How to Eat Clean at Birthdays & Holidays

Clean eating, or focusing on eating unrefined, natural foods instead of processed and unhealthy foods, can improve health and help you lose weight. By choosing foods without processing, you eat foods that contain more nutrients and vitamins. Clean foods also do not contain artificial and refined ingredients. When you commit to a clean eating lifestyle, you will encounter challenges from time to time. With a little advance planning, you can eat clean at birthdays and holidays, too.

Instructions

• 1

  Ask about a menu. When you receive an invitation to an event, try to find out about the menu tactfully. This will help you know whether you will be able to find foods to eat at a party. Explain your clean-eating philosophy to the host and say you're wondering if you should eat before you arrive. If you're eating at a restaurant, call ahead to ask about special healthy menu items.

• 2

  Bring a few snacks along with you that fit the clean-eating diet. A few pieces of fruit and a muffin sweetened with fruit juice will probably be enough to keep you satisfied if you cannot find anything suitable to eat at a party.

• 3

  Keep the focus off of food and on the celebration. Although food is often an integral part of celebrations, you can choose to concentrate on visiting with people instead of eating. Eat clean before you go to the celebration or after you get back home instead.

• 4

  Pick and choose from the foods at a holiday gathering or a restaurant celebration. Stick to raw vegetables, lettuce salads, vegetarian dishes, lean meats and fresh fruits. Avoid sugar, foods containing refined and unnatural ingredients, foods with artificial colors and dishes you cannot identify. When in doubt, pass on trying a food when you want to make sure your diet stays clean.

• 5

  Splurge a little if you want, but keep yourself in check. You may find that when you give yourself permission to have a small piece of birthday cake or a piece of Christmas fudge, you don't enjoy it like you think you will. The sweetness may be too overpowering and intense after you grow accustomed to natural sweetening.