Clean Eating Basics – The Non-Diet Approach to Fast and Easy Weight Loss, Increased Energy and Vibrant Health

Do you want to reach a healthy body weight, perhaps make your heart healthier? Maybe preventing type 2 diabetes, cancer, an unhealthy cholesterol level and high blood pressure is attractive to you. It could be that you hate what processed food manufacturers, GMO practices and the beef industry are doing to the planet, and to the poor animals it turns into your dinner.

For a myriad of reasons, you may be thinking about starting to eat clean.

The healthy nutrition website Authority Nutrition does not waste time or beat around the bush giving you his opinion of the disease/diet connection when they say …

“The modern diet is the main reason why people all over the world are fatter

and sicker than ever before. Everywhere modern processed foods go, chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease soon follow.”

Whether you are shaking your head and your fists at your monitor after reading that, because you love processed foods and somehow haven’t heard they are not bad for you, or you’re going to have to see a chiropractor because you so enthusiastically nodded your head up and down in agreement with that statement, there are certain facts regarding nutrition and disease which cannot be ignored.

Fact: Humans are scarfing down more processed foods than at any other time in human history.

As much as 75% to 80% of the food at your favorite grocery store is heavily processed. This means it is extremely far from its natural state. When you eat whole, natural foods, as fresh and organic as possible, and as close to their natural state as you can, you get the most possible nutrients, vitamins and minerals from that food that your body needs to create health and wellness. At each step in a processing change, food loses more and more of its natural goodness.

In many cases these natural health boosters are replaced with preservatives and addictive chemicals intentionally designed to “hook you” on a particular food, to cut down costs, and to make food last longer on grocery store shelves. In most cases, these additions are far from good for you.

Fact: Sugar consumption is at epidemic and unhealthy proportions.

In the year 1700 , average consumption of sugar in developed nations was about 4 pounds per year.

1800 – 18 pounds per year

1900 – 90 pounds

2009 – 178 pounds

Health authorities agree that the average person should not consume more than about 7.5 teaspoons of sugar each day, or roughly 30 g. That works out to just over 24 pounds of sugar each year. That sounds like a lot of sugar, but spread evenly out over the course of the year, your body can handle that.

The average American or UK resident, and others in modern, first-world countries that eat lots of processed foods, consume between 4 and 7.5 times too much sugar. At roughly 100 to 180 pounds of sugar eaten annually, that is well more than the 24 pounds recommended maximum to be consumed in a year.

Fact: Diabetes was rare before the 20th century

Diabetes really began to get rolling in modern nations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since 1980 in the United States, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 5.5 million to 22 million in 2014. Similar 400% increases can be found in the United Kingdom and other westernized societies where processed food is the norm.

Fact: Modern wheat looks and tastes nothing like healthier and older versions of wheat, and only provides a portion of the nutrition.

“Improved” manufacturing processes have made wheat stalks shorter, and decreased the amount of time it takes to grow and harvest wheat, and get it to market. This process is why more people are gluten and wheat-sensitive today than ever before, and also why “ancient grains” packed full of healthy nutrition and free of preservatives and additives are always going to be the wise wheat alternative. (Quinoa, millet, sorghum, amaranth, teff, freekeh, chia seeds, farro, spelt and Kamu are aging grains that are incredibly good for you.)

Incidentally, the mineral content of wheat started to decline noticeably around 1960. It is no coincidence that was the start of modern wheat production. Today’s wheat has as much as 28% fewer minerals essential to human health like copper, iron, magnesium, zinc and others, compared to the wheat your grandparents ate. Steroids, preservatives, pesticides, chemicals and genetically modified organisms have replaced those healthy nutrients.

Fact: How many calories the typical person consumes has increased by 425 cal per day … just since 1970.

Since that statistic comes from information gathered in 2009, it is probably even scarier by now. That is a 20% increase in daily calories consumed in just 39 years. It is no wonder our modern food growing, manufacturing and distribution processes were getting fine-tuned in the 70’s, and calorie intake has risen accordingly since then. That is because processed food has significantly more calories and dramatically less nutrition than natural foods.

Fact: It takes the following resources to produce just one traditional, 1/4 pound fast food hamburger patty, or 1/4 pound of beef you buy from your grocery store.

• 14.6 gallons of water

• 13.5 pounds of feed, usually corn and grain that could be better served to solve world hunger problems for humanity

• 64.5 square feet of land

• • 0.126 pounds of methane gas, 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its greenhouse gas effect

• • 4 pounds overall carbon footprint

Fact: 3 in 4 men are clinically obese, and more than 2 out of 3 of all adults are either overweight or obese. More than 1 in every 3 adults is considered to be obese.

This is because no one eats fresh, natural, wholesome, organic fruits and vegetables, nuts and berries anymore. If they do eat these types of foods, they are frozen in sugar-based solutions, canned with extreme levels of sodium and other unhealthy doses of chemicals, fried or cooked up in a fast food diner or fast casual restaurant.

It is far from coincidental that the overweight and obesity problem which the World Health Organization calls “a health epidemic the likes of which humans have never seen before” has increased right alongside modern food manufacturing processes, as well as the tendency of the average person to eat fast foods, fried foods and processed foods, rather than fresh, clean, whole foods.

Clean eating, and clean living, can cure all of the societal ills just mentioned, and more, and create a new, healthier set of facts …

and a healthier you.

This beginners guide to clean eating will show you exactly how this healthy, responsible way to approach nutrition and health leads to permanent weight loss. You will also learn the people who preach that clean eating is expensive are simply passing on a myth, and that it is very easy to eat this way on a budget.

We have included a clean eating food list that you can print out, laminate and take with you every time you go shopping, as will as a meal planning guide. You will see the very specific benefits you receive from eating whole, fresh, minimally processed foods, and how to make clean living a way of life in everything that you do. Let’s get started by slapping a definition on clean eating.

What is Clean Eating?

You probably know Turkish-born cardiothoracic surgeon Mehmet Cengiz Oz as simply, Dr. Oz. The best-selling author and TV personality hosts The Dr. Oz Show, a health-centered hour-long daily television program. Recognized as a healthy living advocate, Dr. Oz defines clean eating as …

“Clean eating is not just a diet, but rather a way of life. Clean eating means that you pledge to eliminate bad things from your daily diet

like chemicals, added hormones, and processed foods, and instead

eat naturally. Natural foods mean anything that is naturally grown

and produced like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, nuts, and

whole grains.”

Fitness magazine defines clean eating as …

“At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or “real” foods — those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible.

Rather than revolving around the idea of ingesting more or less of specific things (for instance, fewer calories or more protein), the idea is more about being mindful of the food’s pathway between its origin and your plate.”

As you can see, getting closer to nature is the key. Minimizing additives is also super-important. Started as part of the 1960s natural health food movement, clean eating, sometimes called green eating, also shuns foods that adopt manufacturing, employment and distribution practices which have questionable societal and moral values.

Basically put, when you eat clean, you make your body, your mind, your overall wellness and the planet healthier and happier.

What Are the Benefits of Clean Eating?

We hinted earlier that this type of healthy eating can lead to dramatic and sometimes immediate weight loss. In the following section of this report, you will learn just how clean eating can create permanent and healthy weight loss, something that you may not have been able to accomplish in the past. This has to do with several intricate physiological processes and how they respond to healthy food versus processed food.

An entire section of this health-boosting report has been dedicated to keep-it-off weight loss through eating clean because being overweight and obesity can lead to so many other serious health problems.

While you can achieve quick and significant weight loss with this healthy eating approach if you are overweight, you also receive a long list of other health benefits. Aside from your mental and physical health, you can have more money at the end of your month, feel better about the impact you have on your planet and the animals on it, and provide a valuable lesson of personal responsibility to your children.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the many wonderful benefits you receive when you start eating clean.

• You Truly Thrive, and Discover Who You Really Are

This may sound like a bunch of positive motivation, “feel good” hullabaloo, but it really isn’t. The British Journal of Health Psychology talked to young adults who began eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, and less processed foods. In a very short time, those young men and women said they felt happier and more positive about their current life, and where they were headed.

They mentioned that they noticed, on average, more creative tendencies and talents that they did not know they had in the past. They became more curious, and wanted to learn more about how to live healthy in other ways in their life, ways that would affect them and their planet in a positive manner. They truly began to flourish and give themselves the best opportunity at expressing their uniqueness as individuals.

• You Make the Planet Healthier

You truly do become a better steward for the planet when you begin to eat clean. Whether or not you believe in climate change, you probably don’t have to look farther than your local area to see some type of incredibly negative impact human beings have had on the planet Earth. Manufacturers pump smog and toxins into the air, and this has led to more airborne illnesses being reported now than 50 years ago.

Pollution, sewage and debris is dumped into rivers, lakes and oceans, and countless acres of forests and other natural resources are laid waste to build apartments, housing subdivisions and skyscrapers, when there are similar buildings going unoccupied in the same area. Along the same lines, the growing, harvesting, distribution and marketing efforts of processed food manufacturers squander our natural resources, one of the significant reasons environmental experts are truly concerned about access to fresh water in the very near future.

How does eating a fresh, organic banana, avocado, and a bowl of strawberries and washing it down with an organic green tea help

make the planet healthier than pulling into the Golden Arches

drive-through for a fast food heart attack in a sack?

When you eat clean, there are fewer steps between how your food existed in nature, and how it gets into your stomach. With every step in the manufacturing process chain of events that you can remove, you minimize the negative impact you have on your planet, and on our natural resources, while boosting the help of your mind, body and immune system. This makes it easier for those generations that follow you to embrace healthy living and eating lifestyle choices, and sets a great example for your kids.

• You Stop Supporting Cruel and Inhumane Animal Harvesting Practices

If you have never seen a documentary about how cattle is raised cradle to grave for the sole purpose of making a hamburger for your dinner plate, you need to do so as soon as possible. This is just one of the incredibly inhumane practices that we pay for cheap poultry and meat products filled with unhealthy additives, steroids and preservatives.

Watch Food, Inc. and you may never again eat a cheeseburger or chicken finger.

• You Will Be Smarter and You Will Have More Energy

Fruit delivers healthy sugar and fiber that dole out naturally high levels of energy over time. The protein and healthy fats in nuts, eggs, kale, citrus fruits, almonds, quinoa, coconut oil and wild-caught fish boost your brainpower and your energy levels. This can not be sad about nutrient-poor processed foods, which have very little or none of the minerals and vitamins your brain and body needs to keep you healthy and living.

• You Save Money, Sometimes Big Money, Versus Eating Processed and Junk Food

Sometimes we never look past the tip of her nose. We think about the “right now”, since we are such an instant gratification society. Learning to eat clean and smart might cost you more money right now. If you know how the, there are ways to eat clean on a budget where you actually spend less on money than when you are eating out all the time and scarfing down predominantly processed foods. (We have included a section in this clean eating resource that shows you exactly how to eat clean on a budget.)

Many times though, it costs more per serving to eat clean, unprocessed, whole organic fruits and vegetables than it does to consume their frozen, canned, processed alternatives. Even though, you still save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars on doctors’ bills and medications during your lifetime of eating clean versus embracing modern-day diet. You pay lower insurance premiums, and when you adopt clean living as well as clean eating, you save money on the purchase of fuel for your vehicle, and possessions. Not to mention the fact that you drastically reduce the possibility that you will have to undergo painful, dangerous, frustrating, scary medical treatments linked to a processed food diet.

Also, when you plan your clean meals ahead of time and shop accordingly, which we will show you in a later section, you always get the best price, and never overspend on groceries. Don’t forget that eating clean means you will eat more meals at home rather than outside at a pricey restaurant, which is just another way that this healthy eating practice can save you money.

• You Make a Wonderful Role Model for Your Children, Family and Friends

You want what’s best for your children, everyone does. While kids look up to their parents, they learn more about what you do than by what you say. Leading by example will always be the best way to get your children fully invested into anything you are trying to get them to embrace. The same is true with your friends and family members, who will definitely ask you, “What’s this clean eating thing all about?” when they see you lose weight and impact your health in a positive manner in so many ways.

Oh yeah, speaking of across-the-board health improvements, there’s that too.

Truly from head to toe, you improve your health dramatically when you eat foods that are naturally healthy. You are a product of nature. So are natural foods which are free of unnecessary processing and manufacturing techniques. You lower your chance of developing cancer and diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure, high cholesterol and skin problems, and you reduce the risk of developing debilitating mental conditions like Alzheimer’s. You sleep better, your stress is lowered and your happiness is raised, you have better relationships, your skin is glowing and healthy, and you feel good about who you are. Those are just a few of the many health rewards eating clean offers.

By the way, have you ever seen those “too good to be true” models on the covers of fitness magazines? They don’t eat garbage. They drastically limit, or entirely eliminate, processed foods from their diets. The result is that their exercise efforts produce long, lean muscles, minimal fat, toned, healthy bodies, healthy skin, healthy teeth, a healthy brain, balance and mobility, clarity of mind, physical strength and high levels of self-esteem, all qualities that make them respect themselves, and also get them noticed by the people around them.

If the only reason you embrace clean eating is for the health benefits, you can truly realize “best ever” health and wellness, especially when you add regular exercise.

How Eating Clean Leads to Permanent Weight Loss

Clean eating can deliver “right now” and long-term weight loss in a number of ways. Your body right now has a direct memory linked to your earliest ancestors. Here is exactly how that centuries-old influence works to promote overweight and obesity in the 21st century.

There is probably very little chance of you starving. People that live in westernized, modern societies don’t have to worry about if they are going to eat, they have to worry about deciding where they are going to eat and what they are going to eat, because they have so many options.

It wasn’t always that way.

Your brain and digestive system still remember a time when humanity either had abundant food, or went through long periods with little to no food. This is why your body stores fat so efficiently. When you eat simple carbohydrates like sugar and many processed foods, there aren’t too many nutrients present. There are a lot of negative things that your body doesn’t need, and it tries to process those as waste.

Since it recognizes you didn’t get any of the nutrients, minerals and vitamins it needs to stay healthy, it sees this as a starvation cycle. What does the human body do when it believes you are starving? It takes any simple carbohydrates and man-made sugars you have consumed and stores them as fat. It figures that if you are not getting nutrition now, you must be starving, and it will put a little fat away to use as energy on a rainy day.

This is how eating predominantly processed foods, deli meats, bread and dairy products leads to overweight and obesity, and the myriad of health problems that accompany those conditions.

When you eat clean, you get minimal calories as well as maximum nutrition. Whole fruits and vegetables, berries, healthy grains and nuts, as well as wild-caught fish, grass-fed beef and pasture-raised poultry all pack serious nutrition, minimal calories and carbs, lots of healthy fats as opposed to unhealthy fats, and no man-made additives, toxins and preservatives.

These types of foods take longer to process than simple carbohydrates which are predominantly found in refined sugar, starchy foods, fast food and processed food items. When you eat clean, your body recognizes that you are getting all of the wonderful nutrients you need. It signals to your brain that you are full. This keeps you from overeating processed foods which have tons of calories, carbohydrates and chemical nasties, and very little nutritional value.

Fresh, natural foods are very low in the kinds of carbohydrates that get stored as fat, especially when compared to processed foods. This means your body learns to burn the carbohydrates it gets from the fruits and vegetables you eat, as well as fat, for energy. That results in minimal fat accumulation, and both short-term and long-term weight loss if you are overweight or obese. It also means you don’t have to count calories to reach and maintain a weight that makes you healthy, strong and happy, and makes you feel good when you look at yourself in the mirror.

Tips for Eating Clean and Green on a Budget

These clean eating tips are budget-friendly. Some of them may seem to produce minimal results. However, when you add them all up, they can put substantial money into your wallet and checking account.

• Buy a freezer. A large, standalone freezer can help you take advantage of great buys on produce, meat, poultry and fish.

• Know when you can pay less by not buying organic. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) lists a Clean 15 foods every year. These are the 15 fruits, vegetables and other kinds of food which contain the very least additives, pesticides and other possibly harmful ingredients. These foods are as clean as you can possibly get without being organic, so it doesn’t make sense to pay extra for the Clean 15 by purchasing their organic counterparts. This year’s Clean 15 is available at https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean_fifteen_list.php.

• Take advantage of frozen fruits and vegetables, when the price is right. Often times, frozen food is less expensive than its fresh brothers and sisters. Just make sure your fruit has not been frozen in some sugar or salt-filled solution.

• Stock up on in-season produce. Eat more peaches, cherries and strawberries during the summer months, when they are in season. When a vegetable or fruit is in season, you get it as fresh as it can possibly be obtained, many more of the nutrients your body needs, and the price is lower as well.

• Buy in bulk if you can. Big box discount stores like Sam’s and CostCo offer 5, 10, 25 and even sometimes 50 pound bags or containers of specific groceries. This can drastically lower your per-serving food costs.

• Cook in-season and in bulk. Learn to fix large quantities of in-season fruits and vegetables. Store in individual serving size portions, and you will always have an inexpensive, nutritious and delicious meal waiting for you.

• Eat leftovers rather than throwing them out. You should do this whether you are eating clean or not, as it lowers your grocery bill, while also minimizing the negative impact food manufacturers have on the planet and its resources.

Concerning budgets and how much you pay for the food you eat, you will be happy to know the results of a recent Cambridge University study. Researchers found eating healthier diets only costs about $1.50 more per day than diets with large amounts of processed meats, foods and refined grains.

Your Clean Eating Food List

The easiest way to tell you what foods qualify for clean eating is to simply say that you can eat all of the fresh, minimally processed or unprocessed fruits and vegetables your heart desires.

This means never again having to count calories. Replace every processed food item in your home with those food items that are clean and green. That means stocking up on the following foods. Remember, eating clean doesn’t mean choosing canned fruit and processed vegetables and fruits over fresh alternatives. (Personal preferences and dietary requirements may exclude certain foods listed below. Simply scratch them off of this list, and enjoy any of the other similarly delicious clean foods.)

Lean Meat, Poultry, Fish and Seafood (always opt for grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish and seafood, and pastured-raised chicken)

• Chicken, especially versatile chicken breast
• Lean, ground turkey
• Pork tenderloin
• Actually beef
• Tempeh
• Tofu
• Shrimp and other shellfish
• Muscles and scallops
• Salmon, tuna and all other wild-caught fish
• Egg whites
• Organic, pastured raised eggs

Starches and grains

• Whole oats and buckwheat
• Quinoa and barley
• Brown or wild rice
• Yams and sweet potatoes
• Unsalted, butter-free popcorn
• Whole grain pastas, cereals and breads (eat in moderation, and look for unbleached products)
• Chia and flax seeds
• Spelt, almond flour and coconut flour

Legumes

• Black-eyed peas
• Soybeans (you may want to consider removing soy from your diet, as there are a few health authorities that link soy to food sensitivity in some people)
• All beans
• Chickpeas
• Lentils

Dairy and milk alternatives

• Coconut, rice and almond milk (unsweetened)
• Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
• Organic, unprocessed hard cheeses

“Good Fats” and Healthy Oils

• All nuts, in moderation
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Organic avocados and avocado oil
• Organic coconut oil
• Flax seed oil
• Walnut oil

Sweeteners

• All fruits
• Crushed Stevia leaves or Stevia extract
• Raw, unfiltered honey, preferably locally grown
• Sugar-free applesauce
• Organic agave nectar

Miscellaneous

• Organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar with “the mother”
• Organic ketchup (be careful, read the label)
• Organic vegetable, beef, chicken and bone broth
• Green tea and other herbal teas
• Pumpkin, sunflower, flax, poppy and chia seeds
• Coconut water
• Water

All-natural fruits and vegetables

• Yes, you can eat literally any natural fruit, vegetable, nut or berry. Eat organic whenever you can, and talk to the produce manager at your grocery store to find out what foods are locally grown, if any. This is also a good way to find out when shipments arrive, and also what vegetables and fruits are on sale.

The sweeteners, dairy and milk alternatives, meat and poultry mentioned above are allowable, but should form a small part of your clean eating diet. The fastest path to all your health goals is to make fresh fruits and vegetables the largest part of your clean eating program. You can get more than enough of the minerals and nutrients your body needs simply by eating a wide range of fruits and vegetables, as close to their natural state as possible.

A Simple Clean Eating Meal Planning Formula

Whip out your Clean Eating Food List. Give it a good once-over, citing those foods that make your eyes light up. Note foods that everyone in your family likes. Now use the following formula to plan how many meals and how much food you need to purchase.

Plan for 7 meals, one week, of eating. That will be 21 main meals for each person, and 14 to 21 healthy snacks.

This is because eating 3 main meals and 2 or 3 snacks each day keeps your metabolism engaged all day long. This leads to a steady release of natural energy and nutrients throughout the day. You don’t get massive-meal spikes and drops in blood sugar, and your entire body receives regular, repetitive doses of the healthy nutrients found in clean eating foods.

Another wonderful thing happens every time you crank up your metabolism … you burn fat. If you eat clean, green, wholesome foods as opposed to processed food, you take in very little unhealthy fats and simple carbs. This means carbs and fat are burned for fuel, and you don’t pack on the pounds. You will start to view eating as an efficient weight-loss tactic!

Now, look at what types of clean food dishes you can make that you can divide into portions and freeze or refrigerate. Making organic omelets in a large pan is easy and quick. You have minimal cleanup. You can then divide each omelet into thirds or fourths, and freeze individual portions in separate containers. You can do the same when making soup in a slow cooker, you can make a dozen or more almond or coconut flour-based muffins at once, and mini-pizzas using baked portobello mushroom caps instead of flour can yield 12 to 16 baby-pizzas on one cookie tray.

There are plenty of clean eating recipe books available on Amazon, and countless free clean eating recipes and videos on sites like AllRecipes.com and YouTube. Take those recipes and tweak them to suit your personal taste. Before you leave home to go shopping, write down the recipes and number of servings you will need to plan for 1 week’s worth of meals.

If you pick one day a week when you are not working, you can prepare large batch, clean eating recipes, portion them out, save them in your freezer and refrigerator, and eating healthy is a snap. Even if you don’t decide to make large batches of food at once, planning for the number of meals and servings for everyone in your home is crucial before you go shopping.

Now take your recipes and servings, and write a list of the food you are going to buy.

Just remember to be flexible. If you are thinking about buying almond flour so you can make healthy and delicious pizza, but portobello mushroom caps are on sale for half price, do what’s right for your pocketbook and your personal time. Almond or coconut flour needs to be prepared, and you can simply turn over a portobello cap, fill it with your favorite ingredients, and slap it into your oven to make delicious and nutritious miniature pizzas.

It’s always good to have a plan, but every plan should be flexible.

Clean Living – Incorporating the Clean Eating Philosophy Into

Every Aspect of Your Life

Clean eating is all about simplicity. It is about getting back to nature. It focuses on getting your body what it needs to be healthy, and not putting the things into your body that create unhealthy conditions. As you are well aware, your diet is not the only thing that dictates whether you feel good, how long you are going to live, how well your brain works and how healthy you become.

There are outside influences, environmental issues, relationships, personal behaviors, societal and financial pressures and dozens of other influential forces that create the person you are.

In many ways, we have little or no control over these events, activities and influencers. If you have a job or career where your particular financial rewards are limited or capped, you may never make more than a certain amount of money in that position.

However, as with many things that help create the “you” that you are, you can always change your situation. You may have zero influence over how much money you make in your current occupation, but you can always change jobs or careers.

That is what clean living is all about, taking personal responsibility for your impact on your life and your planet, and on the lives of the people you care about. Instead of saying “My hands are tied”, you say “I will figure out better ways to make myself, my family and friends happy and healthy, by taking a simpler, less involved approach to all that I do, and I will become a better steward for the planet.”

Here are a few simple ways to incorporate clean and green living into every aspect of your life.

• Simplify. Minimize. Do you really need 10 purses, 3 automobiles or 5 computers and tablets?

• Start shopping for “enough” rather than “all the bells and whistles”. If you are shopping for a smart phone just because a knew one has been released and marketed relentlessly, ask yourself this question. “Does my current phone do everything I need it to do?” Don’t buy something new when your old something is fine.

• Take care of the things you have. This practice will make them last longer, you will learn appreciation and gratification as well as personal responsibility, and also save you substantial money in your lifetime.

• Spend as much time possible with the people that are important to you. Caring for yourself and others is at the core of clean living.

• Get outside, in nature, whenever possible. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that, “Indoor air levels of many pollutants may be 2–5 times, and on occasion more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels.”

• Start your own garden. Whether for ornamental or nutritional reasons, gardening is a stress-relieving, therapeutic activity that can teach you to appreciate nature, and save you money on your grocery bill. It also gets you outside in nature more.

• Drink plenty of water. Then drink some more. It is estimated that as much as 75% of those living in first-world nations are not drinking enough clean, filtered water on a regular basis, and are instead drinking unhealthy sodas and other similar beverages.

• Watch your mouth. Using foul language lowers your intelligence level, tags you as a crude, insensitive person, so remove dirty language from your new clean living philosophy.

• Work extra hard to clear addictions like gambling, smoking, drinking and taking drugs from your life. Find out why you are addicted, the underlying need which causes you to engage in addictive behavior, and address it.

• Exercise regularly. If you combine regular physical activity with clean eating and clean living, you may be surprised at the superhuman powerhouse of physical, mental and spiritual health that you can become.

• Start loving yourself. You truly are a special, unique and amazing person. If you are a few pounds overweight, who cares? If you are underweight, not yet at the financial place where you want to be, or are classified by some other type of negative characterization in your mind, learn to get over it. This earthly ride you are on will soon be over, and no one is guaranteed another second or minute on planet Earth, so love yourself while you were here.