Fall 5 Day Detox – Day 3 – Simple Steps to Eat Clean

Fall 5 Day Detox

6 Simple Steps for Clean Eating

 

As you complete your detox, you will have released various toxins from your body and you should be experiencing some positive results. More energy, better sleep and possibly a little weight loss. All this from eating healthy whole real food.

Are you ready to continue feeling this great?

Taking the initiative to eat healthier does not need to be overwhelming. All it takes is a commitment by you to say no to toxic foods and choose healthier options. A commitment that you’re going to ditch the processed foods, the sugar and start eating clean.

Sounds simple enough.

Here’s six steps to get you started to eating healthier every day…


Focus on your inner motivation

What’s your “WHY?”

There must be a motivating factor to begin to eat a cleaner diet. It may be that you’re tired of being tired, you’re sick of being sick, or you’ve decided that you’re not putting one more man-made chemical in your mouth; you’re ready to change. Or you’ve seen first-hand the damages done by not eating well through relatives or friends that have suffered as a result of their eating habits. 

Whatever it is that is motivating you to eat clean, bring it into your direct focus so you will be more successful in sticking to your clean eating plan.


Reevaluate what you’re currently eating

Have you kept a food journal?

I see this all the time; my clients will begin their eating habits discussion with “Oh, I eat healthy all the time”, and then will share what they had yesterday. As they begin to remember what they ate, they realize that their choices weren’t always healthy.

Before you begin your clean eating journey, it helps to journal about what you’re eating before beginning. This way, you can truly see what it is you’re eating and look for patterns. After the stressful end of week push at the office, you might notice you’re more prone to ordering pizza, and you can take steps to head that off at the pass rather than fall into the same pitfall time and time again.

Set realistic, measurable and specific goals

 

Goals are wonderful and inspiring, and I encourage you to set goals in every area of life. Just make sure you keep them realistic.

When people make changes to things in their lives such as a change to their eating habits, they can set themselves up for significant failures if they don’t take it step by step. That means that if you want to be successful in the long-term, you should tackle one or two new things every 1-2 weeks, so you have a better chance of sticking to it.

Clean out your pantry

 

What’s in your pantry?

If you’re like most people, you have a pantry full of unhealthy processed foods.

Make a commitment to yourself and your family that you will no longer purchase foods that harm.

Start here: Begin today to no longer buy unhealthy processed foods. Within three weeks your cabinets should be stocked with healthy foods and all the unhealthy processed foods are gone.

What to buy? A good rule of thumb is to cut out anything that contains more than five ingredients on the label, and anything unnatural should stay at the store. Be very careful and understand that the food manufacturer knows that you have decided to begin eating clean and their labels are proclaiming that their food is healthy. READ your ingredient labels – if you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it. 

Refocus your grocery shopping strategy

 

Shopping the perimeter of the grocery store will give you the healthiest choices when buying groceries. Start your shopping there and, if you must, go down the aisles. Be careful though, that’s where all the processed foods are and labels screaming that they’re healthy.

 

Master meal prep

“I don’t have time to eat clean” is the most common complaint of my clients. Here’s an idea – master meal prep on the weekend.

Prepping your meals will save you tons of time during the week. Yes, it will take a couple of hours, but once it’s done – it’s done for the week. You won’t believe how nice it is to come home, open the fridge, pull out cut up veggies, cooked wild rice or quinoa, and have a meal on the table in less than 30 minutes. Or, pull your slow cooker out, dust it off and start using it. You’ll find tons of healthy meal prep plans online that even give you shopping lists to use.

 

As you can tell, it only takes small changes over time to create a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. 

Eating clean never means not enjoying the foods that comfort you. Fall is all about “Pumpkins” and these Pumpkin Spice muffins are just right for those chilly fall nights. 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

 

Although pumpkin muffins are traditionally a fall favorite, there is no reason you can’t enjoy these delicious lightly spiced muffins all year round. This version is topped with coarse sugar for a decorative touch, but they are just as wonderful plain or with a cream cheese frosting.

 

Tip: Make sure you choose 100% pure pumpkin vs. pumpkin pie filling for this recipe because you are already adding sugar and spices to this recipe.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 1/2 c. organic raw cane sugar

1 c. extra virgin olive oil

2/3 c. water

4 free range eggs

15 oz. can organic pumpkin

3½ c. all-purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

1 t. sea salt

1½ t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

½ t. cloves

½ t. ginger

 

½ c. coarse raw cane sugar

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

Line muffin pan with 12 regular-sized cupcake liners.

 

Combine sugar, oil, water, eggs, and pumpkin in a large mixing bowl and beat on low for 1 minute. Do not over mix.

 

Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger to a small bowl and stir to combine. Add dry mixture to pumpkin batter and beat on low just until all ingredients are moist.

 

Fill cupcake liners with batter until they are ¾ full. Bake for 12-15 minutes, then remove from oven and sprinkle each muffin with coarse decorating sugar and return to oven to finish baking another 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Total cooking time should be 25-30 minutes).

 

Remove from oven and cool 5-10 minutes before moving muffins to wire baking rack to cool completely.