Spring To Do: Clean Eating

Just as we clean our homes and gardens for the spring, its also a great time to clean up our eating habits. It’s out with the old and in with the new as we freshen up our diets with these tips to improve your nutrition and practice clean eating.

Hydrate Your Body

Drinking water in the winter is not as appealing as grabbing a Grande vanilla latte from Starbucks, so our fluid intakes tend to be lower in the colder months. With the warm weather coming it’s a great time to get re-hydrated. Aim for six to eight glasses of fluid each day – water is best but coffee, tea and milk can also count. Try to keep caffeinated beverages to no more that 2-3 cups per day as caffeine can dehydrate you. To make your water more interesting, try adding lemon, lime or infusing with cucumber or melon.

Eat a Colourful Diet

Fruit and vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, essential minerals, fibre and lots of antioxidants. Choose fresh or frozen varieties to increase your daily intake. Eating a full spectrum of colour can ensure that you meet your dietary recommendations. Add fruit to salads, smoothies or just carry as a snack. Try grilling vegetables on the BBQ – coloured peppers, zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms provide lots of nutrition and are delicious.

Give Your Pantry A Makeover

Open your pantry doors – what’s the first item of food you see? Hide treats in sealed boxes on the top shelf and put healthy snacks at eye-level. Clean eating means minimizing processed foods full of sugars and unpronounceable ingredients  If you still have chocolates and candies in boxes from Christmas, it’s time to throw them away!

Create a Meal Plan

Half the difficulty of eating healthily is trying to decide what to eat! Save yourself time in the long run and create a weekly meal plan. List dinner ideas for Monday to Sunday, then buy the ingredients in your weekly shop. Recycle your favourite ideas from week to week .

Stock up On Healthy Snacks

Sit down and create a list of 10 healthy snacks. During your day you should eat a snack between meals.  Snacking between meals helps to boost your metabolism and is a great habit to acquire if you have weight loss goals. You will go into your mealtimes less hungry and more inclined to control portions. Great examples are fresh fruits, vegetables with hummus, nuts, seeds, high fibre crackers, yogurt and low-fat cheeses.

Downsize Your Meals

Portion sizes can be terribly misleading – downsize your plates at home by using smaller plates, bowls and utensils  Using smaller plates, glasses and utensils will encourage you to eat less. When you fill your plate aim to fill half with vegetables. This leaves less room, and therefore smaller portions of protein and starch.