Tired of Clean Eating? Try This Healthy Food Strategy Instead.
- bedardhd
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
If you’ve ever stood in front of your fridge, holding the door open, wondering what to make that’s actually healthy—and then felt the urge to just grab a spoonful of peanut butter and be done with it—you’re not alone.
I’ve had those days, too.
I remember clearly one grocery store trip before I started learning what I know about diet. Wondering the aisles, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I mean, I wanted to buy oatmeal, but didn’t it contain toxic levels of glyphosate? What about the tomatoes – oh, they weren’t organic.
Maybe you’ve felt the same.
Because the problem wasn’t me. It wasn’t that I lacked willpower or didn’t know enough about nutrition. The problem was the way we’ve been taught to think about healthy food: through the lens of rules, restriction, and perfection.
If you're nodding along, maybe it’s time for a different approach.
The Truth About “Clean Eating” (And Why It’s Exhausting)
Let’s be honest—trying to “eat clean” often ends up creating more stress than health. You're constantly questioning:
Is this ingredient clean enough?
Did I mess up by eating that?
Should I avoid this because someone on Instagram said it’s inflammatory?
It’s a mental load we don’t need, especially as moms already juggle a million daily decisions.
That’s why I want to offer you something simpler — something flexible, nourishing, and built to support your real life.
A Food Strategy That Actually Works (and Feels Good)
Here’s the rhythm I come back to again and again —both for myself and for feeding my family:
Focus on nourishing building blocks, not “clean” ingredients.
Instead of chasing a perfect grocery list or obsessing over what’s allowed, base your meals on real, satisfying foods that support your energy and digestion.
Here’s the basic formula:
1. Start with a starch base
Think potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, or rice (if your body does well with it). These grounding, energy-sustaining foods leave you feeling full without needing constant snacks.
2. Add veggies
Roasted, steamed, sautéed, raw — however you like them. Use what’s already in your fridge or freezer. It doesn’t need to be fancy.
3. Layer in protein
If your family eats animal products, add some in a few times a week: eggs, leftover chicken, a bit of fish, or ground turkey. It doesn’t have to be a full serving every time — just enough to round out the meal.
4. Boost with flavor
This is where the magic happens. Add salsa, herbs, avocado, hot sauce, coconut aminos—whatever gives it life. These little extras are often what make a basic meal feel crave-worthy.
5. End with fruit (or a simple treat)
If you or your kids want something sweet, that’s not a failure. A banana with cinnamon, baked apples, or strawberries? Totally fine.
This structure helps you feed your body and your people without chasing fads or stressing about “rules.”
Why This Works (Yes, There’s Research Behind It)
This idea of building meals around starches and veggies isn’t just about convenience — it’s also supported by nutrition science.
People who eat a plant-based diet, low in animal foods have a lower risk of diabetes.[1] The health improvement in plant-eaters is also dose-dependant.[2]
It’s surprising to look at what the literature says about a starch-based diet when you see the fear people have about eating a white potato!
And when you think about it, it makes sense: these foods are simple, affordable, and have fueled humans for generations. They’re not trends — they’re staples.
But What About the Mental Load?
That’s the part no one talks about enough.
As moms, feeding ourselves and our families isn’t just about nutrition. It’s a daily mountain of decisions:What’s for dinner? Who’s eating what? Is this “healthy”? Will they complain?
This rhythm takes some of that weight off. Instead of second-guessing everything, you just ask:
What’s my base starch?
What veggie can I add?
Is there a leftover protein I can throw in?
How can I make it taste good?
That’s it.
What about organic? Yeah, that’s not all it’s cracked up to be either. Check out this article for more info on that.
You don’t need a new plan every week. You repeat this rhythm and swap out
ingredients as you go.
You Deserve Nourishment Without Guilt
Let me say this clearly:
You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to eat like a wellness influencer. You don’t need a detox, macro tracker, or color-coded spreadsheet.
You need food that actually fuels you, and a rhythm that fits your life.
So, the next time you’re staring at your fridge, wondering what healthy even means anymore, come back to this strategy. Start with what’s grounding. Add what’s colorful. Finish with what feels doable.
You’ve got this.
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Qian F, Liu G, Hu FB et al. “Association Between Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes.” JAMA Intern Med Published online July 22 2019
Baden MY, Liu G, Satija A et al. “Changes in Plant-Based Diet Quality and Total and Cause-Specific Mortality.” 2019 Aug published online ahead of print https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.041014
Hardy K, Buckley S, Collins M et al. “Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus.” Naturwissenschaften 2012 Aug;99(8):617-626
Kaplan M. “Neanderthals ate their greens. Tooth analysis shows that European hominins roasted vegetables and may have used medicinal plants.” Nature 18 July 2012 doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11030
