I love the spring! It’s colorful. It’s happy. It’s the perfect time to look at your eating habits with a fresh eye and spring clean your diet.
Here are our top 5 tips for how to spring clean your diet:
1. REPLENISH YOUR SYSTEM WITH WATER
I’m guessing that no one needs to explain the importance of drinking lots of water to you. But I’ll drive home the point, because one study says that up to 75% of Americans live in a state of chronic dehydration. Drinking plenty of water will:
– Cleanse your skin from the inside out
– Often reduce fatigue, irritability and moodiness
– Reduce food cravings (thirst is often mistaken for hunger!)
– Help maintain healthy bowel function
– Boost your metabolism
2. CLEANSE OR FAST TO RESET YOUR TASTEBUDS
If you’ve ever cleansed or fasted, you can appreciate what taking that time for your health can mean for your cravings. The sweetness of fruit and the savories of vegetables will really “pop” after a cleanse or fast. And the sweetness of desserts you used to love just might start tasting over the top sugary.
A juice cleanse or temporary plant-based diet is a great chance to introduce your palate to flavors straight from nature … and wean yourself off of more processed, tampered-with foods.
3. GIVE YOUR FRIDGE & PANTRY A DEEP CLEAN
Here are six simple steps to a refreshed pantry & fridge:
– Trash expired foods
– Trash smelly foods
– Trash foods with lots of un-pronounceable ingredients
– Store foods (especially fresh produce) in a way that preserves freshness (here’s a handy guide!)
– Take everything out & reorganize items with healthy choices featured front and center
– Make a list of the healthy staples you’ll buy on your next grocery visit (and keep the list!)
And when you’re off to the grocery store to re-stock, challenge yourself to stick to the outer edges of the store, avoiding all the processed craziness in the center aisles. “Sticking to the edges” makes it easy to choose foods that are in their natural, most nutritious state.
4. FALL IN LOVE WITH NEW SUPERFOODS
Think of Pinterest as Match.com for new healthy foods! Then get browsing through the millions of mouth-watering photos and healthy meal recipes. Save the ones you’re particularly … attracted to … and vow to cook through the new healthy recipes you’ve saved before you go back to making any of your usual go-to meals.
Great search terms to get you started are: “healthy [INSERT MEAL] ideas” and “superfood recipe”
5. COOK WITH A (HEALTH) FOODIE FRIEND
Cooking with a friend is one of my favorite ways to refresh my diet. It’s free, it’s quality relationship time and what better way of testing out new healthy, delicious meals? I can’t tell you how many times a friend’s introduced me to an incredible new homemade salad dressing, a savory Thai vegetable soup or the perfect technique for oven-baked sweet potato fries!
Got a friend in mind? Text them a dinner (and cooking!) invite right now.
Got more tips for how to have a fresh-food-start this spring. Leave a comment and let us know! Happy spring cleaning!
