By Charlie De Haas
The Clean Treats Factory
When it comes to weight loss, learning to really understand ‘you are what you eat’ is what helped me on my journey.
I used to have that whole ‘follow diet/diet doesn’t follow you back/unfollow diet’ relationship for most of my adult life.
It led me to have a love/hate relationship with my body and that feeling of just never being good enough, why couldn’t I get rock a 6pack? I finally learnt to release the pressure that I was putting myself under and started to take the time to mindfully eat, asking myself, ‘What do I need? How do I want to feel?’ (not just… ‘What do I want? What is the quickest, easiest option’).
Making a drastic diet or weight loss commitment can be very scary, but the good news is it is also often unnecessary. Focusing on small changes daily, such as food swaps, understanding your addictive foods and behaviours, then implementing healthy habits (such as lemon water upon waking) can be what you need to get you started to creating a lifestyle you love to live.
Here are some of the main swaps that helped me.
1. Swap your regular Chocolate to dark chocolate or Cacao (and enjoy a small piece every day!)
Milk chocolate is the sweeter counterpart of dark chocolate and you will find that it’s the basis of many popular chocolate bars and sweet treats.
While milk chocolate does contains cocoa solids, it’s also diluted with milk solids, sugar and cream, giving it the smoother, creamier texture that is seriously dangerous to those who are partial to binge eating.
Dark chocolate has more original cacao present and it’s packed full of antioxidants, with cacao sporting the highest levels of magnesium of any product (craving chocolate can actually be a sign that you are lacking in Mg), so having it in moderation is fine for your health, but remember that not all dark chocolate is created equal. When buying dark chocolate, look for a brand that uses minimal ingredients, as it’s less likely to be packed with harmful ingredients.
While dark chocolate can taste a little bitter, it has some health benefits when eaten in small amounts. Also due to the bitter taste (that you will grow to love) you are less likely to binge on it.
Another healthier alternative again is to make your own cacao protein balls and use a vegan plant based protein and a small amount of dates to sweeten it. It makes for a great snack and is something that I stock in Clean Treats range.
2. Swap your chips to veggie chips (both hot and cold versions)
Veggie chips can be great for you if they are made with care, however its good to keep in mind that some commercial veggie chips brands will often fry the chips in vegetable oil, which isn’t great for you, but its still better than regular chips. Remember; be real, not fake.
If you do want to it the healthy way, why not roast your own sweet potato or kale chips in coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil at home? They may for a great healthy snack and a good side dish with your dinner, and so simple to do!
3. Skip the store purchased smoothies and make your own (so you can monitor the fruit)
Once fruit is blended it tends to only hold onto its nutritional value for 20 minutes or so, therefore there’s little to no reason for you to be consuming store bought juices unless they are cold pressed.
Another thing to note is that fruit is very high in fructose, and most juices use several pieces of fruit in order to fill the 250ml- 500ml bottles. Would you usually eat 5 apples in one go? Probably not, that’s a lot of sugar, so keep that in mind when you are purchasing a juice.
A better option would be to go for cold pressed vegetables juices with lemon or make your vegetable juices at home so you can keep an eye on the sugar content. Also, a rainbow vegetable juice will help minimise sugar cravings.
4. Any dry roasted nuts for natural
When eating nuts, always go for the raw option! Dry roasted nuts are often roasted in vegetable oil which is high in fat and bad for you. Sometimes they are also smothered in honey and salt too which only adds to the unhealthiness. Keep in mind your serving size with these tasty treats!
5. Energy bars for a banana
Here is another snack where people often go wrong.
Energy bars are often very high in calories as they are designed to give you a quick energy hit.
Think of the people they are marketing to. Athletes train for a living so they need extra calories for recovery. They many also require heightened energy levels to get through their events.
Regarding the weight loss bars, they are often made to eat instead of food, and they are often covered in chocolate or yoghurt, both of which are high in sugar. They are also very processed which can be harmful to your body too. Learnt to read your ingredients.
I highly suggest you swap your energy bar for a banana or another natural option. You will get the energy you need without the unhealthy ingredients that you shouldn’t be eating. Make friends with your kitchen and make your own.