Eat Clean: Wok Yourself to Health. Ching-He Huang

diminish the chance of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat and are extremely good for heart health. The best source of omega-3 fats is oily fish; some plant foods such as walnuts, flaxseeds and their oils also contain some.

      Try to stay away from saturated fats from animal sources, as these raise cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. However, saturated fats from plant sources, such as coconut oil, may not have this problem and some experts believe they may actually contribute towards heart health. Trans fats or hydrogenated fats are also ones to avoid. These are oils that have had hydrogen chemically added to them. These fats cause a rise in cholesterol and significantly increase the risk of heart disease.

      Protein

      Protein is vital for the growth and repair of muscle, ligaments and tendons, DNA replication and cell regeneration.

      Proteins are made up from chains of amino acids. These can be non-essential amino acids, meaning that the body can manufacture them itself, or essential amino acids, meaning that the body cannot synthesise them and they must therefore be consumed from food. There are nine essential amino acids, and proteins containing all nine are called ‘complete’. Those that don’t contain all nine are thus termed ‘incomplete’.

      There are abundant sources of complete protein in meat, eggs, fish, dairy and quinoa. Protein is also found in beans and grains, and although they are classed as incomplete, two or more groups of these foods (for example, black beans and rice) can be combined to create a complete array of amino acids.

      Carbohydrates

      Carbohydrates are used as a primary energy source within our bodies. Sugars and starches are both made from sugar molecules, and after these enter the bloodstream, insulin takes the sugar into the body’s cells (including the brain, liver and muscles) to provide energy or fuel for the body. If there is an excess, it is stored as fat.

When we eat simple carbs, our bloodstream is flooded with sugar due to this simple chemical structure being digested quickly. The body cannot deal with this sudden rise in blood sugar, so the body processes it quicker by releasing insulin, and any excess sugar not used immediately by the body as fuel is stored as fat.

      Complex carbs or starches, on the other hand, are comprised of many sugar molecules joined together in long chains and are usually found in wholefood sources such as sweet potato. These long chains take much longer to be digested and therefore release energy slowly over a period of hours. This gradual release does not greatly spike insulin levels and therefore doesn’t trigger fat storage. These carbs tend to have a much lower rating on the glycemic index (GI). The glycemic index is a system of rating how fast carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body. The higher the GI number, the faster the glucose levels rise in the body. Another benefit of eating complex carbs is that they usually come with lots of fibre, too. Fibre will make you feel full, so that you are more satisfied and therefore less likely to over-eat unhealthy foods. It also keeps your digestive system working correctly and can help to lower cholesterol.

      It will come as no surprise, then, that I advocate sticking to carbohydrates from complex sources as much as possible, as it will help you become heathier and leaner. In fact, if you never consumed a simple carbohydrate during your whole life you would be just fine! One exception to this is eating fruit. Fruit contains fructose which, even though it is a simple sugar, does not have a high impact on blood sugar levels due to its fibre content and because it is metabolised differently in the body. However, eating too much fruit, like anything else, will lead to weight gain, so consume in moderation. It’s also best to try to avoid any processed food containing fructose as a sweetener as it is extremely concentrated and goes straight into the liver, which can cause toxicity.

      Tracking macros

      An extremely useful tool for anyone wanting to get lean is to track your macro-nutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins). The premise is that to gain or lose weight you need to consume a certain number of calories every day. These calories are made up from carbohydrates, fats and proteins in differing amounts. By tracking them, you can see how much of each you are consuming daily and easily hit your target for each macro.

      There are lots of macro-nutrient calculators online that will tell you how much of each macro-nutrient you should be consuming per day based on your goal, height, weight, sex and activity level. These are useful as a starting point but everybody is different, so it requires some trial and error to find out which amounts make you lose/gain weight. Keeping a daily record allows you to figure out how many calories you need to consume to lose weight and what those calories should come from.

      Although this approach requires some effort, it is well worth trying. Logging your food is easier then ever – I can recommend this online calculator as a good starting point: www.healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator. Or if you have a smart phone, Calorie Count is a very handy app to track your macros. Tracking macros also has the benefit of reducing hunger pangs greatly. This is because when focused on hitting the macro targets people tend to eat more regularly, are less hungry between meals, and thus avoid snacking. The result of this is that for most of the day you are full up with healthy food and junk food cravings are greatly diminished.

      All of the recipes in the book have both the total calories and the macro-nutrient breakdown to make it easy for anyone following this approach.

      A deeper connection through choice – choose clean eating, choose health

      This book was born out of my desire to eat and live better. I was creating recipes as a chef and thought my food was healthy, but I wanted to really know, have a deeper understanding of and monitor the nutrients that my body consumes. As I age, I want to be healthy and fit, I want to be in the best shape I can be. I want to enjoy food, eat well and I want to be aware of what I eat. While researching for this book, what I found was a revelation – that most ingredients in their pure unprocessed state are full of goodness. It’s not difficult to eat healthily, it’s about making healthful food choices, about being mindful in choosing to eat well. On the whole, our body is ingenious, here to protect and take care of us if we feed it the right nutrients to allow it to work efficiently. By feeding it the right fuels, maintaining one’s natural slim waistline without overly exercising is within reach.

      I wanted to find a way to break all this down to serve as a reminder to help us to eat consciously. We can choose to be happy or healthy or both. It comes back to a state of mind. We can choose to be responsible for our lives and the environment we live in, or we can choose to be ignorant. There is no right or wrong, no judgements made; however, your choices reveal who you really are and who you want to be. Are you conscious or unconscious? Are you open- or closed-minded? Do you choose love or fear? Wellness or illness? This may seem rather extreme – and it is! But being true to yourself is the root of good emotional health and translates to good body health. Hence the term body, mind and spirit. Only you have yourself to answer to!

      The future of food – a revolution in ‘thoughtful’ eating

      My comparisons are extreme, but there is food for thought here. The world is overpopulated, yet if we really wanted to save our oceans and stop the killing of animals, we could – but we don’t. Could the world’s population stop eating fish for 10 years and wouldn’t fish stocks be restored? If we all stopped eating processed foods for 10 years and only ate a diet of wholefoods, wouldn’t we be in the best health of our lives? I don’t mean to be preachy. I think we should spend more time caring about what is truly important in life – food, water, love, care and respect for the environment. If we all cared and shared the same values as human beings, perhaps we would be one step closer to solving the world’s problems together. And what is more important than securing sustainable sources of healthful, pure, clean foods?

      I do not have the answers to all questions, because I am on my own journey to understanding all the complexity that surrounds our current system. The world produces more food than ever before, yet we have more complex diseases than ever. This is rather worrying, as food is supposed to sustain us, not cause us illness! Our health depends on the cleanliness and health of our planet. We could all do with cleaning up our acts individually and collectively for future generations. For me, if this means sacrificing my palate, then so be it. I know I am not