For Men’s Health Month I had the opportunity to ask Executive Chef Carlos Brown to share his tips for clean eating and why it is important to incorporate unprocessed foods into your diet. He even provides a clean eating plan that he uses with his celebrity clients.
What are 3 health & weight loss benefits of clean eating?
1. Adds vitamins, minerals and healthy fats to your body
2. Increases energy
3. Builds a stronger immune system
What is the importance of consuming “whole” unprocessed foods (i.e. fruits and salads) and lean proteins?
It’s very important because it helps to prevent sickness and health issues such as diabetes, cancer, and heart problems. These issues are very prevalent in the African-American community, especially in the south. It also avoids bodily harm for pregnant women and their unborns. As a pregnant woman, the food you consume is the food the child consumes also. So it’s important to eat whole, unprocessed foods for the health of the unborn child.
Below is an eating plan that Celebrity Chef Carlos uses for his celebrity clients that include a breakfast item, lunch, dinner and snacks. All meals need to be eaten before 7 p.m., but snacks can be eaten after 7 p.m.
Breakfast-
- Egg white with spinach and tomatoes
- Include fresh herbs, olive oil
- Do not use butter, salt or sugar
Lunch–
- Salad with fresh spinach, 8 oz. protein (grilled salmon, grilled shrimp or grilled chicken), blue cheese crumbles for calcium, strawberries for vitamins and a strawberry vinaigrette dressing
Dinner–
- Brown rice or sweet potato
- Asparagus sauteed in olive oil with pinch salt
- Seabass or grouper
Snacks–
- Popcorn
- Graham crackers
- Charcuterie, add fruit
Chef Carlos Brown is a celebrity executive chef, restaurateur of Shrimp & Grits Cafe and founder of C3 Culinary Group. Known for being featured in the Smithsonian African-American Museum for his authentic dish Shrimp and Grits, Chef Carlos has been honored with Chef Carlos Brown Day annually on Aug. 23 in Charleston, S.C., the 2020 National Black Chef Awards Culinary Excellence Award, American Culinary Federation (ACF) Award, Kingston Chef Scholastic Award, and the Diamond Culinary Medal. With a mission to teach youth the importance of culinary arts to bring families back to the table again and save hospitality, Chef Carlos has been featured on BET, VH1, CNBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and Bounce TV along with serving notable clients such as Jim Carey, Shaquille O’Neal, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Viola Davis, Ray Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg, Barak Obama and more.
