I was stunned when I first saw the report. Rice: lit up in red on my food sensitivity test. Rice. The only food you can eat on the elimination diet because it’s so universally digestible. Beside it were the words gluten, eggs, dairy and cashews. All the foods.
All the foods that supply the calories in my diet. All the foods I eat before afternoon runs. All the foods I love to eat. Well, now what?
One thing about me is that I easily fall into routine. I could live my whole life eating the exact same thing. I drink out of one coffee mug, prefer one spoon and one bowl. I get that my preschooler wants the pink bowl. I get it.
Thankfully after the initial turmoil of changing my diet entirely, I’ve gotten into a groove. And I’m better for it. Really, all of the foods on my red list are staples in processed food.
In fact, my life is probably a whole lot easier now… since the decision of what to eat never looms over me. I have limited choices since I rely on the pre-made meals in my fridge. It’s the whole “Steve Jobs” turtleneck thing.
Here are the top five things sitting in my fridge right now that have made my cleaning-eating, whole-food powered, plant-strong diet easy peasy:
OVERNIGHT OATS
I have become a huge fan of overnight oats. After crawling off the treadmill in the morning after a crusher workout I can literally just grab a spoon and dig in. Here’s how I make them:
1. Oats: 1/2 cup steel cut oats. They are crunchy, chewy and satisfying.
2. Milk: 1 cup. I use coconut or almond but you can also use dairy or plain yogurt. You could also use protein powder mixed with water.
3. Healthy Fat: I use 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds or 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds and 1 tablespoon of chia. I tried 2 tablespoons of chia one time but it soaked up all the liquid.
4. The Good Stuff: I add 2 tablespoons of sugar-free peanut butter powder and fill the rest with frozen berries. From time to time I also add organic raisins, shredded unsweetened coconut, poppy seeds or whatever I might be craving. If you’re adding nuts or seeds, do so in the morning so they don’t get soft.
BUDDHA BOWLS
I make a bunch of these for the week. You could heat them, but quite frankly, I’m usually too lazy. This is how I roll:
1. Grain or Root Vegetable: Quinoa, amaranth, sorghum or sweet potato. You could also do brown rice or pretty much any other grain or grain-like starch.
2. Vegetables: My go-to’s are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beets, celery (all cooked) and raw kale and peppers. I pretty much just put whatever I have on-hand in there.
3. Protein: Organic tofu, chicken breast, black beans… the possibilities are endless.
4. Sauce and Seasoning: I almost always put an organic teriyaki sauce on and then sprinkle my favourite thing ever, nutritional yeast (not to be confused with bakers yeast) all over because it makes it tasty cheesy and delicious.
SAUCES, ROASTED NUTS, SALAD DRESSING
These are awesome on salads and Buddha bowls. I often make the Tumeric Pumpkin Seeds from Run Fast, Eat Slow and just put them on everything I eat until they’re gone. Other hits are toasted almonds, sesame seeds, walnuts and pecans. They aren’t as healthy as the raw variety but man are they tasty.
I also put Glory Bowl sauce on everything until its used up. It makes everything taste AMAZING.
And of course, almost everything I eat eventually gets covered in nutritional yeast. It’s packed with B-vits and protein and well, yum.
PREPPED GRAINS / ROOT VEGETABLES
I always have cooked grains on-hand. It makes it super easy to just swap out whole-food grains for whatever the rest of the family is eating like pasta or hamburger buns. If you don’t have them cooked and in the fridge you probably won’t spend the 45 minutes cooking them, so always have them at the ready.
CHOPPED VEGETABLES / FRUIT
This is another huge time saver. When I get back from the grocery store, I chop everything up and put them into their own containers so healthy plant foods are the quickest, easiest snack in my fridge.
I’d love to hear more tips for going clean! Please feel free to add yours in the comments below 
The post Five Things to Keep in your Fridge for Clean Eating appeared first on Allison Tai Coaching.
