Let us stop you right there. No, this is not a guide to cleaning your house. It is a guide to cleaning your life, in the more holistic sense of the word – clean eating and clean living. It is the healthy trend that is not going anywhere soon and now is the time to jump on the bandwagon. Your mind, body and soul will all thank you for it. With just a few simple tweaks you can make a big impact on how you look, feel and function. Trust us on this one.
Make food from scratch
You’re not alone. We can’t decipher half the ingredients on food labels either. Unless you have a science degree to decipher that list, you’re not going to truly know exactly what’s going into the food you didn’t prepare yourself. Preparing your own food from scratch is the best way to control how clean you eat. We’re not just talking about rekindling your relationship with the local grocery store and having more home-cooked meals. The freshest ingredients in their simplest form should be your new mantra. You should even consider making your own almond milk, natural yoghurt, peanut butter, hummus, breakfast cereals, muesli bars, pasta sauces and so on from scratch. Yes things in jars are easy but you can do better! Less packaging is a big win for the environment and making your own kitchen staples can get pretty addictive. There’s something so satisfying about knowing your almond milk came from a handful of nuts!
Drink more water
Water is an essential elixir in any diet. We all need water to stay hydrated and flush toxins out of the body but it’s not just the quantity of water that we drink that matters, it’s also the quality. Filtered water has a reduced presence of chlorine and other substances that alter the taste and smell of water. If you struggle to get through the recommended eight glasses of water a day, try carrying a water bottle with you at all times. You won’t believe how much more you drink by simply having it within arm’s reach on your desk, or in your handbag when you’re on the go. Plus, if your bottle has a built-in filter system then you’ll also be drinking better quality water without batting an eyelid. BRITA’s fill&go Vital Water Filter Bottle gets our tick of approval for being BPA-free, stylishly chic and its hidden filter retains vital magnesium and calcium found in water. With the BRITA’s fill&go Vital Water Filter Bottle you end up with water that’s not only clean but good-for-you water.
Opt for food from sustainable sources
Paddock to plate has been a buzz phrase in the foodie world for a while now and we’re thrilled to see more and more restaurants adopting this approach to wholesome, organic and sustainable food that tastes great. Paddock to plate has even evolved into garden to plate, with many places, such as Matt Moran’s Chiswick growing their own veggies on-site. The great thing about garden to plate is the decrease in the nasty emissions from transporting produce from farms to stores to the kitchen. Not to mention the control you have over the conditions your veggies grow in and you can pick just what you need, when you need it to reduce wastage. While we highly recommend getting your green thumb on and starting a veggie patch, we can’t help but think some things are better left to the experts. Take the new sustainably-friendly restaurant in Bondi, The Plant Gallery. They are sustainable where possible, focus on a zero waste policy and their produce is organic and as local as they can get their hands on. It’s a tough act to compete with at home. And while their menu is ultra healthy (it is raw vegan after all), there’s no compromise on taste, which is more than we can say for our own efforts. The fact that they can make their crispy smoked eggplant taste unbelievably similar to bacon…genius!
Learn from the masters
Hands up if you follow a few health nuts on Instagram? Don’t you feel healthier just by looking at snaps of their super salads and acai bowls – they’re kinda inspiring and make it look so easy. And it is. Check out their blogs – they spell it all out for you and are living, breathing proof that the effort is worth it. If you haven’t got a regular stream of healthy snaps making your mouth water on Instagram, follow some of our favourites: we love Jessica Sepel (she’s wrote the book on clean living. No really, she actually did – it’s called ‘The Clean Life’). Hit follow on ex-MKR contestant Scott Gooding who’s super passionate about helping others live cleaner, leaner paleo-inspired lives and Sally O’Neil from The Fit Foodie who constantly has us drooling over her healthy twists on the most moreish looking treats (her jaffa protein balls – addicted!). Another Daily Addict favourite – the Bondi Harvest boys who have fun with fresh, local food and often fuel our guilt-free brunch on a Sunday morning at their restaurant of the same name. Follow them, read their blogs, and make their recipes. You can thank us later.
Say yes to eco-friendly style
Ok, so clean living has a lot to do with food. It is the fuel that keeps us functioning, after all. But there’s also ways to wear your clean living philosophy on your sleeve. Literally. Swap your designer threads for clothes made with sustainable fabrics. H&M have an entire range, the H&M Conscious Collection, which uses sustainable fabrics in their designs without compromising on the cool factor. ASOS have a section on their website that features their Eco Edit; all the sustainable fashion items they stock from across the globe, including their fair-trade label ASOS Africa. If you really want to wear the most eco-friendly clothes, look for fashion made from bamboo. Bamboo is a naturally replenishing plant that’s 100% biodegradable, which makes it the most renewable resource on the planet. It’s also the softest fabrics around, keeps you both cool in summer and warm in winter due to its insulating properties, and get this, naturally protects you from UV rays. Yep, it’s a little bit awesome.
We promise it won’t take long until clean living becomes second nature – it just takes a few adjustments. With that said, you don’t have to go hard-core with sustainable vegan food or wear eco-friendly fashion every day of the week if you don’t want to! What you do need is to make sure you drink more water, that’s a non-negotiable that your body needs. Grab yourself a stylish BRITA’s fill&go Vital Water Filter Bottle that’s easy to carry with you everywhere (and looks mighty chic!) and the water will practically drink itself. Filtered baby steps, peeps.
