Clean eating has long since found its way into our everyday lives as a healthy nutrition and lifestyle concept and is lived with conviction by many – consciously or unconsciously. The idea is simple: Whole, natural foods – yes, please! Industrially processed products – no thanks!
We'll tell you how Clean Eating works and have the best and fastest recipes for you.
What is Clean Eating?
Literally translated, the English term "clean eating" means as much as pure or clean food. The relatively young nutritional trend is based on the idea of consuming only whole foods and refraining from industrially processed products. By consuming fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, or dairy products – preferably in organic quality – you can expect positive health effects.
If you align your diet with the Clean Eating guidelines, you will completely banish preservatives, colors, flavor enhancers, and refined sugars from your diet. In addition, gluten and dairy products are often also excluded. Furthermore, the dishes are mostly vegetarian or vegan.
Is Clean Eating Healthy?
Clean Eating focuses above all on naturalness and freshness. Because fruits and vegetables provide healthy vitamins and minerals, they optimally support the body in its daily tasks. In addition, they encourage cooking at home and help refrain from fast food and other nutrient-poor foods. If you also pay attention to your daily needs for carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein, Clean Eating offers an excellent approach to living a healthier life.
However, the concept of clean eating is also repeatedly criticized. Nutrition experts criticize primarily that it propagates the strict classification of foods into "good" and "bad" and increases the risk of eating disorders. In addition, the strict avoidance of entire food groups can lead to nutrient deficiencies if suitable substitute products are not taken into account.
All in all, though, it's fair to say that clean eating is healthy as long as it is not taken to extremes. Because those who impose excessively strict dietary rules and follow a highly restrictive diet are more likely to harm their health than to help it.
What Should I Eat When Eating Clean?
If you want to eat according to the clean eating principle, you should adhere to the following dietary rules:
- Eat According to the Rainbow Colors: Make your diet as colorful as possible and vary different fruits and vegetables.
- Regional and Seasonal: Foods from the region that are in season contain the most nutrients.
- Pay attention to organic quality.
- Nutrient-Rich Breakfast: Fill your energy stores with healthy breakfasts and start the day with power.
- Avoid Sugar and artificial sweeteners and use natural sweeteners such as honey or agave syrup instead.
- No Artificial Additives: It is best to cook for yourself to avoid preservatives, dyes, flavor enhancers, etc.
However,
The Best Clean Eating Recipes
Clean eating may sound a bit strict and difficult to implement at first. However, if you look a little deeper into the concept, you will quickly notice that it does not have to be restrictive and offers numerous options for delicious dishes.
We have collected the best clean eating recipes for you and explain what makes these dishes so healthy. Our top dishes include:
- Overnight Oats
- Baked Oats
- Porridge
- Homemade Porridge Cookies
- Bowls
Overnight Oats – Time-Saving and Healthy
If you adhere strictly to the rules of Clean Eating, Overnight Oats recipes are the best option. Gluten-free oatmeal from the region forms a solid basis for a quick breakfast and gives you a kick-start for your day without artificial additives. With fresh fruit of your choice, you provide the necessary vitamins and at the same time give your meal the desired sweetness – without refined sugar. Choose additional oatmeal or porridge in organic quality and you'll have a breakfast that meets all the criteria of Clean Eating in no time.
Since overnight oats are prepared the night before, it is the perfect recipe for those in a hurry in the morning.
Gluten-Free Overnight Oats with Banana
Ingredients
- 50 g gluten-free Bircher porridge or gluten-free oatmeal
- 120 ml milk or plant-based drink
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 banana
- 50 g blueberries
- 1 tsp agave syrup (if needed)
Preparation
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Pour the gluten-free Bircher porridge or gluten-free oatmeal into a mason jar.
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Next, add 120 ml of liquid of your choice (milk or plant-based drink) and mix the ingredients together.
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Additionally, add a pinch of salt to your overnight oats and if you like your overnight oats sweet, add another teaspoon of agave syrup.
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Place the mason jar in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 3 hours.
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If your overnight oats are nice and creamy, you can take them out of the fridge.
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Now you can refine your overnight oats with fruit of your choice. For this recipe, we used banana and blueberries.
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Baked Oats – The Ideal Nutrient Combo
Our recipe for hazelnut and chocolate baked oats is a little more time-consuming but is by no means less delicious. The oven-baked porridge provides you with all the important nutrients thanks to its high-quality ingredients. The porridge base provides long-chain carbohydrates (/blog/nutrition/what-are-long-chain-carbohydrates/) that keep you full for a long time. In addition, our Sport-Porridge chocolate banana contains a particularly high amount of protein. Healthy fats come in the form of grated hazelnuts.
There is also a plus for the wonderfully chocolatey fragrance that it exudes while baking in the oven.
Hazelnut Chocolate Baked Oats
Ingredients
- 80 g Verival Sport Porridge Chocolate Banana
- 110 g oatmeal
- 300 ml plant milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 50 g grated hazelnuts
Preparation
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Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (convection).
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First, add the porridge, oatmeal, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and hazelnuts to a casserole dish.
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Next, transfer the plant drink, egg, and maple syrup to another bowl and mix well.
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Then combine the mixture from the bowl with the dry ingredients.
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Finally, you can put the baking dish in the oven and bake the porridge for 30 minutes.
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After baking time, you can take the porridge out of the oven, let it cool down briefly, and then enjoy.
Porridge – Popular All-Time Classic
Porridge is a classic that can be adapted to all nutritional needs. The warm oatmeal consists mostly of oatmeal – on request also gluten-free – and can be refined as desired. The best toppings include:
- Fruit classics, such as apples or berries
- Nuts
- Honey, cinnamon, and cocoa
- Exotic fruits such as kiwi, mango, or passion fruit
- Chia seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds
With our basic recipe for gluten-free oatmeal, we provide you with the framework for your optimal breakfast and give you enough space for your individual taste experience.
Basic Recipe Gluten-Free Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 60 g gluten-free oatmeal or a gluten-free porridge mixture
- 250 ml water, milk or gluten-free plant-based drink (e.g., rice drink)
- Toppings of your choice
Preparation
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Put the gluten-free oatmeal or porridge mixture in a pot and then add the liquid (water, milk, gluten-free plant-based drink).
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Then boil the oatmeal for 3 to 5 minutes.
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When the oatmeal starts to get creamy, remove it from the heat and let it steep for another minute.
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You can enhance the gluten-free oatmeal with different toppings of your choice. Fruit, various seeds, and nuts are suitable for this.
Homemade Porridge Cookies
This must be a sin! Not quite, because our homemade cookies made from Bircher Porridge are organic, vegan, gluten-free, and completely without refined sugar. With this, we check all nutritional rules and provide proof that clean eating does not have to be associated with renunciation.
Whether as a quick breakfast or a sweet snack in between, the porridge cookies not only fill you up but also tame the hunger for sweets.
Recipe: Bircher Porridge Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g Verival Bircher Porridge
- 40 g flour
- 50 ml milk or plant drink
- 50 g honey or agave syrup
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Choice of chocolate chips
Preparation
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
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For the dough, mix all the ingredients together.
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Place the dough in small portions on a baking tray with baking paper.
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Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes.
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Let cool and enjoy.
Nutritional Values
Bowls
Bowls are a typical dish in clean eating and should therefore not be missing from your meal plan. They come in all sorts of varieties, both sweet and savory. In the savory version, socalled pseudocereals are often used as a base, such as quinoa or rice. The dish is complemented with a colorful mixture of sliced vegetables and a protein source such as fish, meat, or tofu. The dish is served in a bowl, hence the English name "bowl".
Smoothies are often used as a base for sweet bowls. But yogurt is also ideal for this. Fresh fruit, seeds, nuts, and granola serve as toppings. As a recipe tip, we have a permanent hit for you!
Cashew Green Smoothie Bowl – No Added Sugar
Accessories
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Blender
Ingredients
- 50 g baby leaf spinach
- 100 g mango
- 1 Kiwi
- 40 g cashews
- 30 g oatmeal
- 1 tbsp cashew butter
- 80 ml water
- a dash of maple syrup to your liking
Toppings (at your discretion)
- Cashews
- Verival Sport Muesli
- Flaxseed
Preparation
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Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix them well until a creamy mixture is formed.
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Then place the mixture in a bowl. If you want, you can also add toppings such as cashews, flaxseed, or Verival Sport Muesli to your smoothie bowl.
