Did I mention that I fricken love chips? I love them like a madwoman. Fries, chips, packet crisps, handmade hashbrowns – oh honey, I aint picky. If it was once a potato and it’s been treated with heat and oil and salt to resemble that hedonistically melt-in-my-mouth lusciousness, then it pretty much owns me – body and soul. I’ll cross town twice for the perfect chip. I’ll pay top dollar for it, and yes – in my darkest hour I would forgo my organic salad for it. Chip, thou art my weakness and oft my tragic downfall.

Oh, Lord of the Fries. How I love thee. How you and your irresistable vegan fast food undo me. Image by Adele of: http://www.vegiehead.com/

While the Living Clean lifestyle by no means prohibits the consumption of such wonders of the palate, it does advocate moderation when it comes to yummy, fatty, treaty things – something that I’m not exactly a champion at when my willpower is left to its own devices.

Which is why in order to get very solidly on the front foot, I practice a f**kton of goal-setting – on a regular basis. I have to. Not just so that I have something to aim for big-picture wise, but so that I stand a chance of sticking to healthy eating and exercise habits when chips are doing their darnedest to lead me astray.

What works for me is not just setting the goals, but having active reminders of them in particularly “high-risk” locations (eg: the kitchen), near the TV, next to my runners, etc.

It also helps me – and hey, it’s taken me years to work this one out – to have multiple goals. Especially when you’re doing something like a cleanse – to help you get traction when things get a little slippery.

My Living Clean journey isn’t just about losing weight or getting clearer skin. It’s about health and wellness on a holistic level which means I set goals for myself consciously, deliberately & honestly across a broad variety of areas.

So here, in no particular order are my top 5 Living Clean goals:

1. To change my sleeping patterns without turning into a raging banshee.

I’d love to be able to hit they hay by 11pm and be up with the birdies – the early ones, that is. Right now I’m a fairly shocking night-owl (my body starts to wind down at around 1.30am) which means I struggle to make it up and out the door with even a modicum of calm.

Healthier sleep-patterns equal earlier starts. Earlier starts equal less stress. Less stress equals a longer, far happier life.

2. To do this:

3. To fit into a consistent, healthy size 8.

Please note that I am a shorty and small in structure so this is not an unreasonable size goal at all. I’m currently roughly a 10-12. A nice healthy 10-12, but I’d be really happy to shed excess weight that in part is holding me back from doing the above.

4. To feel cleansed.

This is of course a natural by-product of the Living Clean lifestyle, but also an aspiration of mine in and of itself. Chips might rock my sensory world, but you can be darned sure they make me feel all sludgy and rank after they’ve gone down the hatch. Feeling clean but at the same time satisfied is second-to-none, and it’s a gift that comes easily from strategically avoiding processed crap, and glutting like a wild creature on divine, healing, nourishing fresh fruits and veggies and a shit-ton of green juice and water.

5. Energy, baby – ENERGY!

Bouncing off the walls. Skipping down the street. Working focused, flat-out on with super-productivity. 90 minute vinyasa classes without flagging… I’ll take ‘em all, thanks! I know that a plant-based diet and lots of smartie-pants life choices can turn me into a pocket-rocket, and if I stick with my commitment to it, my energy levels will reap the rewards.

At the end of the day, Living Clean for me is about taking life up another level. Facing life squarely (hell, I aint getting any younger), and giving my body, soul and brain the best energetic foundations I can so that I can get out there and do butt-kicking, world-changing work. A clean lifestyle is fuel for an incredible life filled with incredible things.

And to me, that’s totally worth the sacrifice of a few sneaky sides of chips.

What are your cleansing goals? Do you set them consciously? Do they help stop you from slipping unconsciously into bad habits?

- Ming-Zhu. xx