To me, spring symbolizes a fresh start. I'm surrounded by an abundance of fresh and light spring produce, and I'm feeling motivated to overhaul my diet. In my quest to adapt a fresh and clean way of eating, I've flipped through many awesome books for inspiration. I was thrilled when I came across Terry Walters' Clean Start: Inspiring you to eat clean and live well. Inspiring is an understatement! Walters has motivated me to turn my diet upside down and start all over again.
Lucky for me, I was able to pick Walters' brain about her outlook on healthy living. Read the Q & A below!
Clean Start: a fresh approach to healthy, clean eating.
Q: What is eating clean?
A: It's about eating minimally processed foods for maximum nutrition. Clean foods are what we all need more of, no matter what else is on our plate. From whole grains and vegetables to non-animal sources of protein like legumes, nuts and seeds … they're foods that pack the greatest nutritional punch ... The goal is to empower yourself with knowledge to make healthy choices ... and to have the tools to create nourishing and delicious food easily so we can feel great and enjoy all that life has to offer.
Q: Does clean eating mean never indulging?
A: If it does, I’m in big trouble. Eating clean is about bringing in the foods that serve us, making healthy choices and transitioning successfully to a healthy relationship with food. Deprivation serves nobody! The more we focus on bringing in clean foods, the more the foods that don’t serve us either fall to a healthier place in the mix, or fall by the wayside completely ... Enjoy your splurges fully, let them nourish all of your senses, and return to eating clean.
Q: What's your advice for people who have a vicious sweet tooth?
A: “Sweet” gets such a bad reputation. In reality, there are five tastes and sweet is one of them (sour, bitter, pungent and salty are the others). When we don’t bring in nutritional sweetness, we’re much more likely to crave it non-nutritionally. Vegetables like carrots, parsnips and squashes are naturally sweet, as are low sugar fruits like high-fiber apples, pears and high-antioxidant blueberries. Make sure you’re getting all of the tastes and a rainbow of colour in your diet and you’ll be much less likely to have cravings for sweets or any other foods.
Q: What's your favourite clean meal?
A: I’m likely to have a different answer to this question every season, if not every day! Somehow, whatever is growing in season always seems the most delicious, fresh and irresistible. One thing I like about eating seasonally is looking forward to the delicacies of each season -- from dark leafy greens and winter squash in winter, to baby arugula and sugar snap peas in spring, fresh berries, heirloom tomatoes and peaches in summer and sweet corn and crispy apples in fall!
Q: What food can you never resist?
A: I have a hard time resisting anything delicious, but kale is pretty much my all-time favorite. It’s right up there with pizza, and if you combine the two then you can just forget about it -- I’m sunk! That said, there’s been such an increase in high-quality chocolate on the market that I feel it’s my responsibility to find the best one (and my family has been very supportive of this process). I can resist chocolate, but I prefer not to, especially if it’s 70% cacao. That said, all I need is one little square to be completely satisfied.
Pick up Walters' book and give a few of her fave recipes a try: Raw Kale Confetti Salad, Quinoa Pilaf with Toasted Nuts and Seeds and Chewy Chocolate Macaroons.
What are your favourite clean foods?
