The days of summer are officially upon us which means road trips, vacations, boat days and beach days! You’ve got your favorite summer playlist, beach chair and bathing suit, and I’ve got you covered on the best (healthy!) foods and drinks to pack this summer!

In addition to the obvious no-no ingredient list, we also avoid inflammatory oils, carrageenan, refined sugars, gums and natural flavors, so it’s a challenge to find items that don’t contain at least one of the ingredients that we avoid. Eating clean doesn’t mean that you can never again enjoy eating those good summer snacks, but it does mean that you may have to get creative sometimes and make it yourself from scratch!

SAVORY AND SWEET SNACKS.

I’ve shared my favorite homemade jalapeno pimento cheese dip recipe here and my healthy bacon cheddar ranch chip dip here. I love to pack celery sticks and carrot sticks to go with the pimento cheese dip or Siete’s Maiz Sea Salt Tortilla chips. Siete’s sea salt chips or Barnana’s Cassava Chips are my favorite to pair with the ranch dip! Other good, clean chips are the Lesser Evil Himalayan Pink Salt organic popcorn or Jackson’s Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips.

We always pack non-gmo (preferably organic and sprouted!) nuts as another savory snack. I love pistachios as a savory snack when we’re on the go or relaxing on the beach!

I also pack lots of fruit to snack on - blueberries, strawberries, peaches, honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon are some of our favorites! We also throw several little cuties tangerines in the cooler too!

For cookies, Siete is my go-to brand for clean ingredient cookies! Their chocolate chip cookies and shortbread cookies are my favorite ones! Another sweet option is Purely Elizabeth granola - most all of the flavors are clean (just make sure to keep an eye on the total sugar!), but my favorite is her Original Ancient Grains. I also like to pack dry cereal as a snack - Seven Sundays Real Cocoa or Lovebird Strawberry are both delish!

EASY LUNCH IDEAS.

I do try to pack some kind of lunch, whether it’s sandwiches or all beef hot dogs or hamburgers when we’re going to be out on the beach all day!

For sandwiches, I use Simple Kneads oil free bread and my husband likes their sourdough bread - both are gluten free (you can buy locally in West Ashley at Earthfare)! We don’t eat alot of deli meat, but if we do, I like the Applegate Farms brand - I get their organic uncured ham and organic oven-roasted chicken breast. For cheese, I am loving the brand Origin Creamery with their regenerative, A2 milk cheese (you can buy locally in West Ashley at Earthfare).

For the buns, my husband uses the Bread of Heaven organic sourdough buns or organic burger buns (you can buy locally in Mt. Pleasant at Local Jo’s), and I eat my hot dog or hamburger without a bun. For the meat, I buy the Force of Nature regenerative grassfed beef hot dogs or the grassfed beef and bison burgers (you can buy locally in West Ashley at Earthfare). Toppings for the hotdogs include Wildbrine dill and garlic sauerkraut and Primal Kitchen unsweetened ketchup and spicy brown mustard, and toppings for the hamburger are lettuce, tomato, the Origin Creamery cheese and Primal Kitchen ketchup.

DRINKS.

For drinks, we just stick with plain filtered water, unsweetened coconut water or I’ll throw in an Olipop for each of us! I stopped drinking alcohol almost two years ago, and my husband has switched to drinking non-alcoholic beer - his favorite is the Athletic Brewing Co. Run Wild IPA and the Free Wave Hazy IPA.

SIDE NOTE.

There’s a lot of chatter on social media about accounts that promote healthy and clean eating promoting disordered eating. I disagree. Being intentional about the ingredients that you choose to ingest is not disordered eating. It’s being wise and it’s being proactive about the quality and longevity of your health. You must advocate for yourself and for your family when it comes to the foods that you deem to be safe to ingest. There are countless ingredients that are banned in other countries that are allowed in the foods that are produced in America. There is a reason why our country continues to lead the world in health care costs, but ironically, also chronic disease and obesity, meaning that health care is not being spent on preventative care, but rather 90% of these costs are being spent on treating chronic disease and mental health. When you realize that 60-90% of the standard American diet is primarily made up of highly processed foods, you will come to the realization that the very foods and drinks that we are conveniently grabbing off the shelves and eating every day are slowly (but surely) making us very sick. The overconsumption of processed foods in this country is causing an alarming and rapid increase in obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and we are even seeing these alarming trends in children. This information should empower you to take back control of your health. You have the liberty and freedom to decide what you will and will not allow in your body. Start with learning to cook simple and healthy meals. The most important advice that I can offer is to start reading your ingredients - a simple rule is that if there are more than five ingredients on the label, then pass. Sticking with whole, unprocessed foods is the easiest way to eat clean and not get overwhelmed with reading ingredients. There are apps available to help with grocery shopping and reading labels, but my favorite approach is the 5-ingredient approach. I’ll share more on a later post that will go into detail about how to start grocery shopping if you want to make the transition to clean eating. It’s not as difficult and overwhelming as it seems, and I promise you that it will be worth it!