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Diet

The healthy Canadian students taking Instagram by storm

With close to 200,000 followers Toronto's Greta Epstein and Jamie Milne are quickly becoming the go-to source for healthy inspiration online.

avocado egg recipe

With an impressive Instagram following, Toronto's Greta Epstein and Jamie Milne — the girls behind Cleaneatz — are quickly becoming the go-to source for healthy inspiration online.

After meeting (and rooming) together at McGill University the girls started snapping photos of their healthy meals and posting them online. Within months they'd become gurus in dorm-life eating to their thousands of followers. With aspirations to, "Motivate others and show our followers that clean eating and living a healthy lifestyle is very possible when you're away at school," the fourth-year students have one more year to prove that university eating doesn't have to defined by pots of macaroni and late-night bags of Doritos. So whether you're still studying, or long past that point, their tips on healthy living are sure to teach you a thing or two:

1. Drink water This is one of the simplest, and most important pieces of advice we could give. Drinking water boosts your energy, as well as metabolism, which will contribute to weight loss. We aim to drink eight glasses of water a day.

2. Get sleep No buts. Your body needs it!

3. Keep a fitness journal Keeping a record of your workout routines and meals is a great way to get on track and stay there. There are so many apps available for this, which makes it super-convenient and easy.

4. Go easy on the booze College is all about having fun, don’t get us wrong. But alcohol is a huge contributor to weight gain, and not to mention a terrible headache the next morning! This doesn’t mean cutting out alcohol all together but it does lead us to our next point…

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5. Everything in moderation College is an experience of a lifetime and everyone should live it to the fullest. Its okay to indulge, just don't overdo it. One ice cream cone won’t kill you, but one a day may be a little excessive. Try a “cheat day” rule – one day to treat yourself with whatever goodies you like!

6. Avoid eating out  When in school, it’s very easy to find cheap eats and student deals at restaurants. Lots of these foods, while budget-friendly, are often high in fat, high in calories and high in sodium. Set limits to eating out to ensure you don’t overdo it – try once or twice a week.

7. Focus on meal prep Going off our last point, it's very beneficial to prep your meals. This means getting things organized the night before or earlier in the week in order to save time, stay on track and start a healthy eating routine.

8. Cut out white foods This is an easy and significant way to lose weight. By cutting out things like white pasta, white bread, white rice, white flour and processed sugar, which are full of empty calories and carbs, you'll be shedding pounds in no time.

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9. Avoid boxed and packaged foods Many of these foods are refined and made of artificial ingredients, which are doing little to benefit your health. Keep it fresh and real. Look for foods that don't have labels at all and are only one ingredient, like fruits and veggies!

10. Nutritional information does not meal calories Don’t focus on the number of calories in what you eat. A high number is guaranteed to freak you out when the food could be high in protein and completely healthy. Focus on specific nutrients that your body needs. For example, lean meats, foods high in fibre, and fruits and vegetables filled with nutrients are what you should look for.

Try our favourite breakfast recipe below:

Ingredients (1 serving) - 1 avocado - 2 eggs - Juice of 1 lemon - Chopped cilantro - Salt and pepper to taste

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

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2. Line a cooking tray with foil and spray with oil. Cut avocado in half, and scoop out a little of the middle to make enough space for the egg and place on the pan.

3. Squeeze lemon over avocado and sprinkle salt over avocado.

4. Crack the eggs into the holes of the avocados - it's okay if some of the white part spills over the avocado.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until clear part turns white

6. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over the eggs and salt and pepper as desired

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