Getting Started Clean Eating Tips

Who here has wanted to start eating clean, but you have no idea how to get started? I have some tips below to help you get started that have personally worked for me!

1. Cut out altogether any sugary drinks like soda, sweet teas, energy drinks, or even adding sugar to your coffee. Instead, what I do is drink plenty of water throughout the day (64oz), I also do my natural Arbonne Fizz drink once or twice a day, and my 1 cup of coffee a day. I have started using almond milk instead. If you are finding that you are getting a headache after cutting out the sugar, then slowly decrease the amount of your sugary drinks over the next few days or week.
2. Making the right food choices makes a big difference too! Try switching to leaner meats, like chicken breasts, ground turkey meat, organic ground beef, or sirloin. Incorporate lots of colorful veggies into your meals like carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, colorful squash’s, tomatoes, or eggplant. There are so many yummy colorful veggies out there, that you can try adding something new to each meal and see what you like best. Fruits are also a great add to any meal or snack! Try to stick with fruits on the lower end scale of the glycemic index like green apples, and all sorts of colorful berries, kiwi, grapefruit, pears, nectarines, or even cantaloupe! Switch your carbs to whole grains, like whole wheat breads that are low in sugar, brown rice, barley, or oatmeal for your breakfast. I also like to follow myplate.gov to insure I am coupling my meals correctly and they also have some delicious healthy recipes!
3. Snacking is probably one of the hardest things to change. People can over snack for a lot of different reasons besides actually being hungry. Some of those triggers to identify within yourself, may be snacking from boredom, anxiety or depression, eating disorders, or even from lack of knowledge of what’s actually healthy. Over the years I have cut out the overly processed foods like chips & sodas, and replaced them with higher fiber foods like apples, avocados, pears, berries, or any vegetable to help keep me fuller longer.
4. How you cook your foods or what you put on your foods, can make a big difference as well. Cut out deep frying your foods all together or cooking them in any rich creamy sauces. Instead cook your meats plain, with just seasonings on them, in the oven or the grill. Also steam or grill your veggies until they are just crisp and not overcooked & soggy. Raw veggies are the best though, especially in a big colorful salad! Just go easy on the dressing of your choice.
5. Take what I’ve given you in 1-4 and look up some healthy meals to cook. Remember to incorporate a variety of colorful fruits & veggies too! A good example for breakfast is a bowl of plain oatmeal with some berries added to it along with some more berries added to some cottage cheese. A healthy lunch could be a sandwich with whole wheat bread, chicken breast or shredded chicken, with romaine lettuce, avocado, tomato, cucumber, & sprouts, with a piece of fruit on the side. Dinner could be a grilled sirloin steak, with a side salad (don’t forget lots of colorful veggies in your salad), and a sweet potato. A great snack could be an apple, some carrot sticks dipped into hummus, or even some celery with peanut butter or almond butter on top.
6. Now once you’ve looked up some recipes to try or made up some of your own, make a grocery list of everything you will need and go shopping! Some other tips on shopping is don’t go when you are hungry, stick with exactly what is on your list, and never go shopping without your list!
7. One other thing I do is plan all my meals out for the week! Even my snacks. I have found this really helps, especially when you may be feeling overwhelmed on what to make healthy. You have it right there and you’re not scrambling to come up with something on the fly.
8. The last thing you should do is clean out your fridge & pantry! Throw away all those processed salty or surgery foods. If you have to keep some for other family members, then keep them on the bottom shelf or way top out of site. Keep all your healthy foods at eye level, including your fruits & veggies, meats, & waters. I use bins in my fridge to keep these on 2 different shelfs where I can see them and grab them easily.

These are some things I found that work and help me stay on track with my clean eating. The best advice I can give is to just stay consistent with your meal planning each week and allow yourself enough time to do this. Do what works for you. I find what works for me is to plan all my meals on Saturday morning for the week and do my shopping on Sunday morning or Saturday evening. Give it a try. I can also help if you’re struggling, just reach out. I also offer and coach a 30-day clean-living challenge twice a month using my Arbonne nutrition line. Ask me how, I’d love to sit down and talk with you about how to get started!