Eating healthy during the holidays truly seems like an impossible challenge. Probably since the first day of Christmas you tried to be virtuous but you lost your diet halo in  wave of overindulgence.

No worries, we all have been busy decking the halls with plenty of rich meals, sweet desserts, and alcohol!

But it’s finally January 4th today so, I’m feeling ready for a major diet detox now. And I’d like to speak about it with you.

If you woke up feeling hangover, overstuffed or a little bit bloated this week, you’re not alone. All we have to do is to clean up our diet to get back to our healthy happy self!

Follow my helpful tips to get started. It’s easy and not so fast.  In fact it’s not the speed at wich we clean our diet and we may lose weight that matters: it’s the method. We need to make lifestyle changes and not “one month changes” for sure.

Have you ever heard of clean eating before? If you may not know what it means I’m here for you.

Eating clean is probably the best way to refresh our body and soul. It’s all about eating more of the healthiest food like vegetables, fruits and whole grains, plus healthy proteins and fats. But, what a day of clean eating truly looks like, and what we have to do for a detox and cleaning diet everyday?

Look At the Ingredient List

First of all we need to limit processed food full of sugar and fats. It’s really important to always look at the ingredient list on packaged food. My grandma says she never buy something that it didn’t exist when she was a child because it’s a bad food for her for sure and well, let me say she’s probably right. Of course not everything that comes out of a box it’s bad for us, but we need to pay attention about it and if the ingredient list on what we’re buying is full of ingredients we can’t pronounce, it’s better if we stay away from it.

Eat Green Vegetables and Fruit at Any Time

Vegetables and fruits are full of vitamines and are high in healthy fiber helping us  feeling full and satisfied. We should eat them at any time. If you love to cook you’ll be happy to combine different flavors and put different colored ingredients togheter. What about a toast with banana, rasberries, honey and cinnamon for breakfast? Healthy and safe for a new day start! You also have to try carrots and hummus for a snack or start your meal with a salad. If you like it, I suggest you to add pepper everywhere. I love it and it’s a really healthy food! And believe me, the beauty of this way of eating is that it’s so easy!

Focuse on Healthy Fat

If you like to eat clean it doesn’t mean you have to break down all the fat from your diet, but only keep away the satured fat. Yeah, that’s true: the healthy fats are good and these are olive oil, canola oil and the kind of nuts and fatty fish. Believe me: these are so good for our heart and it’s not so difficult to increase these to our daily diet. For example… Avocado! I love it, and what about trying to put Avocado like… everywhere? Not mayonaise but yes, Avocado in sandwich. Or, do you like Guacamole? It’s incredibly healthy for our body and it’s so tasty, better than any diffrent sauce! And, have you ever thought to top your salad with nuts instead of cheese? Try it, try it, try it! Yummyyy

Less Salt, More Water

Salt should be minimize. It’s not so good because of sodium and we all have to use it as less as we can. Maybe we could cook with herbs and spices (I love spices! Aww) or citrus and vinegar. Also lemon juice it’s really hummy and healthy for us! Yesterday I had a really nice veg lunch: spinach, kale, avocado (mon amour) and pine nut salad. Drizzle olive oil and fresh lemon juice over ripped kale and spinach, and fresh pepper and avocado and pine nuts. So great! You also have to drink a lot. Water is the best-kept beauty secret and it’s so healthy to drink a big glass of water at any time. Water cleans out toxins, you know?

Vegetarian Proteins are Good

Eating clean sometime means to eat less meat. In fact we should replace it with vegetarian proteins, surely better for our detox diet. One of my favorite vegetarian food is Tofu but it’s a little difficult to cook. Anyway you should also serve veggie-soups with beans or tempeh. And, have you ever tried beets? This root vegetable is rich in plant-flavonoids and beta-carotene, two nutrients that naturally stimulate and encourage healthy liver function.

Nature’s Candy

What about Nature’s Candy? Fruit may not be the first thing that pops in mind when your sweet tooth is nagging but it can surely satisfy even the worst craving for sweets and… they are also nutrient rich. So if you are a dessert-person you have to try eating clean thanks to Rasberries, Blueberries, Apples, Bananas or Honeydew. Honeydew is my favorite! It contains a lot of potassium which helps keep our muscles from cramping (so good if you’re always traveling around and you need to walk long distance) and it’s an ideal food if you want to lose weight! For example one cup of Honeydew contains only 60 calories and it’s a great source of vitamin C and contains plenty of water to keep you hydrated.

Alway Green Tea Time

Green Tea is actually my favorite super beverage and food. I used to drink so much coffee (something like 8 or 9 cups per day. I’m Italian so I mean strong Italian Coffee, ok?) but I knew and I still know coffee is not so healthy for us and for our hearts. But I always need caffeine or something similar so I discovered (thanks to Britain) Green Tea! This detoxifying brew is loaded with helpful antioxidants (called catechins) which flush out bad toxins that can cause contribute to weight gain. So, now for me it’s always Green Tea time! Yayyy

Well, I hope you found my tips helpfull for your new clean eating day. I’m studying a lot about food and diets because I’m already thinking to start a vegetarian diet at some point. So, I’ve to say I’m trying to follow a truly green diet everyday and I’m feeling more energetic and successful and my eating plan is getting everyday more sustainable. I believe we are what we eat and I’m sure our bodies will thank us by how we’ll feel and how we’ll look. Avocuddle everybody. Big hug.