Ask Tosca

The Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle is not about deprivation. It's not about giving up one food group or another. Eating Clean is about giving your body what it needs to thrive. You will get to know which foods are the lifeblood that sustains you and makes you whole, and which foods to steer clear of because of the way they destroy your body.

You have only one body. It's yours for life. If your body spends all its time trying to rid itself of the garbage you put into it, how will it perform optimally? What you put into it dictates every moment of every day. It dictates whether you are lean, overweight, or obese. It dictates whether you have energy to spare or find yourself falling asleep at your desk. When you give your body everything it needs, it will run along so smoothly you won't even give it a second thought ... that is, until you catch a glimpse of yourself in a window and think about how amazing you look!

The Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle doesn't require you to pay a monthly fee or to buy special prepackaged foods. Eating Clean is about choosing fresh, whole foods with all of their nutrients intact. Eating Clean will help you eat your way to a fitter and healthier you no matter your age or current fitness level.

When you begin the Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle, you will find almost immediately that you have more energy and that your skin and hair will become lustrous and healthy looking. This is the first sign that you are making a positive change to your health.

Each person will experience a different rate of weight loss. This is because of a number of factors such as starting weight, genetics, the implementation of exercise, and how much you dedicate yourself to Eating Clean.

Healthy weight loss occurs at a rate of two pounds a week. Some weeks you'll lose more, some weeks you'll lose less and some weeks you might not see any movement at all. (But don't let that discourage you! Have faith that this is temporary and that other positive changes are taking place in your body.)

Losing weight at this rate has a number of positive benefits. It helps your skin adjust, which helps to minimize the excess skin that you might have after you finish losing. Your heart, lungs and muscles also need a chance to catch up.

It is never too late to make a change for the better. Regardless of age, the Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle can help you improve your health and physique. In fact, I once received a wonderful letter from a woman in her 70s who had lost 75 pounds and became a fitness instructor.

Yes, the Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle is very flexible and can be adapted to work with any dietary issues. Just follow the Eat-Clean Diet® principles and consume the foods you can. If you are allergic to gluten or can't eat seafood, then no worries; just don't eat them!

A: The great thing about The Eat-Clean Diet is that it can be easily adapted to any lifestyle. Plan to eat five or six meals a day at two- to three-hour intervals. This goes for every day, whether you are working or not, and whatever time you wake up and go to bed.

For example, if you are having your first meal of the day at 3pm, then your next meals would follow at approximately 6pm, 9pm, 12am, and 3am. Just try not to eat within about four hours of your bedtime, whenever that is.

Eat breakfast soon after you wake to start your day feeling energized and get your metabolism humming!

A: Cellulite is caused by some factors we can't control, namely age and genetics, but it is possible to improve the look of affected areas. Since cellulite is a mixture of lumpy fat and toxins, Eating Clean can certainly help.

Here are four tips that will help improve your cellulite:

1. Your diet. You absolutely must avoid sugar, artificial flavors and sweeteners, trans fats and most saturated fats. Just follow a true Clean-Eating nutritional program. If you feel the need for a treat, have some nice dark chocolate or a glass of wine (if you drink). Remember, that wine is a treat, so stick to one glass! Avoid junk food of any kind. Drink lots of water to help flush out your system.

2. Get regular cardio exercise. This could be jogging, elliptical machine, stair climbing ... whatever suits you. But make sure that you challenge yourself. I'm afraid the stationary bike is notorious for giving mediocre results. Try jogging or other cardio that kicks it up a notch. If you're going to do the stationary bike, then make sure you are really challenging yourself. Throw in some interval training. Do a light jog for, say, 200 steps, then do a sprint for 50 steps. Repeat. Sprint as hard as you can. If you find after your sprint that you have to walk for a little bit, then good! This will do far more for you than the steady jog will, at least once you are used to jogging. Have a hilly area near you, or some steps? Challenge yourself.

3. Weight training. This is very important. I do not believe you can get rid of cellulite without weight training. Make sure to cover every muscle (including upper body) two to three times each week. Make sure you do squats, lunges and leg presses. You don't need to use a lot of weight, but they will do more for your hip/thigh area than most exercises.

4. Believe it or not, stimulating the area does some good. Pick up one of those massage brushes -- the ones that look a little like a hairbrush but the "bristles" are made of stiff plastic or rubber. Massage the cellulite-afflicted area every day or at least every second day.

A: I was able to minimize loose skin on my body by maintaining a regular schedule of resistance/strength training in combination with Clean Eating. Weight training really helps to tighten things up.

Since Eating Clean results in a healthy rate of weight loss (an average of 2 lbs a week), your skin will have time to react. Clean Eating also provides your skin with all the nutrients it needs to maintain itself properly, including healthy fats, and that helps skin bounce back into shape.

Depending on age, genetics, how much weight you lose, and how much you dedicate yourself to Eating Clean, you can achieve great results.

A: While I know many women achieve results with fat burners, I have never taken them so I'm not sure which ones are safe or effective. I was able to achieve my body through Eating Clean and lifting weights regularly, along with cardio. If you continue to Eat Clean then the results will come. Fat burners alone won’t cause you to lose weight. They may help you lose a little faster or a little more, but really the key is diet and exercise.

A: I travel so much that my car virtually drives itself to the airport, and I'm still able to Eat-Clean! Traveling does bring challenges, however, there is no doubt.

I bring food with me to airports, always. Here is my emergency kit: raw almonds, apples, other fruit, hardboiled eggs, oatmeal, and protein powder. What else I pack depends on when I might get a chance to eat it. I might pack chicken breast wraps and eat them before my flight -- if they go straight from the fridge to my cooler, I know they'll be okay for a few hours, even without an ice pack.

It's inevitable that at some point I have to eat out when traveling, and when that happens I just get food I know is safe. Every airport restaurant has a salad, for example. It might not be the very best meal, but it beats french fries.

If you have to do a lot of driving for extended periods of time, your best investment is one of those coolers you can plug into your car. You can keep anything in there that you would in a normal fridge, and it will likely come with an adapter so you can plug it in when you get to your hotel/motel.

Be creative, follow the Eat-Clean principles, and success will follow.

A: Yes, I’m afraid that reaction is quite common until you get used to this new way of eating. It’s all the extra fiber and protein. However, you can help the problem by doing the following.

1. Chew chew chew! Whatever isn’t broken down in your mouth must be broken down in your stomach, creating extra gas.

2. Drink tons of water.

3. Take digestive enzymes or add some kefir to your diet. Both are inexpensive and natural ways to add healthful bacteria to your digestive system.

Once your body gets used to all this healthy food, your gas problem should calm down.

A: Whether you are truly addicted to sugar or if you simply have a problem controlling your cravings, the key is to avoid sugar entirely.

Treat sugar as you would alcohol if you were an alcoholic. It will be tough for a little while, but will get easier and easier. In time, your taste will change entirely. Many of us have problem foods that we have a hard time controlling -- my two biggest are ice cream and cheese. I know that if I eat any I will eat too much and set myself up for some major cravings, and so I simply avoid them. If you can manage to control yourself, a weekly treat is okay.

If you need something to satisfy your cravings, try healthy treats such as dried fruits – a few dates for example. The great thing is that they offer tons of nutrition in addition to sweetness. If you eat some dates with a handful of raw almonds you will satisfy your sweet tooth and fill yourself up, thereby helping you to resist further cravings. You can also make a healthy dessert to have for yourself. Make some rice pudding, for example. You can make it with honey or Sucanat. But don't eat it too often. I have a recipe for this in my in The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook.

A: Eating Clean during your pregnancy is safe, but you should definitely check with your health-care professional to ensure you are getting everything you need for you and your baby.

You will need to pay attention to your calcium intake and to avoid any supplements or foods that are not recommended for you and your baby.

If you are thinking of following the Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle, I urge you to discuss this program with your doctor. However, many health care professionals have told me this is exactly how they think diabetics should eat. I am certainly aware of many diabetics who use this program and whom it has helped.

One of the reasons this program is so effective is that it helps to regulate blood sugar. That's why I don't suffer from the effects of hypoglycemia anymore. However, I want to reiterate that I am not a doctor, so make sure to show the program to your doctor for approval.

A: Nursing moms burn more energy because they are producing milk. It's like a built-in baby-weight-loss machine!

Those late night feedings might be hard to get through if you are hungry. If you are honestly hungry after your sixth meal of the day, then go ahead and have a seventh. Eating Clean is a flexible system as long as you are getting your nutrition every two to three hours and sticking to smaller portions. You don't want to starve your body of nutrients, especially at this time, so if you are hungry, EAT! Just make sure you are sticking to Clean foods.

You do not have to eat meat, eggs, or any other animal product to follow The Eat Clean® Diet. You just have to make sure you consume protein along with your complex carbohydrates at every meal.

For meat-free Eat-Clean Diet® recipes, I use lots of tofu. Cooking with tofu is like painting on a blank canvas – it picks up the flavors of the foods you cook with it. You can also use lentils, beans and quinoa. I add edamame to soup, stews and pilafs. I also use textured vegetable protein, which is great as a replacement for ground meat in any recipe. I add protein powder to my oatmeal and of course make protein shakes as well.

I have included many vegetarian recipes in The Eat-Clean Diet® Cookbook and The Eat-Clean Diet® for Family and Kids. See The Eat-Clean Diet® Recharged! for a list of high-protein foods from vegetable sources.

Calorie counting is not really a part of the Eat-Clean Diet® lifestyle. I never count calories. We now realize that different foods react in different ways in our body.  Whereas we may lose weight on 2000 calories per day of Clean food we may gain weight on 1600 calories per day of junk. Many, many people have messed up their metabolisms by worrying too much about calories and not enough about just getting good nutrition regularly throughout the day.

I promise that if you stick to the portion sizes I describe in The Eat-Clean Diet® Recharged!, you will see results while meeting your body's nutritional needs.

A: I do not recommend any brand of protein powder, however I do recommend you purchase from a reputable company. Also, read the nutrition label. Fake sweeteners, sugars and chemicals are not part of the Eat-Clean lifestyle.

For the most part you should get your nutrition from real food. I do have smoothies quite often, but I load them up with lots of wholesome ingredients such as fresh fruit, flaxseed, plain yogurt -- even tofu and oatmeal!

As for protein bars, unless I've made them myself I likely have fewer than three a year. Protein bars are great for times when you are caught with no food, but that should not happen very often if you plan ahead. In The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook, I've included a recipe for protein bars. Creating your own protein bars is by far the best; this way you know exactly what you are getting. Making the protein bar doesn't take that long, and in my opinion it tastes far better!

A: As I explain in The Eat-Clean Diet Book, we should all use portion sizes as our guide. The bigger you are, the bigger your hands are, so portions are automatically adjusted to your size.

For more information about portion sizes, see page 16 in The Eat-Clean Diet Book.

A: I recommend the following “Clean-approved” sweeteners: Sucanat, maple sugar flakes, agave nectar and honey, all in small quantities (especially the honey – it is very concentrated sugar).

If you can’t find these products in your local grocery store, you can try your nearest health foods store or the Internet.

However, the best way to go about using sweeteners is to cut them down or cut them out completely. Once you get used to not eating sugar you’ll be surprised how good a crunchy apple or juicy peach tastes.

I absolutely do not recommend ever using artificial sugar. I would not allow aspartame or Splenda or any other chemically made sweetener anywhere near me and neither should you. INSTEAD: Stories abound regarding the safety of these products. Whether or not these stories are true, why take the chance? I don’t know how my body reacts to these chemicals, and neither do you. Stick to natural foods that your body recognizes and metabolizes the way it was meant to.

A: It has been argued that some wines have advantageous properties. Certainly an occasional drink or two can relieve stress and induce relaxation, but if you want to lose weight you should not drink alcohol. Not only is alcohol a sugar that packs on the pounds in no time, it decreases your resistance, making it more likely that you’ll eat things you shouldn’t, and it can hinder your exercise goals the next day. A glass of wine should be a treat – and just one.

A: Juice drinking has become an around-the-clock habit that has gone too far. And serving sizes are out of control. Yes, juice comes from fruit, but it’s not the same as eating a whole apple or orange. There’s no fiber – only sugar calories with a few vitamins. Next time you’re tempted to grab a glass of juice, go for the piece of fruit instead.

A: The meal plans suggested in The Eat-Clean Diet books are merely suggestions. You can replace any of the foods, as long as you make sure to replace a complex carbohydrate with a complex carbohydrate and a lean protein with a lean protein.

You don’t have to eat something you don’t like just because I’ve included it on the plan. Feel free to shake things up with some new recipes or by adapting old favorites to Clean recipes.

The Eat-Clean lifestyle is very flexible. Switch foods, or move different meals to different parts of the day. Just remember to stick to the Eat-Clean principles and you’ll be fine.

A: I recommend that you have a bench that inclines (and declines, if you can find one), and free weights. Pre-made dumbbells are very useful, and you should also pick up a barbell with some plates. You can buy sets of heavier weights as you progress further into strength training.