You’ve been hearing about clean eating, clean foods, sustainable meals, but what’s it all about? It can be a real challenge figuring it all out, especially since scientifically there’s no laid out manual for clean eating. It also doesn’t operate like a list of dos and don’ts, so how do you figure out what to do?

Geekmonkey | There’s no rule book for clean eating

Luckily, there’s no rule book that makes it less rigid to explore and flexibility is something that makes it possible for everyone to practice.

You can still eat the foods you like and be healthy. No one likes restrictions when it comes to food. Clean eating is simply a practice that allows you to be more mindful of what constitutes a major part of a healthy diet and what you need to reduce or eliminate.

One of the easiest things you can do is find healthy replacements for the things you love to eat or incorporate nutritious additions to your meals. If you love those burgers a little more than life itself, forcing yourself to stop eating them because the bread has a lot of preservatives isn’t going to stop you of course, but here’s what you can do.

Instead of the store bread or buns you’d normally buy, opt for whole-grain buns from a community bakery that you know keeps their ingredients clean and fresh. You could even buy extra buns and keep them in the freezer, but use them within three months.

Real Simple | Opt for whole-wheat bread as a healthier alternative to its white counterpart

Make use of chopped avocados, quinoas, tomatoes, and onions when preparing your burgers. You can add a little bit of mushroom if you like, the idea is to keep it as fresh as possible and you can enjoy your favorite meals every day and still be eating clean. The reality is that many people don’t eat as many fruits and vegetables as is necessary, so any chance to throw in a few healthy greens in a meal should be taken.

When you’re done experimenting with your clean burger, and you’re looking to load up on some extra carbs, think whole grains. These are healthier choices for carbs and can even help you maintain the weight that you have lost, in addition to providing more nutrients and fiber.

Refined carbs that have gone through processing do not give the quality of energy that whole grains do. The energy they provide is short-lived and eating too much of these carbs is really unhealthy. That doesn’t mean you can’t eat some processed pasta from time to time, it just means it’s a whole lot better to use whole wheat along with it, and you can throw in some kale salad with spiced tofu as well.

Bustle | Throw in a salad with your meal to make it extra nutritious

Clean eating is not an eat-this-not-that approach, but it does help to eat less red meat since doing so will decrease the chances of heart disease. It’s not a call for veganism though, but even the vegans still get the required daily amount of protein in their diet. Also, try to cut back on added sugars in sweets and pastries or just completely eliminate them if you can.