Imagine feeling so good that you can hardly wait to get out of bed each day. It’s likely that you’ve felt this way at least once.  If you never have, it would probably be difficult to imagine, and the same holds true for health in general. Without a benchmark for feeling the incredible vitality that comes from eating foods which are alive and full of energy, you might find it difficult to imagine and motivate yourself to make the changes necessary to achieve this level of health.

Today the cells in my body are energized. Every cell in my body is working 100%, but it wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time I was like most of society, with the majority of my diet consisting of the FIVE new “food groups”: fast, fried, junk, processed and frozen.  Because these foods lack colour, enzymes, water and fibre, they are essentially dead and provide little or no vitality.

As a nutritionist, my success comes from teaching people how to make these changes easily. There are really only three things you need to do. You must take care of what you put in your mouth, what you put in your mind and what you do to keep your body in peak form. Try this twenty one day regime to end your reliance on chemicals, starches, and sugars, and discover how it feels to have all your cells literally vibrating with health.

STEP ONE: Try this for the next twenty one days. I like to call this the twenty one day WHITEOUT. Don’t eat any white foods at all. That would include all boxed cereals, white bread, sugar, bagels, muffins, dairy, cookies, pasta, chips… you get the drift. It seems that most people eat this way. Instead of these foods EAT three to five fruits, five to seven veggies. It will seem like a lot but the cells in your body are craving nutrients, minerals, enzymes and fibre. Do you ever wonder why, when you go to a restaurant, you feel as though you could almost eat the whole basket of white bread? It’s because there are virtually no minerals in white flour and your body and brain are searching for fuel.

STEP TWO: Drink six to eight glasses of clean filtered water a day.

STEP THREE: Avoid: pop and diet foods of any kind; reduce your coffee and tea consumption; DO NOT eat margarine. Use stevia to sweeten your foods; use only olive, coconut and grape seed oils.

STEP FOUR: Add some super foods into your diet, such as quinoa, flax seeds, flax seed oil, walnuts, chia seeds, goji berries, bee pollen and raw cacao.

Be creative and have fun – your plate at each meal should be an array of colour. Planning meals should never be about counting calories, but simply about satisfying your body’s needs, which will prevent cravings for less nutritional foods. Adding just two tablespoons of flax seed oil to your diet can completely banish sugar cravings. Oatmeal with berries, cinnamon, walnuts and ground flax seeds along with almond milk is a great breakfast. A protein filled fruit shake at breakfast is also a great way to start the day, and lunch can be as easy as a chicken avocado salad with tomatoes and walnuts. Dinner can be grilled fish, butternut squash, asparagus and coconut quinoa. Snacks might include hummus and celery or homemade popcorn and olives. Be creative. These foods are easy to prepare and, surprisingly, they cost less than packaged foods!

STEP FIVE: Exercise. Yes, we need to move our bodies all the time. Your body is meant to move every day, not sit for hours upon hours. Did you know that one pound of fat burns three calories an hour, whereas one pound of muscle burns fiftycalories an hour? Not that we are counting calories, but the more muscle you have, the more you burn, and thus your body will end up working for you  – not against you. It might sound cliché, but I believe that if you don’t use it you lose it. Walking every day is a fun and simple way to bring more energy and vitality to your life; a minimum of an hour a day is great. I am addicted to Bikram yoga. I have never felt anything like it; it just makes your body feel more alive. You leave with so much energy and can sleep like a baby. The best part is that you will only want to feed your body healthy foods after treating it so well. I find that doing yoga two to five times a week totally makes me feel happy and healthy, not to mention reduces mental stress. I exercise every day. I take the stairs, park my car far away from my destination, and avoid using the car whenever possible. The results from implementing these changes will be immediately evident in your awesome bowel habits, high energy levels, and – wait for it – great skin!

On the flip side, it is important to remember that the biggest negative impact we can have on our healthy, happy bodies is emotional stress. If we do not bring ourselves into balance psychologically, we cannot achieve optimal health.

So now that you have an idea of how you could feel each day, take the 21 day challenge and revamp your health. Soon, you’ll know the reality of feeling vital, healthy and happy 24/7 and 365 days a year!

Yours in health,

Jane Durst Pulkys