Contrary to popular belief, cleaning is not exclusively for kitchens, furniture, garages, and cars! There’s another area in your life that can probably use a heavy dose of spring cleaning: your diet!
Living in the modernized 21st century, today’s consumers are inundated with myriad choices when shopping for food items.
Gone are the days of mini food markets selling bread, milk, eggs, and fruit. Supermarkets of today feature aisle after aisle filled with ready-to-eat food products, such as baked goods, cereals, snack bars, sauces, sodas, and candy. It’s no wonder that processed foods make up approximately 70% of the average American’s diet !
While many processed foods do have some redeeming qualities (e.g.
fortified vitamins and minerals that your body needs), they are also loaded with harmful additives, such as artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, excessive amounts of sodium, trans fats, and food dyes.
So…ready to clean out your diet? It’s really pretty simple.
The trick is to choose mostly whole or minimally unprocessed foods.
In other words, stick to REAL foods, in their natural form. Stay away from highly processed food items with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients!
Here are 8 Clean Eating Swaps in honor of 8 Days of Pesach:
1) Hydrate yourself with water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages.
2) Drizzle your salads with olive oil and fresh lemon juice instead of processed mayo-filled dressings.
3) Dice fresh fruit into plain yogurt instead of buying fruit-flavored sugary yogurts.
4) Snack on fruit in its natural form, instead of fruit juices and sweetened applesauce.
5) Choose whole cuts of poultry and meat, instead of processed deli meats.
6) Prepare roasted vegetables as a side dish, instead of vegetable kugels and casseroles.
7) Choose natural cheeses such as Mozzarella and Muenster, instead of processed American cheese.
8) Season your food with fresh herbs and spices, instead of soup mixes and bouillon powder.
Obviously, there’s no better time to start “clean eating” than on Pesach, when so many processed foods are off limits. It’s the perfect opportunity to train your taste buds to enjoy food in its most natural state!
“REAL FOOD” TIP: Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, where fresh, natural foods like fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and fish are usually located. Avoid the middle aisles where most of the processed foods are found!
this article was prepared by M Berkowitz for One on One Health
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