Getting started

Making a change to a natural lifestyle can be very daunting. There are so many different pieces of conflicting advice! If it's all too much for you, I recommend tackling it bit by bit.
I started by cutting out the worst offenders in my diet. For me this was diet soft drinks, mints, chips, chocolate, cookies and lollies. And I make sure I drink at least 8 glasses of water daily.
Once you cut out the worst offenders, it is amazing how much better you will feel. It will help spur you on to keep going. Cutting out soft drinks also helped me consume a lot more water, which helps the body cleanse itself. I lost lots of weight in the initial week and my stomach reduced due to no more bloating. I have found out that gluten and dairy products don't seem to agree with me for some reason, as they make me automatically bloated. So i have cut these out as much as possible and the difference it has made is incredible. I feel like a completely different person.
I follow a clean-eating diet. If I am going to purchase a processed food I always make sure it has no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. If I don't recognise an item on the ingredients list, I won't purchase it.
I love including superfoods too. My favourites include wheatgrass, supergreens, maca powder, cacao powder and goji  berries.
Buying organic is always best, where possible, and when you can afford it. It cuts out added hormones from meats and eggs, and pesticides from fruit and veg. Free range is not the same thing. It means that the animals have been treated much better, and have been given a lot more room to survive, but they can still have hormones added to them. To clean organic produce I put it in a sink full of cold water and add 4 tsp table salt and juice of 1 lemon. Leave for 10 mins and then scrub gently with a natural bristle brush. The salt draws out dirt and insects and the lemon disinfects. It is disgusting how much dirt and gunk is in the bottom of the sink when you're done. I do this all at once when I purchase it, but this can cause produce to spoil quicker as it is moistened. I haven't had a problem with this yet. I place paper towel in the bottom of the crisper for the bigger fruit and vegies and put the smaller ones in an airtight container with a draining rack underneath the food.
The most important thing to remember is if you fall off the bandwagon it's not the end of the world. Just get yourself back on track and don't punish yourself. You're only human and you are already doing so much better by your body, that the occasional slip won't set you back too much!