14-Day Makeover Challenge: Healthy Eating

Week 1: We are what we eat, so we’re kicking off our makeover series with the food challenge. Our sample coordinator, Kirsten, has already promised to trade sugary snacks for healthy meals, but now she’s put her four main goals into writing:

1. Make healthier choices
2. Cook and bring lunch from home
3. Be more active, specifically walking home from work every day
4. Do all of the above on a budget.

To give Kirsten a running start, we hooked her up with Keri Glassman, owner of Nutritious Life and author of Slim Calm Sexy Diet, The 8 Rules Diet, and The O2 Diet. The two met at Glassman’s Manhattan office, where Kirsten learned her first tenet of healthy eating: ask what food can do for you. Will it give you energy? Improve your skin? Or make you crash? It’s what Glassman calls empowered eating. “If you focus on what’s good for you,” she says, “you want to do it.”


But empowered eating is more than just nutrition — that's just one piece of the puzzle. Because healthy habits breed even more healthy habits, she looks at a client's whole life before delving into food.

Late to bed and early to rise Kirsten almost never gets eight hours. And sleep, Glassman says, is a prerequisite to healthy eating. She recommends Kirsten enter wind-down mode 30 minutes before bedtime. This means turning off the TV and Internet, taking a hot shower or bath, and spraying some yawn-inducing lavender. Then getting into bed, making a to-do list for the next day—casting all worries aside—and saying goodnight.


With a prescription for a good night’s sleep, Kirsten gets her homework for the week. She’s not only going to give up Splenda (and all artificial sweeteners) cold turkey, but also start a three-day, green-food-only cleanse while reading excerpts of Glassman's book, Slim Calm Sexy Diet. And with this arsenal of advice, Kirsten sets off to her first week of healthier eating.

Check back Wednesday for a Q&A with Keri Glassman and next Tuesday to see what’s cookin’ with Kirsten, one week into her healthy eating challenge. Want to learn more about the ideeli 14-Day Makeover Challenge? Click here.

Get Inspired: 14-Day Makeover Challenge

Even the best of us fall into a style rut every now again. But here at ideeli, April is officially “Get Inspired” month, so we’re making it an office-wide goal to break out of those ruts (whatever they may be) post-haste. While some of us have embraced the challenge by recycling our water cup daily, others are taking it a tad more serious. Enter: the 14-Day Makeover Challenge.

Three of our very own have agreed to tackle a personal challenge head on—from fashion to hair to eating well—and document their successes (and hiccups) for all of us to follow along the way. Look for blog posts, Facebook updates, and tweets (including pics!) tracking each woman’s transformation.

Mark your calendars and start following along. (And hey, if you feel inspired...join in!)

March 27th: Our sample coordinator, Kirsten, trades in sugary snacks for nutritious, home-cooked meals (that don’t break her budget).

April 3rd: Jessica, a member specialist, goes on a hairstyle spree, looking for the perfect cut and an arsenal of styles to help tame her untamable main.

April 9th: Social media specialist, Nicole, parts ways with her closet of black and goes in search of a more sophisticated (gasp, and colorful) wardrobe.

And when it’s all said and done, we’ll celebrate the ideeli-way—with a sale. Kirsten, Jessica, and Nicole pick the items that helped them achieve their goals (and will hopefully inspire you to achieve a few of your own). Let the 14-Day Challenge begin!