On Monday, Belmont will be launching its SIXTH year of the “New Year New You” Cleanse! This seven-day eating plan is designed to help kick those nasty cravings many of us can get over the holidays, with all the extra treats around! It’s a great way to jump-start healthy eating in the new year.

If you’d like to participate, reach out to us on social media (you can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) or drop a line to hsalsman@gobelmont.ca. All I ask is that you check in with me first thing in the morning each day, with your feedback as to how the day went. I will add your comments (anonymously of course!) to my blog for the following day. If you cheat, be honest about it! This is not an easy thing to do, by any stretch of the imagination. But what a great way to kick off a brand-new year! (Have I mentioned that everyone who has participated DID lose weight? Even the participants who had episodes of cheating?)

As part of this “New Year New You” cleanse we will have three weigh-ins: Day 1 of the cleanse, the day after you complete the cleanse, and then again, a week later. You do not have to share these numbers with me… but if you could let me know how much weight you lost after this was completed, and then again, a week later, I would love to add some other people’s results to the blog!

In an effort to make this as easy as possible, below is a grocery list of what you’ll need for the week! You can customize/remove items as you see fit, that tie in with your own personal likes. I’ve also added a few tips I’ve learned through the years! Happy Healthy Eating!

“New Year New You” cleanse grocery list

• All fruit – Nothing is off limits here. The lowest calorie fruits are watermelon, cantaloupe and melon
• Non-starchy vegetables
  • Amaranth or Chinese spinach
  • Artichoke
  • Artichoke hearts
  • Asparagus
  • Baby corn
  • Bamboo shoots
  • Beans (green, wax, Italian)
  • Bean sprouts
  • Beets
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage (green, bok choy, Chinese)
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Chayote
  • Coleslaw (packaged, no dressing)
  • Cucumber
  • Daikon
  • Eggplant
  • Greens (collard, kale, mustard, turnip)
  • Hearts of palm
  • Jicama
  • Kohlrabi
  • Leeks
  • Mushrooms
  • Okra
  • Onions
  • Pea pods
  • Peppers
  • Radishes
  • Rutabaga
  • Salad greens (chicory, endive, escarole, lettuce, romaine, spinach, arugula, radicchio, watercress)
  • Sprouts
  • Squash (cushaw, summer, crookneck, spaghetti, zucchini)
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Swiss chard
  • Tomato
  • Turnips
  • Water chestnuts
  • Yard-long beans
• 1 potato
• Real butter
• 8 bananas
• Skim milk
• Weight Watchers yogurt or any fat free/low calorie plain or vanilla yogurt
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• 6 tomatoes
• 2-3 large onions
• Head of cabbage
• Green pepper
• 5-6 celery stalks
• 2 large cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 packages of Lipton beefy onion soup mix

Additional

• Mrs Dash – This will add some flavor to what you’re eating, but it’s salt free, so it won’t sabotage your efforts of trying to kick any salty food habits you may have formed!
• Black coffee, black, green or herbal tea or water only to drink (nothing added to it!)
• If you’re the one who primarily cooks in your household, on days you can have veggies, or chicken, turkey and veggies, try to plan meals that incorporate these, so you feel like you’re eating more “normally”. On days that are very “abnormal” (Fruit day and banana/yogurt day as an example) plan to make something that you don’t like, or that you won’t care about missing out on!
• Plan a meal that you REALLY love for Day 8 and use that as your goal to help get through the week.
• Find a buddy (either on this eating plan or not) that you can vent to and get support from.
• Be kind to yourself. This is NOT easy, but YOU CAN DO IT!

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay