A few weeks ago I introduced the 30-Day New Food Challenge to promote adding new varieties of food into my diet.
Now that we are well past the half-way mark, it’s time to pivot into understanding what we should be eliminating from our diet. If you’ve been following along with the challenge, the elimination piece or “replacement” may have happened naturally as you’ve focused on adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet.
Mental Health Tip:
Starting today, I want you to also put some intention into eliminating the worst offenders that might be in your diet. These include:
- Highly processed foods (if it comes in a box or package, it’s probably not ideal)
- Refined grains with a high glycemic index, like white bread
- Refined sugars
- Artificial sweeteners and dyes
- Trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils, which are prevalent in fried and packaged foods
Instead of obsessing about the “perfect diet,” focus on mastering the basics by adding the best things (like the fruits and vegetables we’ve been talking about so far) and subtracting the worst.
Journal Prompt:
What are 3 foods you consume on a weekly basis that fall into the above categories? Take a look in your fridge or pantry, and choose the top 3 “worst offenders” (that you probably don’t even enjoy that much) to cut back on, or even cut out.
For example, here’s what I’ve been cutting out:
- Refined cereals (only oatmeal for me now!)
- Pretzels and chips (although I still do eat the occasional oyster cracker…)
- Dairy (not everyone needs to eliminate dairy, but I’m doing an experiment to see if I feel better without it)
Resource:
Whenever you make changes to your nutrition I highly recommend documenting what change you’re making and how it makes you feel. You may not notice a tangible difference on day one, but over the course of weeks and months you’ll start noticing a change. You want to make sure you’re documenting what you’re doing differently, so you know for sure what’s making a difference in how you feel.
There are great free, or cheap, downloads that you can use to keep track of your food and mood. You can also use these as inspiration to create your own:
Free Templates (there’s over 60 here)
For more 30-Day Food Challenge recipes and food inspiration, you can catch up with my Youtube video or follow along daily on my Instagram page.
Day 17 – Quick Oats with Berries
