Resolved to eat clean this year? These products will help get you started

How to start eating clean this year

Eating healthier is a standard New Year's resolution, but it can be tough to know where to start. If you've heard about clean eating, it's good to learn more before you embark on your mission. 

With the right array of products, not only is it easier to get started eating more whole foods, but to maintain your momentum and start habits you can continue through your life. 

What is clean eating?

The fundamentals of clean eating are all about eating more whole foods. By this definition, clean eating means basing your diet around whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, legumes and other quality sources of protein. Ready-made and packed foods should be limited, with a focus on home cooking and avoiding foods that are too divergent from their natural forms, such as vegetable chips versus whole veggies. 

Should I be eating clean?

The idea that you should eat more whole foods is great, but the clean eating movement can become wrapped up in a package of potentially harmful ideas. If some foods are "clean," then those that don't fit the criteria are considered "dirty," leading to notions of shame around food. For some individuals, clean eating can create a relationship of orthorexia, an eating disorder defined by a pathological obsession with correct nutrition.

While it's undeniably good for your body to eat a varied, well-balanced diet with a focus on whole grains, vegetables, legumes and other minimally-processed proteins, there's no need to buy into harmful rhetoric surrounding food and your body. What's more, food is all about balance, and you don't have to avoid processed foods altogether. Just make them a smaller part of your diet. 

What do I need to eat a more nutritious diet?

This really depends on what you already have and what your stumbling blocks are when trying to eat healthier. If you hate prep work, decent knives and a food processor can help. Multicookers are great for people who lack time to cook when they get in from a busy day, while cookbooks can help if you don't know where to start with cooking nutritious meals. 

Products to encourage healthy eating

Cuisinart Elemental 8 Cup Food Processor

All the prep involved in cooking from scratch can cause people to make their famous call to the pizza place for dinner rather than a well-balanced meal. This food processor takes the hard work out of chopping, slicing and shredding, so it's easier to make healthy meals.

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J.A. Henckels International Self-Sharpening Knife Block Set

Those who prefer to do meal prep the old-fashioned way will find the task much easier with a good set of knives. They even keep themselves sharp thanks to the self-sharpening block. The set contains six kitchen knives, six steak knives and a pair of kitchen shears.

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"Dreena's Kind Kitchen: 100 Whole-Foods Vegan Recipes to Enjoy Every Day" by Dreena Burton

Although healthy eating doesn't have to be plant-based, eating more vegan foods is a great way to increase your intake of vegetables and legumes, not to mention that it's good for the animals and the environment. This cookbook contains 100 vegan recipes based on whole foods.

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Magic Bullet Blender

Smoothies, soups, dips and sauces are all easy to whip up with the help of the Magic Bullet Blender. It's great for helping you get extra fruit and veg in your diet, whether it encourages you to consume smoothies for breakfast or makes it easy to produce dips to spice up a selection of crudites.

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FineDine Superior Glass Food Storage Containers

One obstacle to eating nutritious meals every day is the cooking and prep work involved, but you can overcome this to a degree by cooking in large batches, so you have leftovers to eat or doing meal prep in advance on days when you have the spare time. To pull this off, you'll need plenty of food storage containers. These are made from glass, so they're eco-friendly and won't get tainted by strong flavors.

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Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

You can get nutritious meals on the table faster with an Instant Pot. Thanks to its range of settings, you can easily make veg-heavy slow-cooked stews, cook beans from scratch in minutes, produce perfect grains every time and so much more.

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Ninja Foodi NeverStick Premium Hard-Anodized Cookware Set

If you've done very little cooking from scratch in the past, you might not even have the selection of pans you need to make an array of nutritious meals. This set includes pots, saute pans and fry pans, all with a hard-wearing nonstick finish that's perfect for amateur cooks.

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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.