Eating healthy doesn’t have to be complicated. For many though it can be challenging just to get started. If you want to change your diet but don’t know exactly how to go about it, here are a few insightful tips to help you get started.
1. Check your pantry
Be careful of the foods that may contain hidden fats and preservatives. Ready-made, microwave products, excessive sweets, and beverages with too much-added sugar such as lemonades should go.
Then, slowly start to replace the highly refined and processed junk food with more simple, whole foods, and more vibrant, colorful plant-based staples
2. Cook fresh
Even if the kitchen hasn’t been your favorite place to work, give yourself a boost because it’s worth it in the end.
Your entire life will transform when you start eating cleaner and more healthy.
If you’re really serious about changing your diet then you should consider cooking for yourself and your family as often as possible, this way you can keep track of what’s really going onto your plate.
Plus, you get to know the foods and their different flavors better.
And you can keep track of the portions and the selection of your ingredients (including the quality of the oils) It’s also fun to cook for yourself, to be creative, and experiment with new foods and unique taste combinations.
3. Make the right food choices
Eating clean means avoiding industrially produced foods and putting as much fruit and vegetables and other whole foods as possible on the daily menu.
Ideally, your meals should consist of a mix of fruit and vegetables, whole grains (I prefer quinoa, oats, rice and other gluten free grains) and, healthy oils and fats including olive oil, cocount oil and real butter.
Sprinkle in a few superfoods and medicinal mushrooms also.
Seasonal and regional ingredients should be at the top of your shopping list. Why? Because these foods are richer in vitamins and vital substances due to their shorter transport and storage routes and the shorter time frame from getting picked to landing on your plate.
You should also try and seek out as many Organic and Biodynamically grown foods as possible because they contain fewer chemicals and pesticides if any.
At the same time, you are helping to support local farmers.
4. Pay attention to the ingredients
Boxed microwave meals are full of unhealthy additives like hidden fats, sugar, and preservatives.
A good rule of thumb for looking at the ingredients list is to “stay away from what you don’t know or can’t pronounce!”. If your grandparents couldn’t pronounce it or understand it then turn around and run for your life.
In other words, additives and information on the food lable that don’t tell you anything on the packaging (such as emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, antioxidants) should be left on the shelf, or better yet, try not to eat any packaged foods at all, seek out as much fresh food thats grown directly from the earth.
Early on in your clean eating transformation, it’s important to read the ingredients and nutritional tables as often as you can “It’s become second nature to me”.
Over time, you will get a feel for which products should be avoided because of the mysterious content on the label.
5. Sweeten with natural sweeteners
It’s important to reduce sugar consumption as much as possible. As a first step, I recommend replacing conventional table sugar with natural sweeteners. I mainly honey, maples syrup, date sugar, shag bark syrups, bananas, coconut blossom sugar.
Keep in mind it’s important to use these sweeteners as sparingly as possible because they also contain sugar to. If you often crave sweets, then try fruit first. The fructose it contains is enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Or better yet, practice mindful meditation while eating to help you explore the more subtle and natural sweetness in all foods, and truly appreciate their simple flavors and tastes.
6. Plan your meals
A healthy diet doesn’t have to be expensive or that difficult to integrate into everyday life.
Especially when modifying your diet, it’s important to keep your meals as simple and uncomplicated as possible, because nobody has the time or inclination to stand in the kitchen for long and prepare complex gourmet meals.
On buys days, try to pre-cook the meals or to prepare twice as much so that you can have leftovers for the next day.
It also helps to plan your meals out for the week.
This helps you to better control your eating habits and to plan meals a little in advance. Set shopping days are useful in order to be able to plan better and to resist the permanent temptation in the supermarket.
Every time you walk into the supermarket you are bombarded with thousands of choices.
7. Harness the power of herbs and spices
Spices and herbs should be an integral part of your kitchen. They give your dishes a special kind of touch – it’s all about the sauces, right?
Herbs and spices are also said to have an additional healing effect, which speaks for their daily use in two ways.
Basil and mint, for example, are said to have a detoxifying effect. Ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon stimulate the metabolism and thus support fat burning. Wild herbs such as nettle, wild garlic, and chamomile are also incredibly healthy and natural helpers to refine your many recipes.
8. Drink enough water
From now on, make sure to drink several glasses of water regularly and throughout the day.
In general, the body can absorb roughly one pint of water per hour.
If we drink too little, there is a risk of an insufficient supply to the vital organs and cells, and they cannot be supplied with sufficient nutrients or lifeforce energy.
Many times, people mistake being thirst for hunger.
The good news is the more fluids that you drink the more full and satiated you will feel.
So make sure you are drinking enough fluids and, in the best-case scenario, opt for mineral water or kombucha, or lemon water, this helps to get enough throughout the day. Just nurse your fluids all day long.
9. Stay active
Exercise is also an important factor on the way to a more healthier life. If you want to live healthier, happier and more holistically, it paramount to include enough movement and exercise in everyday life in addition to a healthy diet.
This keeps the body and mind fit and promotes the metabolic processes in our body. In the best case, a simple yoga routine should be firmly anchored in your daily rhythm and routine.
However, being physically active doesn’t always mean having to some huge exercise program. In order to lead a “natural and healthy life”, we do not have to force ourselves to do extensive, exhaustive workouts.
Have fun with your movement, go for a swim!
With a little effort, you can bring more activity into your everyday life and achieve positive effects for your health, that spill over into the rest of your life.
Try taking long walks or bicycling instead of driving.
10. Stay relaxed
With all the love for healthy food … A healthy diet should be fun and not lead to a compulsion, addiction or even stress, it is important to stay relaxed and calm, otherwise the risk of giving up increases.
I used to have a mild form of Orthorexia Nervosa, which is an eating disorder characterized by an excessive preoccupation with eating only healthy food but in an extreme kinda, I would only allow the purest of foods to grace my lips, this was the dark side of trying to eat more healthy.
Be aware that there will be days when things don’t go according to plan. That is part of it and is perfectly normal.
It’s important to be mindful anytime you embark on a significant lifestyle change, like eating more clean and healthy, try not to evaluate it too much. “Don’t stress yourself out, just stay calm!”, it’s just food right?