

It is recommended that instead of eating 3 large meals a day, you eat 5-6 smaller meals allowing your body to digest the food in smaller quantities, making sure the nutrients your body is getting are fresh. Eating this way has been shown to boost the body’s metabolic rate, and therefore boost fat burning.  Some nutritionists recommend not going more than 3 hours (awake hours) without eating a healthy meal/snack.

Eating this well tends to mean you are eating less calories, and therefore this way of eating will help you lose weight.

Clean eating has a balancing effect on the bodies hormones such as Testosterone, and can help lower the stress hormone cortisol whihc has been linked to obesity. Eating Clean when used alongside a testosterone booster such as D aspartic acid can be a great way to lean down and gain some seriously dencse muscle mass.

Eat a healthy breakfast to eat clean

Dont cut out breakfast, it fuels your day. Have a healthy breakfast, eat some oats/porridge, eggs and berries for a nutritious and low gi meal that will set you up for the day.

Supplementing on a clean diet

Once you have a good meal plan set out, you need to work out the macros in every meal. Mainly you need to focus on the protein, carbohydrates and fat content on the food. Once you have worked out the protein amount you will be getting from the meal plan daily, you need to find out how much protein you need to supplement. For example a 90kg person who is looking to lose fat and gain lean muscle mass should be aiming to eat 2g of protein for every kg of body weight. So if your meals and snacks for the day gives you 90g of protein from them, then you need to supplements with 90gs of protein. Luckily this is around 3 times a whey protein shake.

The same goes for carbs, and you still need to ensure you are getting good levels of good fats such as omega 3 and 6.

See our high protein recipes here:

Good clean snacks

Snacking does not have to be a bad things, it helps keep the body’s metabolism going and can be a great way to up your intake of key nutrients.

Snack ideas:

Dried berries and nuts:

These can be dried berries or fresh, mixed with a selection of whole nuts, helps to stop that sugar cravings and gives you key vitamins and the nuts are a source of good fats and protein for your muscles.

Celery and whole peanut butter:

Celery is a natural diuretic which helps to flush the system and whole peanut butter is a good source of good fats, protein and fibre. This is a filling snack ideal for times between meals. Its simple to prepare just clean and cut up the celay and dip into the penut butter, a great filling healthy snack for an active person.

Avocado, tomatoes and cottage cheese.

This is a good way to zing up some cottage cheese, chop up the tomato and avocado, add some freshly ground pepper and lemon juice (if you have) and drop it over some cottage cheese. Avocado is a great source of good fats and vitamin e, tomato has the powerful antioxidant lycopene, and the cottage cheese has a high calcium caseinate supply (a slow digesting protein).

Blueberries and Cottage Cheese:

Cottage cheese is packed full of calcium caseinate and makes a great filling snack, adding blueberries helps add some powerful antioxidents to your diet.

Home made beef biltong:

When you on a high protein diet it can be hard to find snacks to eat that match the high protein content your body needs.  There are a number of cured meats on the market but most contain sulphates and other preservatives. But it is easy to make your own biltong from beef topside/silverside and create a meaty snack. Simply search on google how to make biltong and you will find a number of guides that help you turn a couple of kilos of topside/silverside beef into top quility high protein biltong!

For more high protein recipes see here

Clean eating / Clean Diet meal recipes

Jerk chicken with Rice & peas:

Ingredients:

For the chicken
• 4 chicken thighs
• 4 chicken drumsticks
• 1 bottle of Jerk Sauce (found at most supermarkets)
• 1 tbsp parsley

For the rice:
• 200g long grain rice, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 400ml coconut milk
• 300ml chicken stock
• 1 tin of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 lemon grass stalk, root slightly crushed (not really necessary)
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Wash and dry the chicken pieces. Make 3-4 slashes across the top of the chicken about 1cm deep. Place the chicken into a bowl and pour over the Encona Jamaican Jerk Sauce, chopped parsley and mix well.

Ideally leave the chicken overnight in the fridge covered with cling film or for a minimum of 2 hours.
Cook the chicken over a medium heated barbecue for 25-30 minutes, tuning every so often and brushing with any left over marinade.
Meanwhile, to make the rice add the onion, coconut milk, chicken stock, bay leaves and lemon grass to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the rice and simmer for 15 minutes stirring every so often so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
After 15 minutes add the kidney beans, parsley and season with salt and pepper. When the rice has softened transfer to a serving bowl and serve with the Jerk chicken.
*pork/beef can be used instead of chicken and both also taste great. Remember that the chilis and spice in the jerk sauce have a thermogenic fatburning action!