5 Things to Do Today to Eat Clean

Eating clean can seem daunting. There’s sooooooooooooo much info out there and it can seem like there’s a feeling of “I’m better than you” because of the kind of meat or milk one consumes. But the reality is, by cutting out ultra processed foods and focusing on whole foods, even if they aren’t the “top of the line”, your health is nearly guaranteed to improve. What’s also important to keep in mind is how this impacts your budget. What you eat is vital to your health, and while healthy foods can be more expensive, it doesn’t have to be out of reach. ANY budget can make healthy foods work if the healthy foods are truly a priority in life. We all have to make sacrifices for the things we want. Sometimes that means letting go of streaming subscriptions to have beef more often. Sometimes that means skipping the snack foods (yes, even the “healthy” ones, which are often waaaay more expensive anyways) in order to afford the foods that provide better nutrition and satiation. Sure, this can be hard, it can feel counter cultural, and when it comes to emotional coping, oof, it really makes prioritizing our health and making sacrifices difficult. The good part about the following list is that it’s actions you can take today to start eating clean. You might have to go shopping if you don’t have ingredients at home, but other than that, there’s no reason to put it off. Begin today!

Keep in mind as you read the list below that you’ll need to make it your own. Personalize it to fit your healing and wellness needs.

1. Change your cooking fat sources. Eliminate seed oils. Use healthy saturated fats such as butter, olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, tallow, or lard. While there is some debate here, seed oils are thought to increase inflammation due to their high omega-6 content. Cutting these out will likely make you feel better overall and you may see improvements in your skin. The wild part about seed oils is, they say that it can take around 2 years to get them completely out of your system!

2. Cook at home. This way you know every single ingredient that goes into your food and what you consume. While cooking at home helps with clean eating, it also helps the budget! If you’re eating simple, whole foods, it is less expensive than eating out all the time. So, it’s a win-win. You know your food is good for you and you stay within your healthy budget goals too.

3. Make your coffee at home. This is another area that will help save you money, but it also helps you know what is going into your wonderful drink. From the amount of sugar, the type of sugar, the kind of milk, to even the type of beans you consume, making your own coffee at home is best for clean eating. Sugar and additives in coffee are what are generally considered the worst parts of the beverage for our health (some people will include mold to this list), so controlling exactly what goes into your drink is good for your health!

4. Pack your own lunch. This goes hand in hand with cooking at home, but it needs to be said. Granted, even if you don’t cook at home, packing your lunch from pre-made meals is also how you can make sure that every ingredient is within your health goals and boundaries. Of course, actually meal prepping from food you prepared yourself will be better for your budget and you won’t have to read a lot of ingredient lists.

5. Make a list before grocery shopping. This is to help you stay on track with your health goals and boundaries while also saving money. Try to keep snack foods that come in packages with a lot of ingredients off your list. It’s easy for negative additives to come out of nowhere even in what are considered “clean” or “healthy” snacks. Depending on your goals, you may want or need to eliminate ALL additives. Or, the company needs to be very transparent about where they source their ingredients and what their ingredients actually contain.

There you have it. Five things to do today to eat clean. You can start now! Of course, alter this list to fit your health and wellness goals. Depending on your healing journey and bio-individuality, you’ll make each of these list items your own. You got this!