According to a new survey in the UK many people are vowing to practice mindful eating at Christmas time. Instead of gorging themselves on carb rich festive food they intend to eat “clean comfort food”.
Wondering how clean eating can be comforting too? Well, there’s clean eating and clean eating. It depends on which plan you follow. Some are very restrictive but they are not the ones I am talking about. I am talking about the sort of clean eating that you follow after a detox diet. It’s a diet based on natural, non-processed foods. In other words, whole foods (more about clean, comfort food below)
Recommended reading: Start The New Year Right With A Clean Eating Detox
What Does A Whole Food Diet Include?
- All fresh fruits and vegetables (frozen is allowed in small quantities)
- Beans and pulses, such as lentils
- Meat – grass fed and preferably organic
- Fish – low mercury and not farmed, unsmoked
- Nuts – fresh and unsalted
- Seeds – fresh
- Eggs – organic
- Whole, non-gluten grains like oats, quinoa, millet and brown rice
- Dairy –cheese, milk, butter, all organic if possible
- Extra virgin Olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil
What Are Clean Eating Comfort Foods?
Clean eating comfort foods are dishes that are both filling and nutritious. They are not stodgy and don’t make you feel lethargic or guilty after you’ve eaten them.
Some examples of clean comfort foods that the people surveyed said they chose were soup, particularly vegetable soup, Shepherd’s pie, jacket potatoes and stew.
The dishes contain no sugar but are full of slow releasing carbohydrates with some healthy protein that helps you feel full and gives you energy instead of sapping it.
The New Year is usually the time when people resolve to live a healthier lifestyle and try a healthy whole foods diet. However, you don’t need to wait for January 1st to start the planning. You can actually use the Christmas holiday to help you get ready for your New Year’s resolution of weight loss and being healthier.
Recommended reading: Healthy Christmas Recipes That Won’t Ruin The Detox
You Will Be Adjusted to Your Diet
A great reason to start a whole foods lifestyle during the holidays is because by the time the New Year arrives, you will already be getting adjusted to the healthy eating plan. That way, if your New Years’ resolution is to get healthier and maybe even lose weight with a whole foods diet, you have already begun the process and it will be a very easy transition for you.
This is a lot easier than waiting until January 1st to get started, when it can be just a tad overwhelming.
The Whole Foods Diet Is A Healthy Lifestyle Change
Being on a whole foods diet is a major lifestyle change, not just a diet. Let’s face it, restrictive weight loss diets just don’t last do they?
It’s much easier to gradually transition into a whole food diet, instead of just starting cold turkey on the 1st of January. Many people do just start on day 1 of the plan and do it perfectly, but if you are someone that tends to quit things when you do it that way, you can gradually start making changes during the time leading up to the New Year.
This means starting it around Christmas time. There are plenty of healthy alternatives to the traditional Christmas day meal dishes. By bringing some whole food dishes to Christmas dinner, you are not only helping to reduce temptations of the other unhealthy dishes, but might even encourage your family or friends to join in with you.
Ideally, if you start after Thanksgiving it gives you time to get adjusted to the lifestyle change.
You Don’t Gain Holiday Weight
Gaining weight during the holidays is a big problem that many people face. You might get less physical activity if you have time off work or have children who are on school break and tend to eat larger meals and carb rich desserts or snacks. You might even be partial to a few eggnogs and cocktails during parties.
If you want to avoid holiday weight gain so that you don’t have quite as much work when the New Year begins, you can help to manage your weight by starting earlier.
Recommended reading: Which Weight Loss Detox Will You Choose This Year?
You Gain Confidence in the Program
Since you are starting the whole foods lifestyle around Christmas time, you will have a lot of confidence in how well the program works by the time your New Years’ resolution begins on January 1st.
Not only will you have probably started to lose weight as a result of the dietary change, but if you can get through Christmas on it, any other time of the year should be a breeze.
Eating well doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, eating well can be incredibly simple when you know how.
The more nutritious whole food you eat – and the less junk – the better everything will function. The biggest causes of death by far are preventable progressive diseases and many of these could be counteracted with the right diet.
If you eat right, you’ll be less at risk of just about every serious health problem under the sun and your life expectancy will be significantly increased.
In short, a good diet makes you better in every way. And when you’re better, you perform better and life gets better. It’s never too late to start. How will you be eating over the Christmas period?
