Clean Eatin’ is Good Eatin’

Going to the gym is a big step in creating a healthier lifestyle, but it is not the only step. Wellness comes down to two major ingredients: exercise and diet.
Clean Eatz is a new restaurant that opened just a couple months ago in the Indigo Village Shopping Center. The restaurant’s entire concept is creating food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that’s ready to heat and eat for people serious about nutrition, but stretched for time.
Founded in Wilmington, NC by Don Varaday and his wife Yvonne White, Clean Eatz takes the guesswork and the actual work out of creating a meal plan specifically designed to accomplish your wellness goals. After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, White got serious about getting in shape. “Nutrition was my most difficult challenge,” she writes on her website. “If it was sitting in front of me – ready to eat – I would make the right decision. If not, look out!”
She began making her week’s meals every Sunday so she didn’t have to worry about it during the week. When some gym friends asked her to do the same for them, Clean Eatz was born. The restaurant’s goal is to give patrons the tools they need by preparing properly portioned meals with a balance of protein, carbs, and fats. Their meals eliminate the guessing, temptation, and lack of being prepared due to a busy lifestyle.
Clean Eatz has several packages available. Five meals for $38, up to 21 meals for $128. Meal plans can be ordered online through www.cleaneatz.net. All of the macros are listed on the menu. A few items on the dinner menu last week: Cajun Chicken Pasta (472 calories/10 grams of fat/48 grams of carbs/38 grams of protein), Mu Shu Chicken (389/10/38/41), and Stickless Kabobs (418/10/42/40).
In addition, the restaurant is open six days a week (closed Sundays), with a rotating menu of made-to-order items, which also have the nutritional information listed. And if you don’t have time for any of this, there’s a frozen meal section with a variety of staple meals. Everything to-go at Clean Eatz comes in plastic, microwave-safe containers.
The West Ashley location was started by mother and son Barbara and Todd Mason, who had been looking at opening a health food store prior to meeting the founders of Clean Eatz. When they found the location in West Ashley, they immediately began renovating the space formerly occupied by Little Italy Italian restaurant and Lenny’s Subs before that. They hired on Richy Kline as general manager and Kline’s wife Taylor Dallmann as executive chef. All of these people had crossed paths at various gyms and workout facilities.
Kline says business has been better than they had planned. “We have been well-received in West Ashley,” Kline says.  “We’ve done a lot more business in a short amount of time than we expected, averaging 1,500 to 2,000 meals per week.”
Kline attributed this to their health-conscious menu. “There’s a lot of great food around Charleston, but it’s not always especially healthy. That’s what we do,” he says.
Clean Eatz is located at 1662 Savannah Hwy. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and closed Sundays. Meals ordered through cleaneatz.net must be ordered by Sunday at midnight. Reach Barbara, Todd, Richy and the gang by phone at 277-2906, or email Mason@CleanEatz.net.