DISCOVER YOUR ZEN

GETTING STARTED WITH REAL FOODS

Real food is food that is as close to its natural state as possible. An organic chicken you have to cook yourself is more real than chicken nuggets or chicken from a can.

The benefits of eating real food include minimizing the chemical additives that are linked to disease and obesity. These include artificial food colouring, preservatives and artificial flavours. Real food also has less sugar, sodium and added fat.

Shopping the perimeter of your grocery store is a good way to start eating clean, real foods. That’s where the fresh produce, natural meats, eggs and dairy usually are. Here are a few more tips to get you started:

• Drink only naturally low-cal beverages. Water is your best choice. Then stick with herbal tea, or fresh-pressed juice.

• Choose local, organic meat. Buy from your local farmer’s market or order from a butcher that is committed to meat that is free of hormones, antibiotics and grain feed. (Reducing your meat intake helps make this more affordable.)

• Cook with organic, cold pressed oils. Ditch the bleached, processed canola or vegetable oil and go for real butter, olive or coconut oil.

• Make fruits and vegetables your go-to snacks. Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. Wash and chop veggies into sticks and pack them into baggies for easy grab-and-go.

• Quit fast food. Make extra portions of your main dinner entree to pack for lunch the next day. This easy habit will save you from eating processed meals at the local fast food joint.

• Go gluten-free. Read labels and buy only gluten-free foods. The exception to this rule is that not all gluten-free foods are healthy. Cookies are still cookies, even if they are gluten-free.

If you’re not much of a cook & grocery shopper, or just too busy to do so, and you tend to dine out or purchase meals on-the-go, then maybe you’ll need to choose a meal delivery service that offers food items that adhere to your chosen diet program.

I’ve listed a few places places I’ve personally ordered from.

Maw Nutrition.  www.mawnutritioninc.com They offer very low priced meals which are pretty basic when it comes to eating clean.  No fancy meals.  Just clean food which you can order to your specifications in terms of portion sizes.  Cooked lean protein (like ground turkey, chicken breast, and atlantic cod, carbohydrates like rice, sweet potatoes, and quinoa, and of course green veggies.

Fuel Meals.  www.fuelmeals.com They also offer simple clean food – where you get non-sodium seasoned meats, plain veggies and carbs.  But they also have a selection of signature entrees like turkey chili, beef goulash, and Mongolian chicken.  They even have some gluten-free meals.

Perhaps you don’t mind cooking so much, but getting out to do the grocery shopping is a bit challenging.  A possible option may be those companies that ship you the ingredients and recipes, so that all you do is a cook what’s delivered to you each week.

Green Chef. www.greenchef.com  is one such company.  All ingredients in their meal kits are certified organic.  They also offer options for those adhering to gluten-free, paleo, vegan, or vegetarian meal plans.

Hello Fresh. www.hellofresh.com is another company where you can order meal kits.

Just do a google search on “healthy meal delivery,” and you’ll find a lot of options for companies who can accommodate your busy lifestyle, offering you healthy food options shipped to directly to your doorstep.

TODAY’S ACTION STEPS:

1) I’m giving you plenty of time to prepare for the meal plan. Take today, tomorrow, AND the next day to look through the meal plan and determine if you want to follow it strictly, or perhaps swap out a few things (I provided you a Food Swap List along with the Meal Plan). Review the recipes. Go through the Shopping List, see what you already have and make a list of what you need to buy.

2) You may want to try out a meal delivery service if that fits your lifestyle better. If so, take these next 3 days to research companies that deliver to your area (possibly the ones I suggested above) and place your order so you can start getting your food by next week.

3) If you have any questions about the meal plan, or anything else, let me know in the Facebook group –  https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeamDrVenus/

Previous ACTION STEPS:

(Not a complete list, but some important highlights.)

1) Log in to the Fitness App on your COMPUTER (not a mobile device) – https://doctorvenus.com/app-login/ – and  go to the FORMS tab. If you haven’t completed the Client Agreement form and the PAR-Q form from Day 1’s ACTION STEPS, do that today and sign them. Be sure to click SAVE when you’re done. (You can not receive the meal plan and workout plan when they are released until we have those completed forms on file.)

2) If you haven’t done so yet, send an email to team@DoctorVenus.com and state whether you want a vegetarian or non-vegetarian meal plan. It will be sent to your Fitness App by this evening…JUST for you to review, if you’re interested. You don’t have to worry about getting everything ready to start the diet by tomorrow. I’ll take you through this whole process, step-by-step, in the upcoming week.

3) Download the Set Your Goals Checklist and complete it. CLICK HERE to download.

4) Download the Program Planner that you can start using, if you wish. CLICK HERE to download.

5) Download the Kitchen Clean Out handout and use it to guide the clean out of your kitchen BEFORE you start your meal plan. CLICK HERE to download.

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