The festive season is over, and for many of us weeks of culinary over-indulgence with family and friends has come to an end. With this in mind, healthy eating is often at the top of many New Year resolutions.

The early months of the New Year is the perfect time to wipe the slate clean, press reset and be more mindful about what we choose to eat.

Fiona Workman, a Sydney nutritionist with more than 15 years-experience, says that while what we put into our bodies is important, healthy clean eating need not see us compromise on flavour.

According to Linda Thornton, Miele’s Culinary Expert, clean eating can be easy, effortless and delicious.

What is clean eating.

Clean eating is not a new concept. To most, it means eating locally sourced, seasonal foods that are full of natural nutrition, maximizing vitamin and antioxidant intake.

“Modern day diets are filled with processed foods that contain additives to ensure longer shelf life and to enhance flavour. Eating clean is removing processed food from your diet and reducing the level of fats, salts and sugars,” says Linda.

“My definition of clean eating is eating fresh natural ingredients without additives, preservatives, pesticides and colours. This is the way nature intended, and the way our bodies are designed to eat,” says Fiona.
The benefits of clean eating.

“The health benefits are endless – clearer skin, sharper thinking, fewer fat cells, more daytime energy, deeper sleep, fewer aches and pains,” says Fiona.

“One of the most common ailments today is back pain. Eating a low acid (alkalising) diet has been shown to reduce back pain. Processing additives are acidic, whereas fresh veggies are alkaline. Sneaking more veggies into pasta sauces, layers of lasagne and chocolate brownies allow you to indulge in taste and goodness together.”

How to eat and think clean.

For many of us when we hear the words ‘clean eating’ we think time consuming or boring, but this is not the reality.

“Clean eating means enjoying exactly what you want. Store-bought cakes too sweet? Make your own. Bakery biscuits taste of chemicals? Bake a ‘clean’ batch. Don’t like coriander? Replace it with another green like lemongrass. Cooking is about creativity and we can all find great joy in playing with food in the kitchen. Clean eating is really all about control,” says Fiona.

“Miele kitchen appliances offer storage and cooking solutions to help you eat and think clean,” says Linda.

“Miele makes clean eating easier with our innovative appliances. For example, our induction cooktops with great temperature control gives you the ability to cook food without the need to use a lot of fat or oil to stir fry.”

Linda says other useful Miele technologies to support clean eating include:

Enables food to stay fresher for longer.

Steam ovens. Low temperature cooking, where the food retains its moisture and no loss of essential vitamins or nutrients.

Vacuum sealing drawer to enable sous vide cooking. Meat and vegetables are cooked in their own juices without the need to add fats or oils. The food is cooked at a low temperature which maintains the food’s integrity so that no nutrients are lost in the process. When marinating meat or pickling vegetables, less quantity is required as the vacuum process forces the flavour into the food, enabling you to use less salt, fats or sugars to get the required result.

Recipes.

“Over the last five years, there has been a shift in food focusing on recipes that boost immunity, reduce stress or detox the body to improve a person’s overall wellbeing,” says Linda.

Making pantry staples from scratch, like tomato passata is an easy way to eat cleaner and boost your wellbeing.

“Tomato passata can be made easily by slow roasting local seasonal tomatoes, add salt and pepper, ground cumin seeds or sumac. Then portion control and freeze. Make it thick for chutney then blend down for tomato sauce or add some spices for barbeque sauce. This mean you can control the flavor and sugar content,” says Fiona.

Some other delicious and healthy clean recipe ideas include:

Ricotta pancakes – full of whole fibre from oats, protein rich and low GI chia seeds with antioxidant blueberries – a great way to start a day.

Home-made yoghurt – this recipe requires the best locally sourced milk and a live yoghurt culture as the base. Making your own yoghurt is not only rewarding but great for improving gut health. The Miele steam oven has perfect temperature control that sets the yogurt and retains the probiotic culture whilst sterilising the jars to seal.

Salmon Nicoise – perfect dish with seasonal produce that highlights the flavours of the summer, requiring minimal cooking and retaining essential nutrients with maximum taste.

Buckwheat is a gluten friendly grain – easy for the body to digest while making a great option for people with dietary intolerances. Fabulous nutty flavour that lends perfectly with the crisp broccoli and vibrancy of the lemon.