Spring Cleaning, From the Inside Out!
It’s that time of year! The snow is melting, the sun is getting hotter, and we’re going to start craving lighter food like salads and smoothies. It’s also the time of year that is traditionally associated with Spring cleaning the house, and our bodies. Well, I can help you with one of those chores, and let’s just say I’ll be leaving the mattress flipping to you. : )
Many people undergo a cleanse in the Spring to detox from a Winter full of comfort food. They feel that Spring is a natural time to eat lighter, and cut out the less than healthy foods. However, when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, a cleanse is simply not an option for you as it requires reducing calories which is unsafe for your health and the health of your baby. So instead, you can follow these 5 steps to clean up your diet this Spring and get your health back on track after a long Winter. And in fact, I recommend all of the tips below to my clients to help them along their journey to healthy pre-and postnatal eating.
Here are 5 easy ways to get your health back on track with healthy eating this Spring:
I know you’ve heard this from me before, but I really can’t stress enough the importance of drinking water. You need at least 8 cups per day, and more if you are exercising. I like to drink my water from a large mason jar, not just because it looks cool, but because it’s almost 1 litre so I know I’m doing well if I drink 2 throughout the day.
Tip: Try adding a little lemon to your water to stimulate your digestion and help to wake up your liver!
Tip 2: Cheat your water consumption by trying step two…..
Preparing a green smoothie to drink throughout the day is the second most important new habit you can start this Spring to dramatically improve your health. Green smoothies pack a nutritional punch by combining a surge of vitamins (including folic acid), minerals (including calcium and iron), phytonutrients (the nutrients with really long names that help prevent disease), fiber and water. In fact, you can switch out a couple of glasses of water if you add a green smoothie to your day!
Some of the benefits of drinking a green smoothie include: improved digestion, clearer skin (less redness, pimples, plumper skin and less refined lines), bright clear eyes, a natural glow and a spring in your step!
I like to prepare a big blender full of green smoothie in the morning then divide it into 2 – 3 portions to drink throughout the day, typically about a half hour before my meals. Here are some foods to consider blending up, keep in mind that you should keep the fruit in your smoothie to a minimum, and only add enough to take the bitter edge off the greens:
Dandelion, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, cucumber, zucchini, celery, parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, ginger, garlic, tomato, apple, pear….
Did you know that 1 serving of chicken is actually only half a chicken breast, or about ½ cup cubed? If you’re a pregnant women in your 30’s of average weight and height, you need the equivalent of one and a half chicken breasts per day to meet your protein requirements with a moderately active lifestyle. But you can get so much more benefit from your protein if you switch out a half chicken breast and substitute in a 3/4 cup serving of legumes such as black beans, chickpeas or lentils. Try adding some chickpeas or black beans to your lunchtime salad to give you some much needed carbohydrates and protein to fuel your afternoon as well as the added benefit of fiber, folic acid, and iron.
Here are some examples of a single protein serving:
Legumes (includes tofu and tempeh) : ¾ cup
Meat: ½ cup, or 2.5oz (about half a chicken breast)
2 eggs
¼ cup nuts and seeds
2 Tbsp nut butter
There are sooo many wheat haters out in the world right now. From Celiac disease, to food allergies, many people are finding that when they remove wheat from their diets, they feel a whole lot better. And if you’re planning to lighten up your diet this Spring, removing baked goods of all shapes and sizes will be key.
The reason I recommend people cut out wheat is simply because we eat too much of the same thing every day. If you’re having a piece of toast for breakfast, crackers for lunch or a snack, then baguette with your dinner, or cookies for dessert, then you’ve had 3 servings of the same food all in the same day! It’s sooo overdone. So try branching out to some other grains: oats for breakfast (either cooked or tossed into a smoothie), quinoa with dinner (you can eat it hot for dinner, then cold for lunch the next day), gluten free Mary’s Crackers for snacks.
Getting variety in your diet when you are pregnant is a key element to ensuring you’re getting all the nutrition you need to fuel a healthy pregnancy.
Cow Dairy is another food that many people find they feel a whole lot better when they cut it out from their diets. The most noticeable result is that their sinuses clear up and congestion is decreased. However, when you are pregnant, cutting out a whole food group is risky. It can be overwhelming and potentially causing you to miss out on meeting your daily calcium needs. So instead, try substituting in some goat or sheep based dairy, and/or some non-dairy alternatives. Cow dairy is another food that we eat waaay too much of, and finding other calcium sources will help add much needed variety to your diet. With so many foods that provide us with calcium, there’s really no excuse to be eating the same food 3 times per day for our whole lives.
Here’s a list of some foods which contain good amounts of calcium but that don’t come from a cow:
| Top Calcium Foods, 1,200 mg/day | Mg | Calories |
| Soybeans, Edamane, 1 cup boiled | 504 | 254 |
| Sheep Milk, 1 cup | 473 | 265 |
| Salmon, canned with bones, 1/2 can | 424 | 240 |
| Rhubarb, 1 cup cooked~ Interesting, but you’d need to eat A LOT of sugar to eat this much rhubarb | 348 | 287 |
| Goat Milk, 1 cup | 327 | 168 |
| Almond Milk ,unsweetened, 1 cup – approx | 300 | 30 |
| Soy Milk, unsweetened, 1 cup – approx | 300 | 80 |
| Collard Greens, cooked 1 cup | 266 | 49 |
| Tofu 1cup | 253 | 176 |
| Hemp Milk, unsweetened, 1 cup – approx | 250 | 60 |
| Rice Milk, fortified, 1 cup | 250 | 70 |
| Spinach, cooked, 1 cup | 245 | 41 |
Now that you know the basics, I encourage you to continue eating this way indefinitely! It will help keep your body in tip top shape, and put a Spring in your step ; )