How to Get Healthy

Yep, another post about food. It seems to be all I think about lately. With the holidays looming (Thanksgiving is just around the corner for me!), I really want to get into better eating habits before all the cakes, cookies, and other Christmas treats start to pile up. Entering the holiday season with healthier eating habits will help me to avoid over-indulging and gaining lots of unwanted weight next month.

My solution to this upcoming issue was to do a detox with my roommate before December sneaks up on us. It also wasn't such a bad idea to do the detox right after Hype Week. Click here to see where we got our inspiration for our list of rules; we tweaked it a bit to make it our own. Essentially, we are cutting back on meat, dairy, gluten, starches, alcohol, oil, salt, sugar, and caffeine, and adding lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, tofu, eggs, nuts, healthier grains (such as quinoa and brown rice), and tons of water each day. We're also trying to get more regular exercise and sleep. We are doing this for about a week before I leave for Thanksgiving, and 5 days when I come back to Montreal.

It's true that the rules are very strict and it was hard to adjust to at first, but each day gets easier. Today is day 5 (round 1) and I'm feeling much more energized! They say "you are what you eat," and I've never believed it more than I do right now! I'm also learning to use certain ingredients that I don't normally use, like lentils and other beans. We've made some really delicious things, like spiced sweet potato fries, chickpea curry, lentil & quinoa salad, and spaghetti squash with "pesto alfredo" sauce (we used avocado to make the sauce creamy- so delicious).

I know that an intense detox isn't right for everyone. But adopting healthier habits and challenging yourself to maintain a well-balanced and nutritious diet is something that everyone should consider. After the detox is over, we will change some of the rules (I know we'll add oil and salt back into our diet, in small quantities), but we hope to continue eating similarly to how we are now. As for this weekend- I'm going to have to make sure I don't load up too much on stuffing and pie. I hope I can successfully complete our plan, and continue my healthy eating habits once I'm done. Either way, it's been a great learning experience so far, and has tested my determination and self control.