Easy Ways To Eat Healthy + Whole Food Plant Based Avocado Alfredo Pasta Recipe (2024)

What’s your take on New Year’s resolutions? Are they sh*t on a stick or are you into them?

I have A LOT of crap I can work on to become a better person, but I’ve never liked schedules, so I just try to work on my crap each day. Today is all we have anyway.

I think that practicing being in the present moment is all the resolution that anyone needs, regardless of how much they have to work on.

When you practice being in the present moment and making choices based on that moment instead of from past experiences or future predictions, things start to fall into place.

Last year at this time, I’d been fired from my job and my dad almost died of heart failure all in the same week.

At the time, resolving to “stop f*cking cursing so much”, “banning gluten from my world” or “getting rid of my love handles” seemed so irrelevant and stupid.

And besides, I like how I talk, I f*cking love bread and my love handles are part of the Molly package. So I decided to start trusting the universe more and STOP with the self nitpicking.

I am who I am, for better or for worse.

As I reflect on the past year, it’s safe to say that I’ve found my formula:

Trusting the Universe + Self Love
= Your Whole World Opening Up

The thing that I’m most proud of circa 2014 is creating Clean Food Dirty Girl.

This isn’t some side gig that I’m doing for fun while I “work on my career”.

This is it for me and I couldn’t do it without you. Every email, tweet, Facebook and blog comment that I get from this community goes straight to my heart. I love hearing from you, I love your stories and I’m honored by your honesty and your trust in me.

I get a lot of emails asking me not to burn out and to keep doing what I’m doing. I want you to know that I’m not going anywhere. I’m actually just getting started!

You’re pretty much stuck with me (unless of course you unsubscribe from my emails, stop following me on social, stop reading my blogs and stop making my recipes. If you do that, we will be unstuck).

So together, let’s rock the sh*t out of 2015 – one day, one hour, one second at a time.

Um, speaking of being stuck with me, I’m so glad that I started the private Facebook group last week.

If you haven’t requested to join yet, come on over. The food that everyone has been indulging on is hilarious. I’m so glad that I’m not alone.

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of food that I’d normally never eat.

I don’t even know how it happened. All I know is that as I’m writing this, I’m eating a Custard Cream English biscuitand there’s nothing “whole” or “plant” about it.

It’s pure processed, sugary delight and I need to put the f*cking thing down, but I’m not going to (yet).

There was my run in with Gruyère on Christmas eve. There have been croissants, booze, a bowl of Rice Krispies (WTF???), French fries. It’s been hideous and awesome at the same time. Because RICE KRISPIES.

I’ve been in the Virgin Islandsin the last month and it’s a fact that when I’m traveling and not in my own kitchen, it can be much trickier to eat healthy. But it’s not an excuse. I can buy kale here.

The truth is, most humans fall somewhat off track with eating healthy at some point, especially around the holidays. Even if they’re the co-founder of a company with the name “Clean Food” in it.

Ahem.

It happens and life goes on.

As long as you have a game plan to put the custard creams down at some point, it’s all good in the hood.

So here’s the thing. Even though I’ve been eating stuff that I normally wouldn’t, I’ve also been super diligent about eating lots of cruciferous vegetables.

Here’s why.

When it comes to nutrient gods, cruciferous veggies win.

Here’s the deal.

• Cruciferous vegetables contain something called glucosinolates (why do these words always have to be so long and hard to pronounce? Why couldn’t they just be called glots, or something just as easy?).
• They also contain an enzyme called myrosinase (again!). When cruciferous veggies get blended, chopped or chewed, the plant cells get broken up, allowing the first hard to pronounce compound, glucosinolates, to come into contact with the second hard to say enzyme, myrosinase.
• When these two make contact, magic happens, and a chemical reaction that creates something called isothiocyanates is initiated.

These Isothiocyanates (or ITCs / ha! someone got wise) have been shown to detoxify and remove carcinogens, kill cancer cells and prevent tumors from growing.

Observational Studies have shown:

• 28 servings of vegetables per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 33%, but only 3 servings of cruciferous veggies per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 41%.
• One or more servings of cabbage per week reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 38%.
• One serving per day of cruciferous veggies reduced the risk of breast cancer by over 50%.

Not only are cruciferous veggies super powerful for cancer prevention, they also boost the immune system, they’re high in fiber, low in fat and are chock-full of phytochemicals.

So here’s the deal. I don’t want you to memorize the super long funky words, glucosinolates, myrosinase and isothiocyanates, but what I do want you to walk away is this.

When you plan your meals and buy your veggies, keep in mind that they’re not all created equal. You can eat an iceberg lettuce salad everyday and not get as many benefits as you could by eating a few servings of broccoli per week.

You have to buy groceries anyway baby cakes, so you might as well buy the ones that pack the most punch and will give you the most health bang for your buck.

Here’s a list of cruciferous veggies. Put these in your grocery cart, okay? (especially if you’re eating sh*tty)

• Arugula / Rocket
• Bok Choy
• Broccoli
• Broccoli Rabe
• Broccolini
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Collards
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Mustard Greens
• Radish
• Red Cabbage
• Rutabaga
• Turnip
• Turnip Greens
• Watercress

Today’s recipe is incredibly simple and it’ll give you a good dose of cruciferi (probably not a real word).

Behind the scenes workaytion shot in the British Virgin Islands with the Caribbean sea as backdrop

I wish you the very best year ahead. May you be happy beyond words, so healthy that your doctor is shocked, and loved and supported in the times that suck.

(Sourcefor cruciferous info)