By 100 Days of Real Food, on January 5th, 2012 Don’t be fooled by these misleading food myths:
- A healthy diet means eating “low-fat” and “fat-free” food products…wrong!
Michael Pollan basically abolishes this myth in his book In Defense of Food, and you can check out our mini-pledge post from week 6 for some detail.
- Mutli-grain crackers are better than crackers made from white flour…wrong!
“Mutli-grain” is a misleading buzzword because unless those grains are actually “whole grain” the product is really no better than those made from refined grains (like white flour).
- It’s “natural” so it must be a good choice…wrong!
If a product is natural it simply means it wasn’t made from any artificial ingredients, which is certainly desirable, but don’t forget that white flour, sugar, and even high-fructose corn syrup are all derived from “natural” ingredients and they are also all highly refined.
- Organic packaged food is better than conventional…okay, mostly true. Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on December 21st, 2011 This year I wanted to make fun and cute holiday cookies with my daughters without resorting to the dreaded artificial food dye.  I admit that in January I went through the trouble of making my daughter’s 6th birthday cake from scratch with freshly ground whole wheat and local eggs from the farmers’ market, but then I topped it off with artificially colored icing. Even though we made a lot of drastic changes during our 100-day pledge I guess some things are still evolving around here. So this holiday season was my chance to figure out how to make icing that’s colored naturally without breaking the bank.
I did a little research and found that “natural food dyes” do exist, but they are rather expensive at $17 a pack (which includes red, yellow & blue), and the finished product can be really pale. Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on November 30th, 2011 “Real Food” Meal Plan #5 is finally finished! This particular meal plan utilizes fall produce that’s available at some farmers’  markets this time of year. The first four meal plans – including spring and summer – are available on our facebook page, but I’ve decided to make this one available to email subscribers only (see instructions below). These meals plans are incredibly detailed so I’ve only been able to crank out a new one every few months or so. But if you’re looking for some inspiration on a more regular basis then be sure to check out our sponsor, The Fresh 20. They offer new dinner meal plans weekly including vegetarian and gluten-free options!
As always, this is what you’ll find with my meal plans:
- One 7-day practical “real food” menu plan designed for busy families
- Complete meals listed each day for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner with leftovers incorporated Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on October 17th, 2011  Pictured: White rice, brown rice and black wild rice (only the brown and black rice are whole grain) We actually don’t keep track of any of our food stats whether it’s calories, fat grams, carbs or nutrients. One of the key messages I took away from Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, is that if you eat a variety of whole foods that’s heavy on plants and reasonable in quantity then the rest will just fall into place. After all the subtitle of his book is “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” And we agree that this philosophy is a whole lot easier than weighing out 4 ounces of salmon for dinner or writing down how many calories we consumed in a day.
Now that’s not to say knowing how nutrients in different foods compare couldn’t be valuable information, which is why I’m sharing the below charts today from the Whole Grains Council. In a recent post about “Understanding Grains” I detailed the difference between some of the most common whole and refined grains, and overall I think most people get the fact that whole-wheat is far more nutritious than refined white flour. But lately quite a few readers have been trying to challenge me when I say brown rice is more nutritious than white rice. So without further ado, below are the exact numbers from the Whole Grains Council that very clearly show you the difference between… Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on September 14th, 2011 by Andrew Wilder
Hello, 100 Days of Real Food readers! Lisa has asked me to share a guest post with you while she’s on vacation, and I’m thrilled to be here. My story is remarkably similar to hers and her family’s: Until a couple of years ago, my diet was filled with processed and fried foods. After slowly gaining 30 pounds — and eventually having my “ah-ha!” moment — I started exercising and eating more healthfully. I lost the extra weight, and felt great. During that time, I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, which led to my own October Unprocessed challenge last year. I discovered 100 Days of Real Food somewhere around the same time, and Lisa and I met in person at a conference a few months later. We immediately became friends, of course, since we’re kindred spirits!
Any time I can find tips, tricks, or tools to help make eating healthfully easier, I get really excited. One device that has helped me tremendously is my iPhone. With this little magical gizmo always at my side, I can look up nutrition information, figure out which seafood is the best for my family and my planet, and a whole lot more.
A little while back, I posted a list of 27 Apps for Healthy Foodies, on my own blog, and for this post Lisa has asked me to narrow the list down to just ten — with a focus specifically on apps that will help busy families. So without further ado, here’s my list of top ten apps for healthy foodie families. If you have other favorites, please share in the comments!
By 100 Days of Real Food, on July 22nd, 2011 Today I am republishing a post I wrote on “understanding grains” last year. I think this is a great refresher for those who read it last summer and also a good reference guide for those who are newer to the site. Finding whole grains in the store can often-times be tricky because of all the misleading labels on packaging these days. Just be sure to remember – when it comes to any type of packaged food always ignore what it says on the front and only read the ingredients!
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Understanding Grains
By 100 Days of Real Food, on July 29th, 2010
First and foremost I must get something off my chest. Just because a box of something at the grocery store or even a bagel at the bakery says “multi-grain” does not mean it is a healthy alternative. Multi-grain simply means the food is made with more than one grain and has absolutely nothing to do with whether any of those grains are actually the whole grain or not, which is what is really important.
Awhile back I did an in-depth post on understanding whole-wheat and what should be in your sandwich bread. What you know about wheat can easily be applied to many other grains as well. In summary, the wheat berry has three parts (the germ, bran, and endosperm) and whole-wheat flour includes all three of these parts. When highly processed (a.k.a. refined) white flour is made the nutritious bran and germ are removed and only the endosperm is left, which is basically high in calories and low in nutrients. I don’t know about you, but this reminds me a little too much of sugar. This “white” flour is still made from the “wheat” plant, but it is considered to be highly processed. Here are a few other popular grains and how this same thought process can be applied… Continue Reading »
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