Clean Eating

By Kim Beavers, MS, RD, LD, CDE

Spring cleaning is in high gear as we prepare for the upcoming Masters Tournament and subsequent home rentals. While you are in the “spring cleaning” mindset I recommend you also aim to eat clean. But what exactly is clean eating? It can have different definitions depending on who does the defining. 

Diane Welland, MS, RD and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide ® To Eating Clean, provides a basic definition stating that “eating clean is all about eating healthful, high-quality, nutritious food.” A more practical definition of clean eating is described by Sohailla Digsby, RDN, LD author of Countdown to Your Best Body Success Journal as “eating where you don’t have to clean your hands on four napkins after dinner, or clean wrappers from your counter, table, car or couch after a snack.” 

Naturally, I agree with both of these esteemed colleagues. Specifically, eating more vegetables and produce is a great way to clean up your diet AND clean out your body (think arteries and GI tract). 

Basic clean eating is great, but you can go beyond basic by also eating local seasonal foods. For information on local farmers markets check out www.augustalocallygrown.org.

Four-Ingredient Kale Salad

Kale is more and more available at the store and farmers market these days. Baby kale leaves are tender enough to eat raw in salads. If you can only find mature kale, you can still make a delicious kale salad by “massaging the kale.” Sounds a little strange but it is actually quite a cool technique, see the note for details. Enjoy!

1 medium green apple, cored and chopped 
3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette (Newman’s Own Balsamic recommended)
1 5-ounce package baby Kale, about 6 cups packed
½ cup shredded carrots, about one large carrot, shredded
2 tablespoons toasted almonds

Combine apples with 1 tablespoon vinaigrette to prevent browning. Combine the apples with kale, carrots and additional dressing (use one tablespoon at a time to use the least amount necessary). Top with toasted almonds when ready to serve. 

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition Breakdown: Calories 80, Fat 3.5g, (0g saturated fat), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 110mg, Carbohydrate 11g, Fiber 2g, Protein 2g.  Diabetes Exchanges: 2 Vegetables, 1 Fat.

Cook’s note: To massage kale, wash and cut mature kale into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of dressing and gently massage the kale, squeezing it through your fingers for 1-2 minutes. It will become shiny and have a more velvet-like texture. It will also decrease by about half. Drain out any accumulated juices. Place kale on a platter, top with apples, carrots and a little dressing. (Note: with massaged kale, not much additional dressing is needed.) Add almonds just prior to serving.

This recipe comes from the newly released Best Body Cookbook & Menu Plan I authored along with Sohailla Digsby RDN, LD. For information on where the book is available locally see www.bestbodyin52.com.

Kim Beavers is a Registered Dietitian and Diabetes Educator for University Health Care System. She lives in North Augusta with her husband and two children and she is the co-host of the culinary nutrition segment Eating Well with Kim, which airs at noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday on WRDW. To be notified of new recipes join Kim’s facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/eatingwellwithkim. To search for specific recipes go to www.universityhealth.org/ewwk. You can also watch the segments at www.wrdw.com/ewwk.