New Year, New Start

I know for me and my household, we love starting fresh for the New Year. New goals, new attitude and the excitement of what the new year will bring. Sometimes, the start of a new year means the beginning of new healthy habits…such as setting BIG goals or healthier eating and exercising. This year, having a new baby in the house and having fallen off of the bandwagon with healthy eating, I want to incorporate a “clean eating” habit into our new year goals. This means eliminating anything processed such as lunch meats, cheeses, chips, etc. Instead, my plan is to make all of those things from scratch. Sounds awful and time consuming right?!? —————–>>>>>>>>>WRONG!

Creating heathy habits can be tricky in the beginning because you are adapting to something new and that can be quite overwhelming. BUT, once new habits have been instilled, that is exactly what they become…habits. If you know anything about habits, you know that they come pretty quickly and easy once they are established. So by putting in the extra time and dedication to creating the habit, you are also making that habit easy to follow…so eating clean shouldn’t be that difficult after the initial month of adjusting.

I have included a list of tips to get “clean eating” underway in your household if that is something that interests you. The reason I chose clean eating is because I 100% believe that how we feel is determined by what we place into our mouths. Our food can either help our health or destroy it (along with exercise of course). Teaching my girls healthy habits at a young age is something I deem important and at the top of my parenting list…along with many other things of course.

• Get rid of all “precessed” foods in the house (processed is anything bought and not in its original state)
• Shop the perimeter of the store…avoiding the middle aisles where processed foods are kept
• Stick to fresh over canned … canned foods are typically very high in sodium and never compare to the raw and fresh
• Write our your grocery list ahead of time and STICK TO IT.
• Each morning tell yourself the menu (OUT LOUD)…this will help you stay the course
• Journal everything you eat or plan on eating for the day to help you stay on track
• Meal prep for the week on Sunday and again on Wednesday/Thursday to lessen the work load