Let's Spring Forward and Freshen up our Plates......

It's official Spring has sprung, the sun is shining and it is time to freshen up a few things.

It is the season of new beginnings when everything gets a little greener and more colorful. It is the time of year for spring cleaning and to reevaluate what we have been eating as well as what has not been serving us in healthy ways. I always take that as reminder to incorporate more fresh in season green veggies on my plate.

Here are a few tips to to give your plate a spring clean-up:

• Sign up for a CSA with a local farm in your area. It is a great way to enjoy what your region has to offer, while supporting local.
• Clean out your pantry and fridge of foods that aren't serving you and  have expired foods. Make sure your pantry and fridge reflect your healthy eating goals for the season.
• Remove processed foods.
• Take advantage of what is in season such as early season asparagus, sweet peas, broccoli, leeks, greens of all types, radishes, fiddleheads and ramps. Throughout the spring you will see many of these at your local farmers markets. Also, in season produce is more nutritious and usually lower in cost.
• Access your sugar intake. Have you been relying to heavily on sweets over the winter. Are you having dessert every night? Snacking on sugary snacks? Drinking to many sugar filled beverages?
• Stay hydrated. Make sure you are drinking enough water everyday. Water is essential to healthy properly functioning body.
• Cook at home a few more times a week than you usually do. I know it is easy to rely on take-out or go out at the end of the day. I am all for supporting restaurants. To best help us reset and clean up our plates we need to have control over the salt, fat and cooking process of our meals. Make it fun and get the  whole family involved!
• Try eating mindfully. We spend so much time focusing on other things that we don't put enough focus on what we are doing while we eat. I can't tell you how many times, I have grabbed my lunch and finished work on the computer. Until I learned to focus on what I was eating and only eating did I realize how the food made me feel. 

Try these tips this spring and your plate will be as clean as your house!