One thing I will not do on this blog is bullsh*t you. If you ever feel like I am doing so, please feel free to call me out right on the spot. I’m not afraid to admit when I am wrong and hope that you would feel comfortable enough to point that out.

So, what you need to know about clean eating is that it will not be a cheap endeavor—at least not at first. The first thing you must do in order to follow a clean diet is a complete and total kitchen/cupboard renovation. Walk over to your fridge, freezer, and cupboard right now. You there? Great.

Now start removing anything and everything that isn’t fresh produce, fresh protein, or raw spices and cooking basics. This means everything from that Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce you casually put on each dinner plate for dipping to the pre-packaged granola bars that claim to be ‘all-natural’. Take time to read the ingredients listed for everything you have removed, are there more than 2 ingredients on each label you can’t identify or even pronounce? Thought so. These types of food are NOT your friends and they cannot exist in your kitchen any longer. Take some time now to shed a few tears, and let me reassure you that everything will be OK!

Now it’s time to shop! Be prepared to drop a good amount of money on your first ‘clean’ shopping spree, as you will be purchasing most of the essentials for my recipes. Whole Foods is an obvious answer for clean shopping, but I am a fan of the smaller, more local options (such as Plum Market or Mrs. Greens in Chicago). These grocery stores allow for a lot of the items to be bought by-the-pound in a self-serve manor: i.e. oats and quinoa.

The essentials…

• Oats – I prefer whole rolled oats
• Quinoa
• Cocoa Powder
• PB2
• Flax Seeds or Flax Meal
• Chia Seeds
• Honey
• Low-sodium Soy Sauce
• Pure Vanilla Extract
• Mejool Dates
• Almond milk
• Almond butter – Make sure to splurge on this one, go organic!
• Sriracha – If you don’t already have this in your fridge I don’t know what is wrong with you (Also, this isn’t technically ‘clean’ but its my absolute favorite!)
• Sea salt
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Chili Powder

These are just the basics. As you continue to cook, and hopefully start to experiment yourself, you will continue to build and add to your kitchen!

❤ the fit bitch