My Summer "Diet"

I've put the word diet in quotations because it's not really a summer diet I'm on, but rather a summer eating plan. This summer, I've decided to finally eat a lot healthy than I have been in the past. It took a while for me to decide what type of eating plan I wanted to try. I thought about the Paleo diet, the Keto Diet, or Whole30. For varying reasons, each of these didn't seem to fit what I wanted. I ended up deciding what ingredients I wanted to cut out of my diet and went from there. This summer, I am trying to eat:

• Soy-free, 
• Dairy-free, and
• Gluten-free.

These are some of the most common allergens, which played a role in my decision to cut them out. Dairy is the main ingredient I want to cut out, with hopes that I will have less acne and clearer skin. Ultimately, I want to feel better. Quite often, I get sick when I eat. I don't know what causes my upset stomach, but I just know that I want to feel better. At the end of the day, this "diet" is to make myself feel better and hopefully have more energy.

Since I've started my "diet," I have been eating more fruits and veggies, less processed food, and less red meats. Eating more vegetables has been my goal for a long time, and I am finally doing so! I would say that my energy levels have increased a bit, but hopefully they will increase even more the longer I stay on my eating plan. 

I haven't stuck to my eating plan perfectly, but that was never the goal. When I have a "cheat meal," I've noticed that I don't feel awful afterwards. Plus, knowing that I eat so healthily, I don't feel as bad when I don't eat the healthiest or when I can't make it to the gym for a while.

I have a couple go to recipes that I love, like turkey taco bowls (with organic salsa, rice, no cheese, and lots of lettuce), spinach-broccoli salad with grilled chicken, and oatmeal breakfast cups. For me, the biggest stumbling block to eating healthier is not being excited about it. I spent about one week looking for and modifying recipes to fit my new eating plan. This helped me become excited about it, as I had a ton of new recipes that I wanted to try.

I just wanted to introduce my summer eating plan to you all now, but will hopefully have a later post about how well I stuck to it, my favorite recipes, and any positive (or negative) changes I've experienced because of it!

That being said, if you have any no-soy, no-dairy, and no-gluten recipes, drop them in the comments!