Eliminating Sugars and Processed Foods in 2018

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With the new year in full swing, I’ve decided to completely overhaul my eating plan. I’ve always eaten pretty healthfully, but lack of planning, laziness and too much alcohol caused empty calories, salt, sugars and the occasional carb to creep into my diet, which is something I’ve set out to rid in 2018. So, for the last few weeks (and going forward the rest of the year) I’ve been deadset on eliminating processed foods and added sugars from my diet and to eat as cleanly as I can. I’ve decided to share my tips, since friends have been asking as well.

First of all, what I’ve learned is that eating this way is not as painful as I initially had anticipated. I have a lot more energy, I feel full and I am MUCH LESS bloated than I used to be. It’s easy to forget all of sugar’s harmful effects that cause bloating, bad skin and weight gain, and I’ve noticed an immediate difference since starting this new way of eating.

This diet (I hate even calling it that) requires much more planning and diligence, so I’ve been ordering weekly grocery deliveries so that I can meal prep. Basically, the end of each week I look at the calendar for the following week and sort out how many breakfasts, lunches and dinners I plan on eating at home, so I know what and how many ingredients to order. My daily diet tends to look a lot like this:

Breakfast: iced coffee with almond milk and a protein bar with very little sugar. I’ve been turning to D’s Naturals and Buff Bakery for breakfast because their bars/cookies are super tasty, packed with protein and have very little sugar. If I don’t have a bar, I’ll have a Fage Greek yogurt for breakfast. (Greek yogurt is pretty much the only dairy I allow myself to have)

Lunch: This is one of my favorite lunches to make and is super easy. I make a salad of arugula or kale, roasted chicken, avocado, grapes, kidney beans, tomatoes and raisins with red wine vinegar. I make it the night before and dress it in the morning.

Dinner: I either repeat what I’ve had for lunch or use my crockpot to make a low-fat turkey chilli, packed with protein from kidney beans or make shredded chicken in the crockpot. On nights I eat out for dinner (pretty often), I order simply grilled fish with loads of green veggies.

Snacks: Throughout the day I keep either Zing protein bars on me or RXbar protein bars. (These are amazing and basically taste like dessert even though they are super healthy). I also grab fruits such as bananas and put protein almond butters from Buff Bakery or D’s Naturals on them. These almond butters taste so good you almost feel guilty eating them because they feel like an indulgence, but are low fat and low sugar.

The most difficult part of this diet has been cutting back on alcohol. I’d pretty much kill for a large glass of red wine, but I do have to say that not drinking has also helped on the bloat and also helped with weight loss. Added plus: I’m never hung over, so my workouts, sleep and productivity are better. While I plan on resuming my drinking later in February, I think I’ll cut back on the amount in order to keep up these results.

An added bonus: I’m saving a ton more money eating this way. Before doing this, I’d grab breakfast or lunch when I got into the office, shelling out $6-$7 for a coffee and yogurt and around $12 for a soup that was low in protein and high in salt. Now, on average breakfast costs $2 and lunch is around $5 for all of the ingredients each day, so that’s a pretty big savings. I also enjoy making my coffee each day which I find oddly cathartic. Strangely, I don’t miss the carbs and sugars and feel oddly satiated, knowing that I’m fueling my body in the right way.

Stay tuned for our comprehensive post of our favorite healthy, protein-packed snacks coming later this week! Also, we’ll be incorporating more fitness-focused posts into the blog this year, so let us know what you want us to write about.

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