How to Clean Up Your Lifestyle: Food Edition

Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well. I just wanted to take some time to let you guys know that starting this week, I am going to start a new series on this blog called How To Clean Up Your Lifestyle, and each week I will talk about how I have “cleaned up” a different aspect of my life. This week’s topic is all about food and nutrition. If you are looking for any meal inspo or motivation to reach your health goals, feel free to check out my Instagram, @the.dairyfree.diaries. All of the recipes and meals mentioned in this post are also on my Instagram, along with their recipes if you guys want to make them yourselves!

The topic of nutrition is extremely important to talk about because this is often an overlooked priority in our lives. It was definitely an overlooked priority in mine, as well with others. Good nutrition is so vital in so many aspects of our lives. The saying “you are what you eat” cannot be truer. What you eat impacts your energy levels, the way you look, your skin complexion, your ability to focus, and so much more.

With that being said, healthy eating can often be an overwhelming topic, which is why I am here to share my journey with you all, because I have come a long way. My previous experience with nutrition was very limited and it resulted in a very poor choice in foods that I was consuming. And it truly emptied into other aspects of my life. My energy levels were extremely low, which led to a dependency of caffeine, I was dealing with very oily skin that constantly had breakouts, and I just did not feel good. I go more so into this in my previous blog post about my journey with food sensitivities and gut health, so feel free to check that out. But I just felt uncomfortable in my own body.

And that feeling is what pushed me to make changes, one of which being eating healthy. This did not occur overnight. To get to where I am today, I had to consistently put in my time and effort over a long period of time. In fact, this is something that I am still improving on today.

There is always room for improvement, no matter where you are in your health journey. And this is an important reminder because I believe that health is determined by intentionally making changes to our lifestyle that will allow us to become the best versions of ourselves. And one of these aspects is with nutrition.

As of right now, I have been able to cultivate a way of eating that is sustainable, nutrient dense, and makes me feel amazing. And there has been a lot that I have learned while getting to this point in my life, which I am sharing with you all today. The first of which being the key to creating a sustainable lifestyle with food.

Lifestyle Changes Over Fad Diets

I think it is important to reiterate that health is not a quick fix situation. It is not something that can be attained in 2 weeks, like some companies or people advertise. And that is why I do not recommend or believe in trendy diets or ways of eating. I believe that everyone is different and each of our bodies have different needs. There is no “one fits all” diet that will make you healthy or attain a certain health goal.

Health is creating a lifestyle that is sustainable and allows you to continually make changes to improve yourself. It is about making changes that will be long lasting and give you the results you want. Health is a continual journey and must be treated as something that will last for the rest of your life.

I also think that these trendy diets such as ketogenic, paleo, whole30, Atkins, etc. are very harmful when it comes to creating a healthy relationship with food. A lot of these diets propose a specific way of eating that is restricted to certain food groups. And by restricting these food groups, it tricks our minds into labeling them as “bad” or “unhealthy” when that is far from the truth.

The 80/20 Rule

All food is fuel. There are certain types of food that are better fuel options than others, but that does not mean that we still cannot have them. And this moves us into my motto when it comes healthy eating. I have seen such amazing results in my journey using the 80/20 Rule when it comes to the way I eat.

By using the 80/20 rule, you are committing to sticking to your health goals 80% of the time, while also treating yourself and listening to your cravings 20% of the time. I have applied this rule to my lifestyle and have seen the results that I have always wanted. I think this rule is so important because it creates a good balance between healthy eating and enjoying yourself.

And by having this balance, I have found this way of eating to be extremely sustainable, as well as customizable. There is no restriction of certain food groups, but instead enforces that everything is good in moderation. And in my experience, I have found that by listening to my cravings 20% of the time, I am less likely to have days where I completely fall off track of my goals.

By giving myself the grace to have dessert or eat a meal that is not super nutritious 20% of the time, I am actively honoring my cravings and the hunger cues my body is giving me. And when I started to truly listen to my body, I became extremely aware of my body and how truly complex it is. And creating an appreciation for the body you has so much power and results in a greater level of self-confidence.

I truly believe that listening to your cravings 20% of the time truly prepares you to be able to stick to your health goals 80% of the time. In my case, I decided to clean up my way of eating because I just wanted to feel comfortable in my body and eat food that made me feel good. Whatever your place in life, I believe that it is so important to fuel your body with whole, nutrient dense foods.

There are a couple more rules that I have applied along my journey to get where I am today, but before I share those, I want to describe the way I eat currently. For breakfast I will usually have some sort of oatmeal or toast (avocado or nut butter), with the occasional banana pancakes (or in the fall, TJ’s pumpkin pancakes are delicious!).

My lunches usually include a large serving of veggies, with a protein (tofu, edamame, or chicken) and if I am still hungry, I will have some fruit. Snacks vary day to day for me; some days I am hungry for a snack or two and other days I am not. When I am feeling like a snack, I will usually pair fruit with a healthy fat, such as nut butters or cashews. I also do love a good dairy free yogurt with fruit and granola.

These are just some examples, but if you are looking for something for comprehensive, check out my Instagram where I post daily about new recipes, meals, and grocery staples. I encourage you guys to look at my account for ideas, but make sure to customize it based on your specific tastes.

I have been able to cultivate a diet that is rich in very enriched and fueling foods, but I do want to point out that the lifestyle that I have created with food has been something I have worked toward for about a year and something that I continue to work at. There have been some important rules that I have implemented to allow me to achieve my health goals in a much more enjoyable and sustainable way.

I cannot stress the importance of refraining from restricting certain foods if possible. I completely understand cutting out a certain food group for a medical reason, such as a food allergy or sensitivity. But in any other case, I think it is so important to listen to our bodies. And most people are probably wondering how can you clean up your diet without restricting unhealthy foods?

Additions, Not Restrictions

You can do so by focusing on adding very nutrient dense, whole foods into your lifestyle. I just want to quickly go over what foods are considered whole and nutrient dense. You can look at my list of grocery staples above for some ideas, but the major categories are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and protein sources such as chicken, fish, or tofu.

These foods are the ones that will fuel you to your maximum capacity while ensuring that your body is receiving the vitamins and minerals it needs to thrive. And I have had such great success in using this rule, especially in a gradual manner. I think it is important to take things one step at a time. Focus on slowly adding nutritious foods into your lifestyle one at a time, if needed.

The whole point is to do whatever you can to create a lifestyle that is sustainable. For a lot of people, completely changing the way they eat all at once can be overwhelming and result in quitting after a couple of days. And this is why I do not believe that fad diets can have sustainable results. Because they are changing to many things in such a small time.

By taking the specific time you need to make each change, you are setting yourself up for success. Focusing on additions to your lifestyle in a gradual manner is one way to ensure your success. If you are just starting off on your journey, this could look like committing to eating one serving of vegetables each day or if your pretty far along this could look like committing to eating a serving of fruit/veggies with every meal.

And I have experienced that by focusing on additions rather than restrictions, I have been able to experiment with so many nutrient dense foods and have been able to find which ones I prefer. And this moves us into my next piece of advice when it comes to cleaning up your way of eating. A great way to add some fueling and nutritious foods is to come up with recipes yourself that utilize these types of foods.

Create Your Own Recipes

There is so much information online in regard to healthy recipes, which can be an amazing resource. But for people like me, I just found myself feeling extremely overwhelmed by all the different things out there. And especially dealing with food sensitivities, it is extremely hard to find recipes that are gluten and dairy free or figure out ways to customize recipes that are not free of the foods I was sensitive to.

So, I made the decision to use those resources as a foundation or framework to come up with my recipes myself. And this is something that I truly recommend anyone trying to clean up their lifestyle in terms of food because it was a game changer. I know this seems like a very challenging thing to do, but I have cultivated a very simple and efficient way of doing this.

I would start by writing down a master list of all the foods you like or would like to try that are whole and nutrient dense. If you are new to this journey, it is alright to use online resources that list out all of the nutrient dense foods and customize your list based off of that. When I was first starting out, I would do this all the time.

Once you have your list of foods, then either write down meal ideas you got from the internet and/or ones you have already tried and enjoy. With the meal ideas you found online, go through the ingredient list, and make note of general categories that it has.

For example, if you are looking at a recipe for a fruit smoothie you might see that it is made using frozen fruit, juice, and yogurt. Then you would take these categories and ask yourself if there is anything on your list of whole foods that could replace these ingredients. The frozen fruit can stay because it is on your list of whole foods, you could replace the juice with a plant-based milk and use Greek yogurt (very nutrient dense and packed with protein and probiotics). You can also see if there is anything on your list you would like to add. Maybe some chia/hemp seeds or nut butter for some healthy fats, or whatever you prefer. And there you have your customized recipe for a nutrient dense fruit smoothie.

This way of coming up with your own recipes can be applied to any existing recipe out there. But say you have a recipe that is not nutrient dense but is one you have made before and loved. Say you had a recipe for pasta and meatballs, and it called for spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce, and ground beef for the meatballs. You could make adjustments such as making sure to use a whole grain pasta, make a homemade, clean, and nutrient dense sauce or buy one (my favorite is the Rao’s pasta sauce), and using ground turkey instead of ground beef. You could also add some finely chopping veggies into the turkey meatballs for some extra nutrients.

This process may seem like it take a lot of time, but once you become more comfortable cooking with these whole, nutrient dense foods the creation or adjustments of recipes will become much easier. I can admit that at first it did take me some time to figure out what worked well as a substitute and what didn’t, but once I was able to get a better handle on the foods I was working with, I was more confident in the kitchen.

Consistency and Giving Yourself Grace

To bring it all back, I truly do believe that by making lifestyle changes, utilizing the 80/20 rule, and focusing on adding nutrient dense foods rather than restricting you can create a lifestyle with food that allows you to become the healthiest version of yourself. But I do want to take some time to talk about consistency and giving yourself grace.

Consistency is so extremely important to achieving your health goals. I hope that these tips I have shared will help anyone trying to clean up their way of eating so that staying consistent will be easier. Consistency is about keeping the promises you make to yourself, but it is also important to make promises that you are confident that you can keep.

When you are able to be consistent with your commitments, you will be able to see the results that you desire. But I think it is so important to not give yourself a hard time for those time when you are not so consistent. It is important to give yourself grace if you have a bad day of eating. One bad day is not going to completely wreck your journey. On my journey, I had days where I did not eat as many nutritious foods as I probably should have. But that is okay. Nobody is perfect and neither will your health journey.

I truly believe that having a bad day of eating every once in a while, is not merely as important as how you respond to it. Instead of getting yourself down over what you ate that day, focus your energy and effort into something that is constructive and productive to your goals. Focus on how you are going to eat better the next day.

I have experienced times where I felt so bad about myself because I had days where I did not follow the 80/20 rule and more so ate 50/50. But what I have learned is to use that bad day of eating to motivate me to do better the next day. The best piece of advice I have for you all is that the only person you should be comparing yourself to is the person you were yesterday.

Our bad days do not define us. What defines us is how we respond to those bad days. Give yourself the grace to be imperfect and focus on how you are going to be more consistent in the following days.

I hope you guys enjoyed my advice and shared experiences with adopting a whole, nutrient dense way of eating. I just wanted to let you all know that all of the meals/recipes mentioned are posted on my Instagram, @the.dairyfree.diaries. If you have any other questions about how I cleaned up my way of eating, food sensitivities, or overall health, feel free to message me with the form below or feel free to DM me on Instagram. See you guys next week!