I hear from readers quite frequently who would like to cut out processed food, but are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. The key thing to remember is that small changes can go a long way – cutting out processed food doesn’t have to be all or nothing! So to help you get off on the right foot this New Year below are 5 easy changes you can implement this month. In fact EVERYONE could start #1 today. It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s all about awareness. Pick 1 or 2 items from this list and commit to starting them this week. Once you’ve got those items down move on to the others, and before you know it some of these changes will become your “new normal.”
Speaking of getting off on the right foot this New Year I also want to introduce you to our meal planning sponsor, The Fresh 20! It’s no secret that it can take more time to plan and cook real food day in and day out, but a service like The Fresh 20 can really take some of the weight off your shoulders. Each week they send you 5 unprocessed dinner recipes that you can make from 20 fresh ingredients. For only $5/month the budget-friendly recipes include an organized shopping list, and you can choose from their Classic, Vegetarian, or Gluten-Free plan. If you are already a member of The Fresh 20 we’d love for you to share your feedback in the comments below!
5 Easy “Real Food” Changes for 2013
- Read ingredient labels.
Everyone could easily start doing this today…or right now in fact (in your own pantry!). Before you eat or buy any packaged food read the list of ingredients on the back. You don’t even have to change what you are buying or eating quite yet, but just being aware of how processed your food selections are can be the first step in the right direction!
Some things to think about: Can you pronounce all the ingredients? How many are on the list? Are they all items you would cook with in your own kitchen? Which ingredients are refined or some sort of sweetener (like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cane juice, brown rice syrup, aspartame, etc.)?
- - Start buying 100% whole-grain products.
Bread products tend to take up a big portion of the Standard American Diet so switching to 100% whole grain could potentially go a long way. Many common grocery products are made with refined grains – things like sandwich bread, pasta, crackers, rice, breadcrumbs, hamburger buns, croutons, etc. So there’s lots of room for improvement here! And being a former “white bread girl” myself I can tell you I used to avoid whole-wheat bread because I despised the taste. I now realize that’s because I was trying grocery store, factory-made whole-wheat bread that was made with a ton of additives and preservatives. We now buy 5 ingredient bread from a local bakery (or make our own) and it thankfully tastes MUCH better!
- - Switch to organic dairy.
I’ll never forget something I once heard Dr. Oz say. When it comes to buying dairy products you just cannot peel or wash off your milk like you can your produce…so it’s best to go organic. Just one of many great reasons to avoid conventional dairy products from animals that have been treated with antibiotics and hormones (not to mention their diet and living conditions – you are what you eat eats, too)!
- - Eat more produce (preferably organic).
If you aren’t eating a lot of fresh produce today…what’s the reason? Is it because you don’t like veggies, you think they’re too much work to prepare, or because you’d just rather have deep-fried potato chips instead?
If you haven’t been a big fan of vegetables in the past I encourage you to try fresh/local veggies, some new recipes for your vegetables, and even some new vegetables all together. Fruits and vegetables are (obviously) whole foods and putting more of that goodness on your plate will automatically displace some of the processed stuff!
- - Offer your kids more real food.
The average 5-year-old can’t drive himself to McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A and pay for a meal. So let’s face it, in most cases it’s almost completely up to the parent to offer their young children the right choices. Yes, my daughters both like real food, but if I handed them a bag of Cheetos for a snack they would totally chow down (they are kids after all!). So, as a result, I don’t hand them a bag of Cheetos and instead offer them a banana with peanut butter or a box of raisins or some whole-grain pretzels or an organic cheese stick for a snack (Note: None of these real food snacks require much more work than opening a bag of Cheetos). These are all whole foods I know my kids will eat so that’s what I give them when they are hungry. I strongly encourage everyone to do their part by offering their own children more real food this year. You never know…their response might pleasantly surprise you!
What do you plan on doing in the New Year to reduce your family’s consumption of highly processed foods?
Thanks for the tips, and for making real food seem more possible for people. I am still working on organic dairy products (cheese is very hard to come by) and organic produce, but I am making progress. This year we are going to participate in a CSA program here in Australia, and I love the idea that everything in our box will be locally-grown and mostly organic.
Nice list! We do some of this already… reading labels, for instance, and avoiding HFCS (we have an autistic son). We eat tons of veggies, and I’ve taken to dehydrating leafy greens and just adding them to *everything* (spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce, any stew or soup, etc.) so I can get them into those who dislike them. We don’t buy organic much, because of the price and our limited budget, but we do buy local as much as possible. We also buy in season, when it’s cheaper, and then freeze or can or dehydrate for use the rest of the year. I’m loving eating our local potatoes, pulled up out of the cellar. We bought them in August and we’re *just* starting to see a couple of eyes forming on some, but most of them are still clear.
Eating seasonal is a big one for me. One of my partners likes to pick up fruits out of season, and I deal (I mean, really… I’m not saying no to fresh strawberries and pears). I do try to stay mostly seasonal for veggies, though. This time of year we eat potatoes, carrots, turnips, cold weather greens, beans, etc. In another two months we’ll be eating early lettuce and dandilion greens. I’m going to force some green beans indoors, early, too… so I can have them out in the ground quite early, to supplement our store bought veggies.
I’m also looking forward to getting some maple syrup and sugar this year. Last year we’d just moved into our new home, and I wasn’t organized enough to tap our trees. Now, though… we have access to hundreds of maples, and there are a dozen on our own property. I plan on tapping as many as I can, then making as much maple syrup and sugar as I can manage. Our family will use maple sugar in everything rather than refined white, and maple syrup goes in everything as well.
Thank you for stating “cutting out processed food doesn’t have to be all or nothing”. I tend to be a perfectionist in that if I can’t do something all the way then I get frustrated and give up. Your tips make this so much easier. I want to feed myself and family better, but honestly I grew up on processed food and it’s overwhelming to me to change. Knowing I can make little changes over time helps me to continue to pursue a better lifestyle.
Lena, like you I’m a perfectionist and an all-or-nothing type of gal. I too grew up on processed foods (and the standard steak and potato dinners). I jumped head first into a whole foods diet about 8 weeks ago. Plus cut out all meat and most dairy. Yikes!!!
It was definitely a shock. I felt like I was on mars! I’d walk around the grocery store and think, “I can’t eat a thing in here!” Restaurants were the enemy. I got pretty angry at the food industry for duping me for so long, and making me an addict. Plus at myself for clearly ignoring the old adage, An Apple a Day….
But, I adjusted. It only took about 2 weeks (2 really lousy weeks, lots of headaches and malaise). My husband and I bought a juicer and love all the healthy foods we are eating, I have learned to make whole wheat bread, granola, wheat tortillas, and wheat crust for pizza. Plus all sauces from scratch!! I just dusted off the blender and went with it.I fill my entire cart in the produce section. AND I feel great! Oh and the weight loss is a nice side effect too….
So, you can do a little at a time, or dive in. Either way, you are making the right choice!
I have been using the Fresh20 for months now. I love it! The recipes are delicious. Some are more time consuming than others, but I have been able to adapt them to fit my schedule. For the most part they are very time manageable, and let you know what to prepare ahead to save time. If one week looks particularly time consuming I will just skip it and pick another from the archives. It has majorly organized my grocery shopping too and thus probably saves me money. I have recommended it to all my family and friends!
I do feel overwhelmed. After years and years of unhealthy eating habits, I wonder how I could ever become “pure.” But you make it manageable. One change I made last year, before reading this post, was to check EVERY packaged item for MSG. Unbelievable how many products use MSG. I made a conscious effort to get rid of that. Now, I shall continue my quest to eating real food. Thanks!
We are really good at each of these except for #3. We don’t drink much milk as my husband is sensitive to it, but I do purchase cheese. Just today I was looking into where we can buy local cheese and eggs, and it turns out that there are two shops in our town that I thought only sold meat, but they do cheese and eggs as well from local farmers (we are vegetarian, so I have never shopped at these stores). Still not organic, but I think buying local is a step up from buying from the big grocery store.
Otherwise, I am personally trying to do “100 Days of Real Food” myself. We eat real food most of the time anyway, so it’s not a big life change, except that I do love sweets, so cutting that out will be a challenge. So far so good though!
This is great! I can give myself a big pat on the back because all of the above are happening in my household. Can you point me to the next five steps?
Hi Lauryn. Have you guys done the 10 day pledge or the mini pledges? You may want to give those a try. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/ and http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/100-days-of-mini-pledges/. Jill
I will look into that. I am blogging about my food journey (just started tonight so don’t expect much) but will be putting links within my blog to some of your pages when I reference them. Is that okay? I don’t know how all that works. I don’t make money or sell anything. A few friends just asked me to share.
Thanks.
Hello,
I had emailed the info site, but have not received a return reply. I have some questions and see that you all are very prompt in replying here, so I’m going to post my email questions here in hopes to get some answers more quickly. Thank you so much:
Hello,
First, I want to say thank you sooo much for your blog. I have learned so much and enjoy learning more and more each day. So, we were a fairly conscious family in regards to eating non-processed foods, but I have learned there were/are a lot more in what we eat than I ever thought. The biggest change for me was removing Splenda! Amazing since I’m a hard core iced tea drinker. Anyway, I have a few questions that I need some assistance with, please.
First – I was at the store this evening and was looking for cheese (deli section) and picked up various brands of cheese and noted the annato in so many of them (mostly the yellow cheese). I actually did not purchase any of them because I wanted to research it a little more since, you know, the rule is that I should know how to pronounce and/or know what it is. I looked on your blog and noticed it is deemed a natural form for coloring, however after reviewing the comments on one of the blog you posted about food colorings, I see that it can/may have affects or seem questionable to many of the parents. They found that many of the time time when removed from their diet, they saw great improvements in their kids… maybe to do w/that or not, but I’m just curious what are your thoughts on this? We are not dealing with any ADD/ADHD issues w/out kids, but I just want a clean of a cheese as possible.
Two – I have had the absolute hardest time finding bread that follows the rules. OMG, even at Whole Foods I have a hard time finding anything. I had heard about a bread that was really only sold in the Northwest (I’m in CA) and thankfully I have found it now at our store, Dave’s Killer Bread. It doesn’t follow the rules in that there are way more than 5 ingredients, however that is because it has a gazillion seeds in it and those are listed, obviously. Can you take a look at this bread ingredients and tell me if they “work” when following the rules. I did receive a bread machine for Christmas and plan to start making my own, but I just want a bread that I can have on hand on weeks where I may not have as much time to prepare bread from home, etc (I’m a working mom). This bread is sooo yummy, but I’m wondering about the wheat gluten that is added and using the juices as the sweetener: the ingredients are: organic whole wheat flour, organic cracked whole wheat, water, power seed mix (they list all the seeds), organic fruit juices (pear, pineapple, peach, organic oat fiber, organic vital wheat gluten, organic rolled oats, sea salt, organic cultured wheat, yeast
One last thing… please tell me it is OK to go 100% whole milk. I couldn’t bring myself to do it this weekend at the store b/c of fear of the fat content. Do you just limit your consumption? I have an underweight almost 2 year old (due to issues with birth weight) who definitely gets it, but my 3 year old usually has the 2% with us too. They are milk drinkers and water…. can or should I just water down his milk?
Thanks so much for your help and I really do appreciate all of your knowledge!
This is long, but I would really appreciate some assistance as we move forward w/this change of life!
Marlo, as for the bread question, Lisa has mentioned a couple time Great Harvest Bread Co.’s honey wheat, it follows the “rules” and it’s sold in CA. http://blipstar.com/blipstarplus/viewer/map.php?uid=600237&type=nearest&max=100&width=800&language=&lat=&lng=&country=&accuracy=&rnd=13375&search=california&value=10&product=
Trader Joes brand has only 5 real ingredients! And it’s a $1.99! It is their regular whole wheat bread I buy that if I’m not in the mood to make my own.
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Marlo,
To me it seems you are complicating things. It’s easy to get bogged down in details. I eat organic or European cheese that is sold at Aldi’s. if you are concerned about a food coloring, buy white cheddar cheese. I live in small town but my local Kroger sells bread I can eat in the freezer section. It is sold in their organic section. I drink whole milk only because I try to stay away from processed food as much as possible to cook with and drink. From everything I have read whole milk is healthier. I am not a nutritionist so will not attempt to tell you if you should water down your children’s milk.
Lisa’s site is well researched and has lots of good meal plans and recipes. Start your changes one step at a time and enjoy the food. It gets easier as you go along.
Jan
Where do get your seeds for gardening? What about the soil…any suggestion?
Hi Bonte. Lisa purchases her stuff at Renfrow Hardware in Matthews. Jill
Thanks for the tips!! And, I am going to subscribe to Fresh20 today – looks great!
Just wanted to let you know that Groupon has a deal today for half off of Fresh 20! Here’s the link!
http://www.groupon.com/deals/the-fresh-20-88?p=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&sid=bbb304ec-4a24-4708-8359-2a44f589508f&division=akron-canton&user=db2197ccfcdfaa168bd9f5dfecbb18b8a5571099e980e85dd1d0f156a29f9ca7&date=20130109&s=body&c=deal_title&d=deal-page&utm_campaign=the-fresh-20-88
I tried and the deal is closed. Stating it closed at 1/15/13. ODD. Let me know if you have another link. Thank you of the heads up.
Amy,
Sorry you missed the Groupon from January. We have a national Groupon campaign coming up February 14th – 20th.
I am so happy that I already do these things except sometimes I find myself buying some grains that are not 100%. The hardest thing for me is to find whole wheat orzo. Sometimes I order it from Amazon but it can get expensive. Thanks for all of the useful and user-friendly posts–you guys keep me inspired and focused! xo
We are trying to eat healthy ,less or no processed for cooking and eating. I enjoy your site for tips,like reading the boxes and using fresh veg & fruit. I like to bake so I’ve changed a few things there. I think my daughter-in-law shared you on facebook,that’s how I found you. I think allot of people want to eat less processed food and this will help them get there. We garden and freeze & can everything we get,we have fruit trees & berries & asparagus patch.
Thank you.
I have been following food restrictions for two months for a medical condition,, at least 85% of time. Hope this blog will help me. I often bake my own bread, but don’t have a recipe for any 100% whole grain bread
All of my recipes are 50:50 at best. I think bakery bread is the same. If you can direct me to a recipe, I would appreciate it. I mostly make quick bread as aim to avoid yeast, ex: banana bread. I am not restricted from white flour, but from barley malt which is in white AP flour.
We have had CSA shares in season. I don’t think organic dairy can be purchased locally. I use almond milk as I am lactose intolerant. We buy eggs from local farmers. (Organic, free range weather permitting)
I am allowed processed cheese, but not aged cheese or yogurt. So this will be my one exception to the rules.
Not allowed yeast products unless at least a day old. Not allowed any preservatives, nitrates, or fermented food. Very limited amounts of vinegar. I must buy chicken at specialty stores (from Amish farm) because the chain stores ALL have added “flavor enhancers”. I would eat white flour & sugar before I ate flavor enhancers.
Local pork is easy to find, and sometimes beef.
Haven’t seen flavor enhancers mentioned yet, but I suggest avoiding it same as MSG and HFCS.
Hi Linda. Here is a bread recipe…http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/17/recipe-honey-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-for-bread-machine/. Jill
I just found this blog and it looks quite promising! Looking forward to reading some more as I get a chance.
Many blessings…
I am just wondering about organic milk. Most if not all that I have seen is ultra pastuerized. I have heard that ultra pastuerization kills all the things that are good in the milk. Do you know whether or not that is true? And do you avoid ultra pastuerized dairy products?
Hi Mandy. This link should answer your questions: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/07/milk-101-whole-raw-organic-low-fat-etc/ ~Amy
There was that study that was done recently out of Baylor School of Medicine that found that lunches from home were worse than school supplied cafeteria lunches. Researchers suggested that perhaps parents were more concerned with kids eating rather than worrying about what they were eating. Do those parents honestly think their children will starve? I agree with #5 (well all of them, of course
) Give the kids some credit–and give them time to accept that there will be no more cheetohs. I know they can eat real food.
I love the Fresh 20 and appreciate the plug on your blog. I just wish they had a Gluten-Free Vegetarian option. Unfortunately, you can only pick one or the other.
Amy,
The conversion to gluten free for the vegetarian meal plans is really simple. We will probably start to make some notes on the plans to assist in converting them to gluten free.
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I work doing food demos and it’s so disturbing reading labels. It is particularly upsetting how many products they’re slipping in artificial sweeteners. I glanced over at Jello Mousse one day and decided to read the ingredients and there it was, sucralose. They’re sticking it in everything. Now dairy companies don’t want to have to disclose artificial sweeteners in their flavored products. That it so illegal. I serve many people who are allergic to them and consumers have to know this information. I don’t understand how companies can get away without disclosing every single ingredient. One day I was doing McCormick salt-free Garlic & Herb demo at Sam’s Club when everyone was asking “Are you sure there’s no salt in this?” I never thought to look at the package of chicken and here it is injected with 10% chicken stock. It is their own chicken advertised “all natural.” You have to be so aware of everything.
I think that raw milk, which we purchase from a local dairy farmer through a cow-share program, is even better for you. No pasteurization to kill off beneficial properties and no homogenization to disrupt proteins being broken down in the digestive process.
I grew up drinking this type of milk which we got from my aunt and uncle who were farmers and milked their own cows. My son, who has Aspergers and is casein-sensitive, has not had a problem with raw milk. It doesn’t make him constipated nor does it make him sick. Plus, it tastes great! It’s a win-win for us so far.