My 21 Day Clean Up Begins!
On a day-to-day basis I don’t do a bad job in terms of good nutrition. But occasionally, I feel bogged down and know that I need to tighten up the nutritional reigns a bit.
How do I know I need to tighten up? Since the holidays I’ve had increased reactions to my indoor allergies, itchy bumps on my face and more frequent sinus headaches and tired eyes. These are the symptoms my body gives me to let me know it needs some TLC. For my partner, Cori who will be joining me, it will help her with symptoms of fatigue, extreme sugar cravings and belly weight that often accompany her Hashimoto's hypothyroid.
As a Nutritionist & Holistic Health Coach I totally understand the obstacles my clients are up against. A successful plan or change has to meet you where you are, not impose sweeping changes that add more stress to an already stressed life. For example, I won’t give up my morning coffee, but I will give up the sweet vanilla almond creamer for unsweetened almond milk. Yuck, but a doable compromise to get rid of the sugar.
We both work full time, in fact beyond full time, and a full on elimination diet or detox just wont work in our lives right now. Cori works full time and is taking classes for her Masters, so stressful schedule + strict detox = disaster! So as a compromise, and truly being honest about where we are and what we can successfully do at this point, we decided to do a clean up. I want to invite you on our journey so you can see what it looks like! Maybe you will decide to try it too.
Here is the plan:
NO gluten - NO high carb “gluten free” breads, snacks and packaged products that have slipped more into our lives recently. Even if I get those snacky carbs in the “health food” isle, I don’t need organic tortilla chips, peanuts, rice crackers and popcorn every day!
NO dairy - this includes milk, cheese and yogurt and switching from whey protein powder to a plant based powder for now.
NO sugar - NO sweets, chocolate, desserts etc., even “healthy” cookies and treats that have also slipped into our lives more regularly. The only exception may be a touch of coconut sugar, raw honey or pure maple syrup occasionally. (more on that later)
Daily meditation.
More regular exercise especially strength training. We just ordered a Bosu Ball from Amazon I’m psyched about!
Our staple foods for the first week:
Plant protein smoothie w/almond milk, frozen banana, berries, ground flax and spinach
Unsweetened coconut yogurt with fruit and homemade GF granola (only sweetened with maple syrup)
Mixed green salads with lots of good stuff on top like purple cabbage, green olives, roasted red peppers, daikon radish, cherry tomatoes and sunflower seeds
Homemade roasted beet hummus with veggies for snacking
Meals that are at least 50% plant based with a small portion of fish (2x week) or chicken, and whole grains like brown rice or quinoa or a starchy veggie like a sweet potato
White bean, kale, spinach and organic chicken sausage soup for Sunday dinner and lunch on Monday. So good!
Nuts for snacking
Fruit, but not too much
Our treat: GF mini blueberry muffins made from almond flour and sweetened with coconut sugar and a touch of honey. This is a high protein treat that combats sugar cravings in the afternoon
See, its very doable – just eat REAL food! We will each need to adjust a little for our own physiologies. I will need a little more carbohydrate than Cori. I tend to lose too much weight when I go lower carb (I know poor me. The point is to know YOUR body). Cori will need to be stricter with her carbohydrates and sugars to lose belly weight since she has the added challenge of a hypothyroid.
Stay tuned. I will post how we are doing and share recipes and insights as we go along.