Nutrition & Recipes
Transform Your Diet: A Step-by-Step Guide and Healthy Eating Challenge
Mar
Are you tired of feeling sluggish, bloated and generally blah? Want to make a change but don’t know where to start? Look no further! My 30-day healthy eating challenge is the perfect way to transform your diet and improve your overall health. This step-by-step guide will provide you with all the tools you need to make healthy eating a part of your daily routine in just one month. With expert tips and delicious recipes, you’ll be able to curb your cravings and say goodbye to the guilt that comes with unhealthy food choices. Whether you’re a seasoned health enthusiast or just starting out on your wellness journey, this guide is perfect for you. So why wait? Start transforming your diet and health today with my ultimate eating healthy challenge!
Benefits of eating a healthy diet
Eating a healthy diet has numerous benefits for both your physical and mental health. It can help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and improve your mood and energy levels. By consuming whole foods and avoiding processed foods, you can ensure that your body is getting the nutrients it needs to function properly.
In addition to physical health benefits, a healthy diet can also improve your mental health. Studies have shown that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. It can also improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of cognitive decline as you age.
Making the switch to a healthy diet may seem daunting, but with this 30-day challenge, you can take small steps towards a healthier lifestyle and enjoy the benefits that come with it.
Understanding your current eating habits
Before embarking on a 30-day healthy eating challenge, it’s important to understand your current eating habits. Take some time to reflect on your typical daily meals and snacks. Are you consuming a lot of processed foods, sugary drinks, and snacks? Do you skip meals or eat on the go? Are you mindful of hunger? Do you stop when satisfied?
Once you have a clear understanding of your current eating habits, you can start to identify areas where you can make improvements. For example, if you tend nosh mindlessly on overly processed sweets and snacks between lunch and dinner, it might be most beneficial for you to really dive in on Day 1. Cleaning out your kitchen to remove the junk food and “trigger” foods is a surefire set up for success. #seenoevil
By understanding your current eating habits, you can set realistic goals for your 30-day challenge and make small changes that will have a big impact on your overall health.
Setting goals for your 30-day healthy eating challenge
Now that you have a clear understanding of your current eating habits, it’s time to set goals for your 30-day challenge. Start by identifying what you hope to achieve by the end of the challenge. Do you want to lose weight, improve your energy levels, or reduce your risk of chronic diseases?
Having a clear goal in mind will be helpful in the moments when throwing in the towel feels easier than sticking with it. When that goal is meaningful, you’re less likely to let a busy day overwhelm you to the point of giving up.
It’s also important to set specific, measurable progress measurements. You don’t have to be “perfect” to reap the benefits of this challenge. If you miss a day, go back to it. If one daily challenge feels particularly tough, spend a couple of days on it.
The point is not to finish the healthy eating challenge in 30 days exactly. The point is to absorb as much as you can and come out the other side feeling healthier, more confident and more energized.
Incorporating exercise into your healthy eating challenge
In addition to healthy eating, exercise is also an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Incorporating exercise into your 30-day challenge can help you optimize on your goals and improve your overall health.
Start by setting realistic exercise goals for yourself, such as taking a 30-minute walk each day or attending a fitness class twice a week. And don’t be afraid to mix it up and try new activities, such as yoga or swimming.
Remember, exercise should be enjoyable, so choose activities that you enjoy and that fit into your schedule.
Tracking your progress and celebrating your success
Tracking your progress throughout the 30-day challenge can help you stay motivated and on track towards your goals. Keep a food journal to track your meals and snacks, and note how you feel after each meal. Or download this Habit Tracker and mark the days off as you go.
And don’t forget to celebrate your success along the way. Whether it’s treating yourself to a new workout outfit or taking a day off to relax and recharge, it’s important to acknowledge your hard work and progress.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle after the challenge
Once the 30-day challenge is over, it’s important to continue making healthy choices and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Incorporate the healthy habits you’ve developed into your daily routine, and continue to set new goals for yourself.
Remember, a healthy lifestyle is a journey, not a destination. By making small, sustainable changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle for years to come.
30 Day Healthy Eating Challenge
Day 1 – Clean Out Your Snack Cabinet and Pantry
The key to making healthy eating easier is to create an environment that supports healthier eating. That means cleaning out the junk that you know you shouldn’t be putting in your body. I’m all about baby steps. Do one thing at a time, really thoroughly, and it’ll be more likely to last.
Today, start by cleaning out the crappy junk food in your kitchen. Throw out all of the overly processed, high sugar, high trans fat, high sodium snack foods that leave you feeling bloated, a bit guilty and less than satisfied. That probably includes:
- chips
- crackers
- cookies
- candy
- pretzels
- granola bars
- sweetened cereals
You’ll know where the obvious junkers are. And if your questioning whether a food is a keeper, use this article to learn what to look for on the ingredient label.
Once that’s done, you can have fun restocking. Some go-to, healthy snacks to put on your list: air popped popcorn, roasted chickpeas, nuts, dried fruit, whole grain crackers, roasted and dried edamame, nut and seeds butters.
Day 2 – Swap Out Soda and Juice
Just like the snack food that you threw out yesterday, soda and juice pack a sugar and calorie punch while adding little nutritional value. What makes matters even tougher with soda and juice is that we don’t register liquid the way we register food. Chewing is the first step of digestion. The act of chewing increases your level of satisfaction. Because you don’t chew liquids, they’re less satisfying.
It’s really easy to overdo it with sugary drinks. But I totally understand the desire for something other than water! My recommendation is to choose flavored waters (or make your own), seltzers (plain or flavored), and even unsweetened iced tea (if it’s early in the day), or low fat milk (if it’s after a workout, especially) instead.
Day 3 – Clean Out Your Freezer
When was the last time you saw what’s in the back of your freezer? Go ahead and pull everything out. Toss any foods that are expired, have freezer burn, or have been in there for over a year. What else to toss? The junk food, of course. And sorry, that does include the Ben & Jerry’s (don’t yell at me…this is a Diet Clean Up Challenge…what did you expect?!).
RESTOCK >> The Best Frozen Foods to Keep in Your Freezer
Day 4 – Make Your Own Salad Dressings
Making your own salad dressings is a game changer for vegetables. And it’s really not hard at all!
Homemade salad dressings…
- taste better
- have fewer calories
- don’t contain excess added sugars
- no refined oils
- lower sodium
- not as expensive
Making your own dressings at home let’s you control the ingredients. Which means you can use higher quality ingredients with better flavor and more nutrients. It also means you’ll be skipping the additives that food manufacturers use in their dressings.
All you really need are a couple of basic recipes and then the flavor world is your oyster!
Day 5 – Make an Always-Have-on-Hand Grocery List
An Always-Have-on-Hand grocery list is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a list of foods and ingredients that you never want to run out of. These should be items that make healthy eating/healthy choices easy and delicious.
This is, obviously, a subjective list. But a good place to start is to ask yourself what foods do I crave or reach for when I’m hungry? What ingredients can I always throw together to make a fun, healthy meal? What do I love to eat that is nutrient dense?
Think fruit – fresh and frozen. Single serving Greek yogurts and cottage cheese. Carrot sticks. Hummus. These are all healthy foods that you can reach for when hunger strikes.
GET MY HEALTHY EATING GROCERY LIST >> just print, circle and shop! *This link will bring you to my private FB group. Request to join and then you’ll have access to this list and plenty of other resources and tools that I use with my clients!
Day 6 – Drink a Minimum of 80 Ounces of Water Today
Staying hydrated has wonderful affects on your body. Your body weight is more than 60% water. Every system needs it to function. And it’s always leaving, so you need to replenish it!
Shoot for 80 ounces today. Here are just some of the benefits you might see and feel: more focus, clearer skin (with time), improved digestion, reduced anxiety, greater sense of fullness. If you’re thinking how the heck am I supposed to consume that much liquid…here’s how.
- Start your day off with lemon water – I shoot for a full, 4 (24 ounce), cup mason jar with ice and lemon before my first cup of coffee.
- Drink 8 ounces before your workout, and 8 ounces to rehydrate after your workout. Sip on water during your workout.
- Aim to reach the halfway point by lunch time.
Remember, zero calorie and non-caffeinated drinks count towards this goal.
Day 7 – Drink Only Zero Calorie Beverages
A few days ago you swapped out the soda and juice in your fridge for healthier options. Today, drink only zero calorie beverages.
Try your coffee black. If you don’t like it, the only thing that happens is you drink less of it (and honestly, most of us could use a cut back in caffeine!).
Drink water and seltzer. If you get bored with it add fresh herbs, berries or cucumber slices.
Cut out any alcohol tonight and stay hydrated instead.
Remember, this is just an experiment! It’s not a forever change. But consciously making choices that are outside of your normal routine is a good way to build awareness. You might even realize that you don’t mind coffee without cream and sugar as much as you did when you first started drinking it!
(The trick is to find a high-quality coffee that you love – not the cheapest stuff on the shelf!).
Day 8 – Make One Snack Healthier Today
You don’t have to commit to a diet 180 to see and feel changes in your body. Take it one step at a time. Or in this case, one snack at a time. Today, swap out one snack that is less than stellar for a healthy option. Maybe that means subbing in a hot tea for your mid-afternoon caramel latte with whipped cream. Or maybe that’s a piece of fresh fruit instead of a handful of candy at work. Whatever it is, one change today is the win!
The easiest way to make a healthy habit stick is to make it so easy that it’s hard to say I can’t to. Make it so simple that you can’t imagine not being able to do it. The hardest way…is to try to make changes that are too big, or too fast, or too strict. Those are the kinds of changes it’s impossible to stick to long term.
Don’t make life harder!
Day 9 – The B.A.S. Challenge
B.A.S. = big ass salad. This is not your dinky little side salad with a single, halved cherry tomato and sliced black olives. This is a giant salad, packed with deliciousness and totally crave-able.
A B.A.S. is the perfect way to build a meal that is beautiful and nutritionally on point.
- Start with a bed of greens. Get creative – you don’t have to stick to the same old spring mix or chopped Romaine. Add some color and flavor with sliced radicchio, peppery arugula or crunchy kale.
- Add vegetables – raw, roasted, grilled, pickled. Aim to bulk up your salad and pretend like you’re building a rainbow.
- Add protein. Vegetables are great but they won’t keep you full for very long and they won’t give your body the protein it needs to build muscle. That’s where protein comes in. You can go classic – grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, tuna salad, deli meat roll ups. Or you can get creative! Remember that you have plenty of protein options beyond the go-tos. Hard boiled eggs, beans, roasted chickpeas, and surimi salad are great options!
- Top it off with some flavor boosters and crunch. I’m a big texture girl so I always add toasted nuts or seeds to my salads. Flavor boosters are ingredients that pack a punch for your tastebuds but are very low in calorie – think fresh, chopped herbs, pickled vegetables, diced fruit, hot sauce.
- And of course, use one of the dressings you made last week!
Day 10 – Try a New Vegetarian Recipe
Trying out a new recipe is a great way to add excitement to your healthy cooking and eating routine. Sticking to vegetarian ingredients not only ups the creativity ante, but is good for your body and planet!
We could all stand to eat a few more veggies. Well, today you’re committing to it! A plant-based diet emphasizes veggies, fruits, legumes, beans, grains and nuts. It’s rich in both fiber and vitamins. One new recipe won’t turn you into a full-fledged veg-head (well, if it’s really good maybe it will), but it’s a great experiment to expand your foodie horizons!
Day 11 – Plan/Track 3 Days
Grab a notebook, or sign up for a free tracking app, and log 3 full days worth of eating and drinking. To lose body fat, to gain muscle, to generally improve your body composition – you need to watch what you eat. Why? Because most people eat more calories than they realize, and fewer nutrients than they think.
Tracking what you eat for a few days is a good way to familiarize yourself with the types of food you choose, how much of those foods you eat, and the general eating patterns and routines that you follow. Tracking gives you an awareness. With that you can then make smart, informed decisions: where to adjust caloric intake, where to adjust macro choices, what times of day or life situations trigger emotional eating.
Research proves that tracking works. But you don’t have to do it forever. Like I tell my clients, your goal isn’t to track forever, it’s to make healthier choices easier…forever. 3 days is enough to open your eyes to patterns and trigger foods, but not long enough to make you too crazy!
(p.s. wondering what to do, exactly, with the information you collect? Let’s talk about it…)
Day 12 – Include Protein at Every Eating Opportunity
Protein gives your body the building blocks it needs to grow muscle. And no matter what your specific goal is, building muscle is key! It’s metabolically active, meaning it burns more calories even at rest. If you want shape and tone, that is muscle!
And your body can’t make protein. You need to consume it. Your body also can’t store protein. So you need to consume it regularly.
Today, make sure to include protein at every eating opportunity. Aim for a full portion at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a half portion for snacks. Use the guide below (see Day 20) to guesstimate portion sizes! (p.s. you’re tracking today – so this is a great way to see what it feels like and looks like to dial in your focus to hit those protein numbers!).
Day 13 – Processed Complex Carbs
Carbohydrates are not inherently bad for you. In fact, your body and brain thrives on carbs. But there are some carbs – complex carbs – that are (far) healthier than others – processed carbs. No carb diets are the easy-way-out version of choosing the right healthiest carbs for your body.
Today, cut out the processed carbs. *Note that I’m not saying simple carbs. Junk carbs are simple, but not all simple carbs are junk. The candy, processed breads, cereal and cookies and chips – that’s the stuff to delete. These foods have no nutritional value, just calories. Fruit, on the other hand, which is also a simple carb – stays. Fruit has vitamins and minerals and fiber that make it well worth your time.
Day 14 – Make a Protein Smoothie
Protein smoothies are a great way to increase your protein intake. They’re a super easy meal replacement or post-workout nutrient bomb. Not all protein smoothies require protein powder, though a high-quality whey protein makes these recipes really simple (this is my favorite). You can use milk, Greek yogurt, regular yogurt, nut butters and oats to increase the protein content of any smoothie you want to make.
Check out some recipes below!
>> Coffee Smoothies for the Ultimate Pick-Me-Up
>> 6 Healthy Breakfast Smoothies You’ll Crave
>> My Favorite Tropical Green Smoothie (inspired by living in Hawaii)
Day 15 – Fill 1/2 Your Plate with the Rainbow
Eat the rainbow is a blurb of advice I use all the time, especially when I’m posting my BAS recipes on IG! The same phytochemicals and nutrients that give vegetables they’re rainbow of hues give us a wide and complex variety of nutrients.
Plus, vegetables are low calorie and typically high in volume. Meaning they fill your plate up for fewer calories than most other options. That makes a great base to add in your protein, heart healthy fats and complex carbs and not exceed your calorie goals.
Day 16 – Overnight Breakfast Recipe
Do you ever skip breakfast because you don’t have the time? If you do, you’re missing a golden opportunity. Breakfast foods tend to be packed with good-for-you ingredients: eggs, oats, fruit, nuts. Plus, your coming off of a long night of fasting so you need to refuel for the day ahead!
Overnight breakfast recipes are a great way to take the stress and time out of your morning. And you have tons of options, too:
- Overnight Oats
- Smoothie Bags
- Baked Oats
- Freezer Burritos
- Yogurt Parfaits
Not enough options to choose from? Try this…
Day 17 – Cut Caffeine
Don’t. Panic.
This is just for a day, and I’m not even requiring 100% elimination! I’m just asking for a sligggghhht decrease in the amount of caffeine you have today. Here’s why this is a Spring Clean Your Diet Challenge hack:
- Caffeine increases cortisol levels and stresses the adrenals
- It depletes micronutrients that are essential for hormone balance
- The acidity can disrupt your gut biome
- And it can be detrimental to your sleeping pattern
You don’t have to cut it out completely, or forever. But today, try to cut it back to one, 8 ounces cup, tops.
Day 18 – Eat 3 Servings of Vegetables
When I ask my clients to evaluate their diets on Day 1, most say that they eat pretty healthy, but could use some tweaks. Most people think they’re eating “plenty of vegetables”. The reality is…that’s not quite true.
Today, make sure to eat at least 3 servings of vegetables. That’s 3, fist size portions of veggies throughout the day.
- Add spinach and sauteed mushrooms to your egg scramble.
- Top your meals with salsa (yep, it counts).
- Start lunch with veggie soup.
- Made a BAS to have at dinner time.
- Throw greens into your smoothie.
Day 19 – Track Your Hunger
One way to reliably clean up your diet is to track your hunger. Why? Because most of us do pretty well when we’re planning ahead and eating before we’re starving. It’s the late nights when we haven’t eaten in hours, the binge meals after skipped lunches, and the mindlessly consumed chips and dip at happy hour that throw us into a “oops, too much” loop.
Tracking your hunger means checking in with yourself every 3-4 hours. It means you pause to think about when the last time you ate was, to rate your hunger and to make sure that you’re not giving your empty stomach more power than it requires.
You don’t have to eat every 3-4 hours (although, you can). You just have to check in.
Double down by paying attention to your hunger levels before, during and after meal times too. How hungry are you when you start lunch? How stuffed are you when you finish? You don’t ever want to be super starving or super stuffed. Paying attention helps you to find the balance between.
Day 20 – Practice Portion Control
Portion control is a healthy eating tool that I use with every.single.one. of my clients. It has practical and far-reaching benefits!
Here’s how it works:
1 serving of protein is the size of your palm.
1 serving of veggies is the size of your fist.
1 serving of carbs fits into your cupped hand.
1 serving of fats is about the size of your thumb.
Aim to eat 1-2 servings of each at every meal.
Here’s why it works:
- Your hand is proportionate to your body size. Smaller people tend to have smaller hands and require smaller amounts of food. Larger people tend to have larger hands and require larger amounts of food!
- Your hands are with you everywhere.
- No math involved (I told you that you wouldn’t have to track forever!)
- You can easily adjust according to your goals and hunger level.
Day 21 – Try a New Healthy Recipe for Dinner
My go to dinner is always some sort of protein – grilled or roasted, a giant pile of vegetables – salad or roasted, and some sort of roasted potato or rice. It works for us, provides nutrients and variety, but can get boring. So every now and then we step outside of our flavor box and try something new!
I love trying new recipes because I always find some ingredient or method that I forgot about or never learned. Coconut milk, for example. Za’atar spice, for another.
Try a new recipe tonight (I know you have a million saved in your Pinterest account. And if you don’t, I do, so here you go).
Day 22 – Make ALL of Your Snacks Healthy and Balanced
What, you didn’t think you weren’t going to build on what you’ve learned this challenge, did you?
You did it weeks ago with a single snack, but you’ve gained awareness and confidence since then so it’s time to take it up a notch. Today, make sure that all of your snacks (every sneaky handful!), is a healthy, balanced choice.
Day 23 – Eat Till 80% Full
Today, take what you learned when you tracked your hunger and turn it into action. When you eat, no matter the meal, stop before you’re stuffed. This is going to require you to slow down enough to recognize those fullness cues.
This is a tough one for some people (myself included). Most of us are always on the go. Always doing something. We’re never just eating. There are emails to answer, errands to drive to, distractions everywhere. Today, try to just eat. Take your time so that you can get a sense of “ah, I am satisfied body and brain, time to stop”.
Day 24 – Start Your Day with Lemon Water
Water is the word, especially in the morning. This morning aim to finish a giant glass of lemon water before reaching for coffee or tea. You’ll get the benefits of rehydration plus, you’ll jump start your water intake, wake your body up AND…it tastes good.
Day 25 – Make a Big Batch Recipe
Cook once, eat multiple times. This is one never-fail strategy that works wonders for my busiest clients. When you have any food options readily available to you, you’re much more likely to choose to eat them. See food, eat food. Make sure those options are healthy and *boom*, you’re a step ahead of the game.
>> This website is full of healthy recipes that don’t disappoint!
Day 26 – Eat Four Servings of Vegetables
The goal is to clean your diet up not just for one season, but for all the seasons going forward. So you build a foundation of choices that become routine. On the foundation, you build more. You’ve already started this foundation. Filling your plate with vegetables, eating the rainbow, making sure you hit three servings.
Now, you take that one step further. Push it a bit and try to fit in four servings of veggies today. This infographic is full of amazing tips and advice for not only eating more vegetables, but enjoying them!
Day 27 – Pack Your Lunch
That mid-day meal is important but can easily get off track. It’s the meal that you’re most likely to be doing something else while eating. The meal that is most often eaten outside of your home. The distraction paired with the inevitably of eating out can be stressful and costly.
Stay ahead of it by packing your own lunch for today. Here are some cheap and easy lunch ideas for work or school:
- 3 Bean Salad
- Apple and Almond Butter Sandwiches
- Hummus and Veggie Wrap
- Grilled Chicken Taco Bowl
- Snack Style Lunch Box – with deli rollups, cubed cheddar, cucumber slices, nuts and whole wheat crackers
- Superfood Smoothie
- Chicken Chili
Day 28 – Try a New Food
To make sure that you’re eating fewer processed foods and more nutritious, whole foods, try including one new food or ingredient, flavor, cuisine or cooking style today. Many people eat a fairly limited range of nutrient-packed foods. For example only chicken breast instead of chicken thighs or whole chicken. Only Romaine instead of arugula, spinach or kale. Only apples and bananas instead of kiwi, mango or papaya.
But humans thrive on variety! We’ve always eaten a wide variety of naturally occurring foods. A diet that is limited and/or highly processed doesn’t reap the benefits of that variety. Don’t be afraid! Use these resources to get comfortable exploring new foods.
>> 15 Great Grains (how to cook and use them)
>> Cook Any Protein like a Pro
>> New Fruits and Vegetables to Try Based on What Your Already Love
Day 29 – Fiber Focus
Before today gets rolling, scroll back in time to the food journal that you kept in Weeks 1-2. How much fiber did you eat? *If you used an app, those details should be readily calculated. If you used pen and paper, look for veggies, fruits and complex carbs and you’ll have to do a little research!
Dietary fiber comes from whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. It’s a complex form of carbohydrate and it’s indigestible. And it’s necessary for healthy living! High fiber diets are shown to:
- reduced risk of cardiovascular disease – up to 82%!
- decreases in LDL cholesterol
- improved gut health
- improved immune function
- prevention of type 2 diabetes
- decreased body fat
On average most people eat about 15 grams a day. The Institute of Medicine recommends 35 grams! There’s a giant gap between what we eat, what we think we eat, and what we should be eating.
Today focus on eating more fiber. You might want to track again, just to know for sure. You might find that you feel fuller and more satisfied after meals. And that you’re less “snackish” between them!
Day 30 – Enjoy, Guilt Free
And now, to the point of this entire, 30 day experiment: eating healthier and cleaning up your diet is about making healthy choices most of the time so that when you do have a moment in which to indulge – mindfully and happily – you do so without feeling out of control or guilty. Healthy eating is not about perfection. It’s about building awareness and making conscious, health forward decisions.
And sometimes that means enjoying your favorite foods guilt free!
If you found this challenge to be inspiring and helpful, let me know! Please leave a comment or reach out. I have a passion for coaching women to build their most confident, healthy and powerful selves. And this is just the start!
