Every diet or plan seems to have a cheat, something that will magically make everything easier and take all the work out of your fitness goals if you just follow this one easy step.  The step usually isn’t easy and it usually isn’t applicable in the real world or, if it is easy and applicable, it doesn’t have any long-lasting results.  Anybody can juice or drink smoothies for a week, but a month or a year or even a lifetime?? Not going to happen, at least not for the average person eventually you miss chewing.  What about trying to remember what you can and can’t eat with fad diets?  When you’re heading in to the grocery store, you don’t want to have to keep a mental checklist of every single thing you can and can’t have and then have to update and rearrange that list with every trend that comes along.  It’s overwhelming and almost guarantees failure, especially if you step in to the grocery store the slightest bit hungry.

I hate the word “cheat” and loathe to use it, especially in connection with health and fitness, that said there is an easy no-fuss way to eat clean and survive the grocery store with your sanity intact and the cookie dough on the shelf, where it belongs.

• Step 1:  Stick to the Outer Isles of the Grocery Store This is the EASIEST way to remember how to eat clean when you’re pressed for time or enter the grocery store hungry or even have too much on your mind to think about what you should or should not be putting in your cart.  In fact, you could almost stop reading here and be safe in the grocery store; THIS is your best cheat!   Most grocery stores keep the good stuff (read: healthy stuff) on the edges.  Fruits? On the outer isle.  Meats?  Outer isle. Veggies? Yep, you guessed it, outer isle.  Even the healthy whole grains are usually kept in an outer aisle or at least one very close to the outer edge.  The junk food, the boxed dinners, the canned sauces?  They’re all in the middle, bunched together and waiting for you to come notice their bright packaging and fantastic marketing.  Simply stay away from the middle isles and stick to the outer edges and 90% of the grocery store fight has been won.

• Step 2:  Does it Come in a Box or a Can? We’re eating clean, right?  This means that all those things that come in boxes and cans are off the list and out of the cart.  We’re done with them, we’re cooking for ourselves and not letting all those preservatives, chemicals, and salt back in to our meals.  Let’s eat our veggies fresh, make our own sauces, stocks, and soups and explore what we can do in the kitchen without the help of Betty, Duncan, or Ben.  *Yes, the packaging on the cookie dough counts as a box or a can.

Keep it simple when you’re first learning anything new and the baby steps will lead you to places you never thought you could go.  Two steps to start you on the road to clean eating, simple steps that will lead to a healthier life.