During this detox, you are eliminating inflammatory foods and replacing them with a plethora of whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, healthy fats and lean proteins.  

You've seen this list and hopefully read through it already, and now I'd like to dive a little deeper into this list to give you some ideas on what is possible through the Avoid List.

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Dairy:  

Dairy is on the Avoid List mainly because dairy products can attribute to a lot of allergies, cause runny noses and make you feel bloated, to name a few reasons.  For some, dairy has no side effects.  You may find you're one of those people at the end of your 30 days, when you slowly reintroduce dairy into your life.  Thankfully in 2020, we have plenty of non-dairy options for milk, cheese and butter.  Try these substitutes to make the next 30 days that much easier.

Gluten, Soy and Corn:

These are known allergens to many people and unfortunately very tricky to keep track of.  Gluten, dairy and corn can be found hidden in so many products, so make sure to read the labels.  Here are some swaps that will make this all easier:

Peanuts & Peanut Butter:

If you're wondering why these are cut out, it's mainly because of the high amount of sugar in most peanut butters, but also the amount of aflatoxins found in peanuts, which have been linked to liver cancer and impaired child growth.  Unsalted almond butter or sunflower seed butter are great alternatives to peanut butter.  Almond butter is slightly higher in nutrients and vitamins, however you will notice that peanut butter has more protein.  Regardless, you're getting more nutrition from the almond butter in the end.

Sweeteners:

Honey, maple syrup, sugar and artificial sweeteners are cut out for the next 30 days for (hopefully) very obvious reasons!  When you eat sugar of any kind, your body will only use a small percentage of it and then store the rest as fat.  That's bad news for waist lines.  If you're craving something sweet, you may need to instead increase your calcium, iron and magnesium, because those deficiencies can manifest themselves into sugar cravings.  Make sure to add lots of dark leafy greens to your meals to keep your calcium and iron where they should be.  As you can see on the list, your alternative to sugar will be coconut sugar and stevia, which you can use to stir into your detox tea or baked goods.  

Non-Starchy Vegetables & Legumes

Choose fresh, frozen or canned non-starchy vegetables and either canned or dry beans/legumes.  If you are using canned vegetables or beans, make sure to choose the low sodium or no salt cans, and drain and rinse them before consuming or cooking.  Here are some great veggies and legumes to add to your diet this month:

Based on all of these foods that you can and can not eat this month, here are just a few ideas of what you can make at home for a meal that is in line with the detox:

Mediterranean Salad 

Make a big salad of chopped cucumber, tomato, red pepper, romaine, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, chopped fresh parsley, and 1 TBS olive oil with a squeeze of lemon and some salt and black pepper.

Chicken Stir Fry

Saute diced cooked organic free range chicken with some garlic and ginger, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, shredded carrots and sliced peppers with coconut aminos, topped with bean sprouts and served with brown rice.

Black Bean Cakes

In a bowl, mash 1 can black beans (rinsed and drained), 1 4 ounce can chopped green chiles, 1/4 minced onion, 1 garlic clove minced, 1/3 cup ground oats, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp chili powder and the juice of 1 lime.  Mash together and form into 4 patties.  Put in a hot skillet warmed with oil of your choice and brown each side.  Serve with guacamole (1 mashed avocado, 1 TBS lime juice, handful of chopped cilantro and salt to taste) and fresh store bought pico de gallo.

There will be so many more ideas in the next sets of modules, so those are just a few for now, to give you hope that there is still plenty to eat!

The Dirty Dozen & Clean 15

The goal of this 30-day program is to eliminate the toxins that have built up in your body and replenish yourself with healthy fruits, veggies, lean proteins and whole grains.  While you may be using the right veggies and fruits, you may still be consuming harmful pesticides.  

The list below shows you what had the highest percentage of trace pesticides versus the ones with the lowest and the safest to buy commercially and not organically in 2019.  These lists sometimes change from year to year, but a quick google search can keep you up to date.  

Some of the items on the above lists won't matter until after the detox, but keep this in mind for the future.