Freya West still recalls the first time she entered a grocery store driven to “eat clean.” She had just decided to modify her way of life, but she soon felt overburdled.
“There were too many labels, too many buzzwords—organic, non-GMO, natural—I didn’t even know what counted as clean,” she notes. Clean Eating Cookbook for Beginners: Eat Better, Feel Better, 500 No-Fuss Clean Recipes Incl. Whole Foods, Diabetic Recipes with 21-Meal Plan to Fuel Your Life
But Freya inhaled and simplified rather than reversing and returning to her former ways. She concentrated on what felt real—fruits and vegetables that seemed to come from the ground, grains she could pronounce, proteins she identified. Her cart started to show the sort of change she was hoping for slowly.
“I was not striving for perfection,” she says. “I simply wanted to make better decisions starting where I was.”
Every week Freya gained fresh knowledge on how to spot hidden sugars, which pantry basics really counted, and how to create meals without depending on processed shortcuts. Her grocery list evolved from a set of products to a tool for helping her to shape a life she felt worthy of.
Freya guides other first-timers towards that same confidence today. “You don’t have to buy everything expensive or organic,” she says. You simply have to start—with curiosity rather than pressure.
