Ready for a healthy reset? Learn how to spring clean your diet with fresh, seasonal foods, smart eating habits, and easy, nourishing recipe ideas.
How to Spring Clean Your Diet: Fresh Plant-Based Tips and Seasonal Recipe Ideas for a Healthy Reset
As the seasons shift and everything around you gets a fresh start, it’s the perfect time to give your diet a gentle reset too. Spring cleaning your diet doesn’t mean restriction—it’s about adding more vibrant, nutrient-rich foods, embracing seasonal produce, and moving past habits that may have crept in over the cooler months. As the weather warms up, it’s time to cool down your eating style. Bid adieu to heavy comfort foods, and say bonjour to light as a feather, delicious, veggie-rich meals.
If you’re thinking of taking on a more plant-based lifestyle this spring, this is the perfect time to take small steps towards that goal. Stock your fridge with spring produce at its finest, such as asparagus, root vegetables, tender greens, and berries; and lighter, plant-based alternatives, such as tofu, edamame, chickpeas, and soy yogurt. Turn these ingredients into tasty, healthful meals you can feel really good about—for you and the planet.
Studies show that plant-based eating reduces your chronic disease and obesity risk, as well as your carbon footprint. So, go ahead and do your part to lighten your load on Mother Earth by moving to a more plant-centric diet. Just because you’re going more plant-based, it doesn’t mean you have to give up good taste. Is there anything better than a sweet, aromatic strawberry at the famers market? Or savory sautéed mushrooms in olive oil on a rustic slice of toast? Wait, it gets even better. These days, you can have everything you want on a plant-based diet, from veggie-burgers to healthy-indulgent cheesecake cups, thanks to plant-based essentials you can find in most markets. Looking for a yummy dairy-free cream cheese for your bagel? Check. Want plant-based cheese shreds that melt up all golden and bubbly on your veggie lasagna? They’ve got it. So, to celebrate the season, I’m sharing simple, sustainable tips to refresh your eating routine along with light, satisfying plant-based recipe ideas to help you feel energized, nourished, and in tune with the season.
Top 4 Spring Plant-Based Tips
1. Open Up Your Sandwich
In many cultures, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, sandwiches are served open-face. This has many benefits, including moderating calories by serving a single slice of bread, and boosting up the nutritious, plant-based toppings, such as greens, veggies, tofu, and plant-based spreads. Essentially salads served on a slice of bread, these open-face sammies are meant to be eaten with a knife and fork. Check out my recipe for this tofu sandwich (pictured above).
2. Build a Better Salad
Sure, everyone knows that salads are the go-to, light and healthy spring meal, but sometimes they can leave you feeling a tad hungry. That’s why I recommend building your hearty plant-based entrée salad with finesse using this formula:
Greens + Veggies + Whole Grains + Plant Proteins + Flavor = A Great Plant-Powered Salad
Try these salad suggestions for ingredients to make the most of your salad.
BYO Healthy Salad Guide
| Greens
2 cups |
Veggies
1-2 cups |
Whole Grains
1/2 cup cooked |
Plant Proteins
1/2 cup (nuts/seeds: ¼ cup) |
Flavor
As desired |
| Kale | Tomatoes | Quinoa | Chickpeas | EVOO |
| Romaine | Artichoke hearts | Sorghum | Baked tofu | Lemon juice |
| Arugula | Bell peppers | Brown rice | Edamame | Balsamic vinegar |
| Chinese cabbage | Carrots | Millet | Tempeh | Basil |
| Swiss chard | Cucumbers | Amaranth | Hemp seeds | Plant-based cheese shreds |
| Mache | Asparagus | Wild rice | Kidney beans | Raisins |
| Spinach | Zucchini | Farro | Sunflower seeds | Tortilla strips |
| Red lettuce | Broccoli | Barley | Peanuts | Dried cranberries |
| Curly leaf lettuce | Cauliflower | Ryeberries | Chia seeds | Ginger |
| Watercress | Peas | Wheatberries | Black beans | Garlic |
| Green leaf lettuce | Avocados | Spelt | White beans | Turmeric |
3. Skinny Dip into a Healthy Parfait
One of my favorite healthy, light meals or snacks is as easy as one, two, three (literally!). My Plant-Based Soy Yogurt Parfait is so versatile you can serve it as a nutritious breakfast, or even as a guilt-free dessert. All for about 300 calories, plus a nice dose of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant compounds. It’s simple: Just spoon half a carton (150 grams) of your favorite flavor of soy yogurt into a dish or parfait glass. Top with fresh spring berries, and sprinkle with your favorite granola. Repeat the layers one more time and enjoy!
4. Wrap it Up
I love light and easy wraps as a way to “wrap up” a delicious plant-forward meal. It’s like packaging up your best salad in an edible container; you can tuck so many delicious, plant-based ingredients into a wrap for every occasion—plus these meals are entirely portable for your spring lifestyle.
Top 10 Plant-Based Spring Recipes
Discover more ways to spring clean your diet with these favorite recipes.
