Weight Loss-Friendly Grocery List For Clean Eating
- Emma Lisa
- Aug 27, 2021
- 12 min read
Updated: Mar 28
Ready to clean up your eating habits and lose weight? A healthier body and lifestyle start in the kitchen! Create a weight loss-friendly grocery list and learn from a Nutritionist how to overhaul your pantry with easy sugar swaps, clean eating essentials, and and tips to help with lose weight effortlessly. Grab your notepad and a wet rag—let’s transform your pantry together!
When clients come to me wanting to eat clean and lose weight, one of the initial conversations we usually have is about the current foods they are consuming every day. I usually recommend that they keep a 3 - 5 day food and mood diary to help us assess if their food intake is an issue or not. This process is often surprising to clients, but it's where I secretly get a little excited. Uncovering the poor choices and unhealthy foods that are hindering weight loss, is actually so empowering. Once we know where the errors are being made, we can easily pivot towards more wholefoods options. This is where the magic happens!
So if you are on your own weight loss journey and want to using clean eating to help you reach your goals, settle in with a cuppa of metabolism-burning green tea and explore how this weight loss-friendly grocery list for clean eating from a practising Nutritionist can make a difference.
Clean Eating Grocery List- Must Haves
We’ve all heard the saying, “If you only have healthy foods at home, you’ll only eat healthy foods.” And as a Nutritionist, I'll be honest, there’s a heap of truth to that! Creating a clean eating lifestyle and healthier body begins definitely in the kitchen. Clearing out the processed, sugary items, and restocking your pantry and fridge with more nutritious, clean eating foods can make all the difference in creating better eating habits and maximise your weight loss efforts.
BUT – before you groan, thinking you have to totally overhaul your kitchen overnight — even the smallest of changes and swaps can have a big difference. Whether you choose to gradually replace junks foods foods as they run out, or go all in one afternoon with a full pantry makeover, this clean eating guide is going to help you round up the weight-loss friendly groceries that are essential for healthy, clean eating.
Step 1: Clean Eating Pantry
Before you can stock up on healthy, clean eating groceries, you need to make space for them. This is where a good pantry clear-out comes in. You might be surprised by how many items on your shelves are packed with hidden sugars, unhealthy fats, or preservatives that no longer align with your goals. The key here is to be intentional about what stays and what goes; if it nourishes, keep it. If not, donate or bin it.
What to Toss (or Reconsider):
Start by learning how to the read food labels, and set aside anything that contains high amounts of sugar, refined carbs, or artificial additives. Here are some common unhealthy items you may want to toss out to get started:
sugary snacks – biscuits, store-bought pastries, pre-packaged desserts, fruit bars, and cakes
cola and sweetened drinks – cordials, fizzy drinks, sports drinks, flavoured waters
highly processed sauces – barbecue sauce, simmer sauces, sweet salad dressings or tomato sauce
refined grains – white bread, white rice, regular pasta, prepacked biscuits and flavoured snacks
You don’t have to eliminate everything at once, but becoming more mindful of what’s in your clean eating kitchen can help curb those mindless snacking habits. Once you’ve made space, you’ll be ready to restock with much healthier choices. If you need a little help with this, you might find this blog post helpful, The Super Simple Way To Read Nutrition Labels.
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Step 2: Clean Eating Pantry & Groceries
Now that your kitchen shelves are a purged and cleared out, it’s time to refill them with nutrient-dense, clean eating foods that promote weight loss, boost energy, and support your overall health. These foods will not only nourish your body, but also better stabilise your blood sugar, improve gut health, energy, and keep you naturally feeling fuller for longer. Get out your notepad and write these clean eating grocery list suggestions down to help you with your clean eating pantry overhaul.
Whole Grains & High-Fibre Dry Goods
Restock your healthy, clean eating pantry by swapping out any processed grains for more wholesome options. Instead of white rice, pasta and white bread or buns, try more wholesome, fibre-rich alternatives such as those made with quinoa, brown rice, rolled or steel cut oats, or rice bran. Go for clean, wholefood ingredients over the overly processed choices wherever possible. Here are some healthy, clean eating grains and staples to stock up on:
grains and flour – almond, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice, oats (steel-cut or rolled), whole wheat pasta; you can also blend oats, nuts and seeds to make your own homemade, healthy flour
bread – whole wheat bread, sprouted grain wraps, low carb rice/corn cakes, or whole grain crackers
legumes – lentils, black beans, chickpeas for added dietary fibre and added protein
nuts and seeds – almonds, cashews, chis seeds, flaxseed, LSA, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds
rice – brown rice, couscous, gluten-free, quinoa, vegetable pasta instead of white rice or pasta
An easy way to replace processed dry pasta, is with a vegetable spiraliser using all kinds of veggies to make more nutritious, lower carb, and vitamin-rich noodles. You can easily spiral beets, butternut squash, carrot, cucumber, parsnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, and zucchini. These all go nicely served raw in fresh salads or lightly stir fried with your favourite pasta sauces and seasonings such as zucchini bolognaise.
Clean Eating Baking Ingredients
In the baking aisle, instead of reaching for processed flours for homemade baking, stock up your clean eating pantry with healthy basics that provide more nourishment and nutrients. This can be as simple as trying a few of the following swaps:
make your own flour – blend or grind almonds, cashews, oats or quinoa flakes in the blender
add in healthy ingredients – add extra fibre or hidden veggies to cake, muffin or cookie mixes
healthy oils – choose avocado, coconut, grape seed, and hemp seed oils which are healthier than canola, vegetable or sunflower
herbs and seasoning – stock up on dried and ground spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and other herbal blends to flavour meals instead of sugar
No one is saying you can't have cake and muffins and eat clean, if you enjoy baking. For example, there are many ways you can easily turn chocolate cake mix into a healthier, homemade version just by adding in grated apple (sweetness), spinach (nutrients) and rolled oats (fibre) to the mix. Another example is using rolled oats and little coconut oil in chocolate chip cookie mix to slow the impact of sugar; or try making them with sugar-free chocolate chips. Turn plain vanilla cake mix into a simple carrot cake by adding your own grated carrot, pear and a pinch of cinnamon to flavour it.
As you can see, once you become focused on clean eating, you can easily begin to boost the fibre content of any baking recipe with whoelfood ingredients; just add chia seeds, ground flax or rolled oats. I promise in many cases, you and kids won't even notice the healthier ingredients, but your body sure will, and will thank you for it!
Clean Eating Fresh Produce
A must-have staple on the clean eating grocery list is, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables. These can be fresh or frozen, and prepared in endless ways in clean eating recipes to provide you with a well-balanced, high-fibre diet. Be sure to pack the fridge and freezer with a variety of the following:
brightly coloured fruits – stock up on apples, avocado, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, kiwi, lemons, mango, melon, mulberries, oranges, pears and plums
colourful vegetables – fresh veggies like beetroot, butternut squash, capsicums, carrots, corn, eggplant, purple cabbage, pumpkin, red onions, radishes, and sweet potato
frozen produce – don't overlook frozen, it's often flash frozen after picking locking in the nutrients
green vegetables – Bok Choy, Chinese greens, celery, cucumber, green beans, fresh herbs, kale, snap peas, spinach, runner beans, Romaine lettuce, and zucchini
Make note of these and stuff your shopping trolley with high-fibre, clean eating fruits and veggies. These food choices are naturally filling, and provide the essential dietary fibre to help you curb your appetite naturally, and improve your gut health (without expensive supplements). Enjoy a rainbow these healthy foods raw, air-fried, baked, pan-fried, or lightly steamed to build half your plate at main meals.
Clean Eating Protein Sources
Protein is the absolute foundation of the clean eating kitchen. When your pantry is stocked with whole, unprocessed foods, you’ll find it so much easier to pair clean protein with other clean ingredients to build well-balanced and highly nutritious meals for easy weight loss. Stock up on these clean protein sources (depending on your preferences):
animal meat – organic, grass-fed beef, chicken (skin off), kangaroo, lamb, and turkey
seafood – choose low mercury fish such as wild caught cod, salmon, sardines, or whitening; prawns, crab, and shellfish
vegan – beans, chia seeds, chickpeas, edamame, hemp seeds, green peas, lentils, nutritional yeast, plant-based protein powder, seitan (if not gluten intolerant), spirulina, tempeh, and tofu.
protein powder – casein, whey-based or vegan plant-based protein powder
Many of my clients come to me saying they want to eat clean and also go plantbased or more vegetarian. Eating clean on just plants is totally doable and has many health benefits, but does require choosing your clean, lean protein sources with care. If you'd like help with this check out my Nutritionist-approved plantbased recipes, or pop inside my free Facebook Community to ask me specific questions, click here.
Clean Eating High-Fibre Food Choices
Dietary fibre is the dieter's best friend they didn't know they were missing. Fibre is the indigestible parts of plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, grains, beans and legumes, and is a type of a carbohydrate that helps feeds gut microbes, maintains a healthy digestive system, and balances your appetite. You can only get fibre from the foods you eat each day, so making sure you are regularly consuming 30g+ per main meal is super important. Just like wholefood-based protein, dietary fibre is an essential macro of the clean eating diet and pantry. Be sure to stock on the following and enjoy them across all meals:
top high-fibre grains – barley, buckwheat, bulgur wheat, oatmeal, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, brown and wild rice
best high-fibre fruits – consume high-fibre varieties like apples, avocados, blackberries, guava, pears, raspberries
food-based fibre additives – bran fibre, chia seeds, flax seeds, LSA, psyllium husk, wheat bran and whole grains
top vegetables – artichoke, avocado, beet greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, kale, lentils, peas, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes, and turnips
fibre supplements – guar gum, methylcellulose, and psyllium husk
Consuming a high fibre diet is not only important for digestive health and regular bowel movements, but it also helps you feel fuller for longer, improves cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
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Step 3: Reducing Sugar To Eat Clean
Reducing your sugar intake is one of the most effective ways to improve your health, manage cravings, and support weight loss through clean eating. But it’s not just about cutting out the obvious sweets — it’s also important to find and avoid all the hidden sugars found in everyday foods like cereal, sauces, and flavoured yogurts.
How to Identify Hidden Sugars
When reading nutrition and food labels, you need to get skilled at spotting sneaky names for sugar aliases, and the deceptive names of unhealthy ingredients. Hidden sugars can significantly impact your health, and are increasingly hard to distinguish for the untrained eye. Therefore, I encourage you to take a screenshot or make note of the sees sneaky names for sugar:
corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup – lurks in canned fruit, tomato sauce, processed snacks, and many beverages like cola and cocktail/mocktail mixes
cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, and agave nectar – found in sweetened cereals, baked goods, and "natural" juices
glucose, dextrose, maltose, and sucrose – common in lollies, packaged desserts, and many packaged snacks and processed foods
fruit juice concentrates – found in "fruit" snacks, some yoghurts, and many drink products
molasses – used in baked goods, BBQ sauces, and some cereals
honey – found in many store-bought granola bars, cereals and some yoghurt products
Clean Eating Sugar Swaps
You can drastically reduce your sugar intake without ever having to sacrificing the flavour. And while I know how confusing it can feel at first, as sugar comes under so many different names, it is worth learning were it lurks. Here's 56 different sneaky names that could be tripping you up. before you scroll on, pop down to the comments and share which ones have you caught you out in the past, then try a few of these easy and clean eating alternatives:
jams and spreads – replace sugary jams with smashed berries or homemade chia seed jam
sweeteners – experiment with natural sweeteners like beetroot juice, stevia, monk fruit, or a touch of raw honey instead of brown, cane, or white table sugar
flavoured yoghurts – swap for plain Greek yogurt and add fresh fruit, chia seed jam, smashed berries, or a sprinkle of cinnamon to add flavour
in baking – experiment with natural sweeteners; try sweet vegetables like carrots in cakes and muffins, use beetroot or pear juice, homemade apple sauce, or berries to sweeten pies and pastries
By swapping the table sugar out for healthier options in your home cooking, you’ll still be able to enjoy delicious sweetness and flavour, but while keeping your blood sugar more stable. Over very short time, I promise you, your taste buds will adjust. In less than 10 days is all it take, and you may even start to crave less sugar altogether.
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Step 4: Hydration For Weight Loss
Staying properly hydrated is a foundational habit when clean eating. Just a plain glass of water can help curb unnecessary snacking, and improve your energy, digestion, and skin health. Water is a secret weight loss accelerator, and consuming high water-content foods are another must-have staple while on a clean eating diet. These include thirst-quenching wholefoods that work to help keep you hydrated and your digestive system functioning its best.
Water-Rich Foods To Add to Your Clean Eating Diet
Easily boost hydration by adding more water-rich foods into your daily meals and clean eating snacks. It's fairly easy to do, and such a simple way to reduce cravings while you re working on weight loss and shifting your diet to clean eating. Start with these water-content food and infused water ideas:
fruit – apples, citrus, grapes, kiwi, pineapple, rock melon, watermelon, and strawberries
vegetables – capsicums, celery, cucumber, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, watercress and zucchini
herbs – aloe vera, basil, borage, lemon balm, and mint family
When your body is fully hydrated, you'll be way less likely to confuse hunger and thirst, and naturally snack less often. For many people watching their weight, mindless snacking is a real problem that trips them up and sabotages their weight loss efforts. If you are feeling snack-ish, first have a glass of water or herbal tea and wait 10 minutes. If you are still hungry, add some of the above to your water bottle. I love doing this and making infused water or I'll have a herbal tea to keep myself fully hydrated. Interest peaked? Browse my infused water recipes here. and see how it makes you feel.
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Final Tips: Clean Eating For Weight Loss
Transforming your kitchen into a clean eating pantry is just the beginning. To make healthy eating habits stick, you need to keep making shifts towards a clean eating lifestyle that you can sustain long term. And while creating a clean eating grocery list is an excellent and empowering start, I encourage you to keep your efforts going with some of these helpful ideas:
meal prep – spend a few hours each week washing, chopping, and prepping your produce so healthy, clean eating meals are always within reach
batch cooking – cook larger portions of healthy, clean eating like soups, stews, or roasted veggies and freeze the leftovers for busy nights or hectic mornings
mindful snacking – keep healthy, clean eating snacks like nuts, boiled eggs, or pre-chopped veggies on hand to avoid grabbing processed options
protein hacks – pumpkin, sunflower, and chia seeds offer a sneaky protein punch and are delicious added to salads, stir fry, or as a key ingredient in bliss balls, protein balls and granola bars
shop the outside aisles – shop where all the fresh, clean eating produce is usually displayed. Fill the bulk of your shopping trolley with clean eating goodness, and be more selective with remaining items
clean eating shopping – stock up on healthy macro-nutrients in the form dried beans and peas, nuts and seeds, dried fruit and gluten-free and healthier, clean eating baking ingredients
By making these small, intentional changes, you’ll be well on your way to creating a clean eating grocery list and kitchen that fully supports your health goals. This is a journey, not a race. Even small progress, is still progress. So, keep going, and you’ll be amazed at how your body will responds to nourishing with more clean eating foods, and mindful choices. You got this!
Join My Clean Eating Community!
Ready for more tips, recipes, and support on your clean eating journey? Join my free Facebook Community, where I share heaps of free clean eating recipes, meal planning ideas, healthy pantry tips, and weight loss tips to help you stay on track. It’s your go-to space for achieving a healthier, clean eating lifestyle with ease. 👉 Join the Clean Eating Community today!
Healthy + happiness,
Emma Lisa xx
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Thanks for this Hun, was very helpful to me as I am only just trying to eat cleaner and fix my diet, Really loving your blog as well so thanks again x
So informative, thank you!!!
I found this so helpful, thank you for sharing it with us!
I’m loving your blog Emma!! Lovely practical advice that seems easy to incorporate into everyday life!!
Very nice blog, great info. I enjoyed this article.