I realize I have been absent from the blog for a while, and probably will be again after this post, but we have been busy around here. Hopefully, soon, I will have a series of posts for you that are not nutritionally based, but for now you will just have to endure yet ANOTHER post on nutrition. This one is not so bad, but rather talks about how to eat a clean diet (or a cleaner diet).
What is a clean diet? A diet of foods that are easy for your body to digest and process, to gain nutritional value from, and that won't fill you up with 'fake' fillers and toxins. Actually, this diet will help your body to eliminate the natural toxins you come in contact with on a daily basis. Basically, a diet that will help you look and feel great! I am sure this looks different for everyone, so don't do what we do, but instead do what you feel convicted to do; or do what makes you excited about your own body and future lifestyle.
One big mistake people make is to try and change everything all at once. The task then becomes daunting and overwhelming, thus ending in failure after only a few short months, or days, or the next time you go grocery shopping. My suggestion is to take ONE task at a time and attack it. Then once that is a part of your lifestyle without you even having to think about it can you move on to the 'next task'.
Once you have changed several items in your diet (or lifestyle) you will find that the other changes come naturally and easily. For example, if someone had told me to go gluten-free a year ago it would have seemed insurmountable, but now that our family diet has taken on a new direction over the past year we actually eat very few items with gluten (that's without trying) so now, going gluten free would be relatively easy!
What to Avoid:
There are a few things that we avoid like the plague. Why? Well, because they could cause the plague! Seriously! Maybe not today, but down the road somewhere. If you are trying to change your eating lifestyle start with eliminating one of these. Once you have mastered that add another and another until you no longer have these items in your diet.
- Artificial food color (if you have not read my previous posts about this go back and read them here) - in almost all fast food, and in almost all items at Sonic :(
- MSG - hidden in sauces, rubs, dressings, meats, and fast foods like Chick-fil-A
- High Fructose Corn Syrup - hidden is all types of things like bread.
- Hydrogenated Oils of any kind
- GMO products of any kind that are not Organic or Non-GMO Verified - corn, soy, canola, cotton and now salmon (Purchase wild caught salmon only)
- Non-Organic Dairy products
- Overly processed foods - OK, yes, we do still have packaged and processed foods in our home, but we minimize those. We basically stay away from all cereals and most chips. We do keep some heavily processed items on occasion (like granola bars or lentil chips), but we make sure the are all natural and/or organic.
- Sodas and store bought juice. Store bought juices are not particularly harmful per-se', but they are basically just sugar water considering all the natural photo-nutrients have been lost by the time the drink reaches your grocery cart. If you do purchase juice make sure it is organic. We choose to juice our own juices at home with a juicer and use very minimal fruit for that leaning heavily on the vegetable.
- Lots of water! Half your body weight in ounces every day. If you weigh 100 lbs then you would consume 50 oz of water daily.
- Fresh juiced veggies or green smoothies. Lots of Kale :)
- Lots of Fresh, raw, organic fruits and veggies. Yup, as much as you want. Why organic? Because non-organic has been doused with herbicides, pesticides and possibly artificial food colors. Here is a great co-op in the Houston area with a lot of resources.
- Whole wheat grains, brown rice, quinoa, gluten free products. (if you choose to consume grains)
- Organic dairy (if you choose to consume dairy)
- Lentils/beans
- Fresh, natural, organic meats
- Wild caught fish
- Clean oils, ghee, butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil
- Double check for organic and non-GMO verified products.
Make homemade snacks, dips, and meals. This is relatively easy and has a tremendous nutritional and cost savings.
- Granola - get rolled oats in bulk and make your own granola and granola bars. Bake with a little honey, spices and 'extras' to customize. Yummm!
- Fresh cut fruits and veggies
- Hummus
- Dressings
- Pop popcorn the old fashioned way...on the stove top. This is not only cheaper, but healthier. (The bagged stuff has hidden ingredients like BPA and MSG. You can get organic popping corn that in Non-GMO verified and use coconut oil for popping). Plus you can add your own spices for flavor variety.
- Juice your own juice and drink fresh! Use veggies MORE than fruit!
- Eat a TON of fruit. As much as you want. Experiment with fruits you would normally pass by in the grocery store. Shop at local farmers markets, co-ops and grow some of your own!
- Use extra virgin and organic coconut oil and olive oil.
- Check out 100 Days of Real Food, Rawfully Organic, Food Babe and Juicing Vegetables for more tips and information.
This one is a little more complicated, but there are various types of cleanses a person can do for health. One of the cleanses or fasts that I like is a short 3-5 day juice fast (with approval from your health care provider if you have health issues). Or some people prefer a raw food and water fast where they eat only raw fruits and veggies for a specific amount of time. Juicing Vegetables/Fit life TV has great tips.
- Juice fast
- Juice cleanse/detox
- Raw food Fast
- Liquid only fast
- No meat fast
- No bread fast
- No dairy fast
Well, I hope this information helped you out. It has helped our family and we do all of these now (except for being gluten free, but we will be trying that soon also!)
Thanks for this! Already we are loving our Rawfully Organic!
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