Could it just be ‘lack of time’, laziness, or how generations have learnt how to eat over the years? Most of us that will read this article have some kind of query or interest into our own well-being and our on going health journey. Here are a few basic tips we have noted to be effective for us when trying to clean up your diet from poor, processed and packaged foods to clean, nutritious and possibly organic food choices.

1.  Familiarise Yourself With Real Food  & Where It Comes From

What you need to consider is this; ‘The closest you can get to the earth the better’. You would need to start in the fruit and vegetable isle at the shopping centre. Plan you meals firstly and load up on green vegetables, nuts and seeds and legumes (which are beans of different variation). Minimise the processed carb options  like breads, pastas choose complex fibrous carbs like oats, quinoa, sweet potato, millet and fruit.

2. Minimise Your Sugar Intake

In case you haven’t noticed, sugar is in everything. It’s in almost every processed food out there, even some that are gluten-free, organic, non-GMO, etc. The best way to transition to a whole foods diet is to eliminate the sugar from your life. Why? Sugar makes your body crave sweets around the clock. It also messes with your insulin levels, which can make you stressed, tired, and leave you to choose unhealthy foods you wouldn’t normally choose. Fill your body with nutrients instead of sugar and learn to read labels like a hawk at the store so you know how to avoid it. Here is an awesome app that helps you understand how much sugar is in what you are eating > APP for iphone

3. Be Aware and Set Goals

If you work a busy job and feel overwhelmed, then make a whole foods diet work for you and your schedule. For instance, if you don’t have time to chop veggies through the week and weekend, try buying pre-cut frozen veggies. If you know you’re not going to make your own veggie burgers etc, learn which burgers are the best to buy from the store.  The point is to make the lifestyle work for you.  Set some food and fitness goals to help you achieve a healthier life style and tick them off once you get there.

4. Try Organic

Have you ever heard of the Dirty Dozen? It’s the 12 kinds of produce that you absolutely should buy organic because they are most heavily sprayed with pesticides.  Pesticides contribute to toxicity in the body, which means that we are more likely to suffer from allergies, a weakened immune system, and digestive problems, among other things. Many fruits and vegetables that have thin skins or have skins that you eat are toxic when bought conventional.

As a general rule of thumb, you want to make sure that anything you buy that has a thin skin known as  the Dirty Dozen is bought organic, as this will limit the amount of environmental toxins entering your body that wreak havoc on your health. The Clean Fifteen can be bought from regular groceries.

DIRTY DOZEN: 

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Grapes (Imported)
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes

CLEAN FIFTEEN:

Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Cabbage
Sweet peas (frozen)
Onions
Asparagus
Mangoes
Papayas
Kiwi
Eggplant
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe (domestic)
Cauliflower
Sweet potatoes

 

Thank you:

https://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214

https://refineryfitnesspdx.com/where-to-spend-and-save-on-organic-food-scores-app/

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/tips-for-cleaning-up-your-processed-food-diet/