After the excesses of the holidays, your body is probably craving healthy recipes and lots of self care. If in the past, new year meant new diet, that non-sense is stopping here and now. Even though your intention was good (i.e. improving your health and getting a fit body) a diet is just a recipe for disaster: you deprive yourself until you feel so frustrated that you start binging and then you put all that weight back on and feel like crap.

I am not a nutritionist or a food expert but I know a thing or two about healthy living mainly from my personal experience and the habits that I have incorporated into my daily routine over the last two decades (I’m almost 40 now but wasn’t always a healthy eater). Living a healthy life is all about balance which means making clean eating as a regular habit, not a short term stint.

The title of this post might be 30 days – 30 healthy recipes but don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to make one new recipe a day for the next month. Let’s aim for progress over perfection so the goal is simply to have a nice repertoire of healthy recipes you can refer to to make clean eating as a easy as possible.

We have Eluxe magazine to thank for being the inspiration behind this post as they are the source for 26 of these 30 healthy recipes with their article Clean up your eating with 26 detox recipes. They featured the above gorgeous photo of a broccoli and spinach detox soup on their Instagram account and when I saw it, I just had to investigate and then share. Have a blast trying out some of these recipes. I know I will!

In addition to clean meals ideas, healthy snacks are also part of a balanced diet and one of my favourites are juices and smoothies. You can make them the day before or the morning of and having one on hand will help you avoid the temptation of snacking on unhealthy foods that might be easy to access especially in the workplace. The 4 recipes below are tried and tested and will satisfy that 3:00 pm craving to carry you through to dinner.

Go-to green juice

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beetroot juice

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Kale juice 

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pretty pink smoothie with chia pudding

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BONUS RECIPES!

You now have a total of 30 healthy recipes to try over the next few months but if you have a sweet tooth like me, you might be thinking “But I can’t live without desserts!!”. As I was saying above, I don’t believe in deprivation so when you do have a major craving for a treat, you can opt for these healthy desserts that taste heavenly. Note that they are not necessarily “light” or “low calorie”. They are healthier options when you just have to indulge in something sweet.

WELLNESS 101 TIP

I hope these recipes have inspired you for your next grocery trip. Like with any new lifestyle change, remember to take it one day at a time or, in this case, one meal at a time. Progress is made by the little steps we take and small changes we make (more on that here).

If you start with a positive mindset and are kind with yourself (especially when you fall off the clean eating wagon), you will be building the confidence and strength to make healthy eating a way of life. One that allows you to live in a body you love and that gives you the opportunity to do all the things that bring you joy. If that isn’t worth a little time and effort, I don’t know what is. Bon appétit!

Feature image via In my bowl via Eluxe Magazine