We would like to ask you to join our mission by taking the 10 Days of Real Food pledge. Over 7,000 people all the way from Austin to Australia have signed up so far! Check out the blog post with their feedback to see how much the 10-day pledge has impacted their lives. As you’ve probably noticed, this website is about our family taking the 100 Days of Real Food pledge. If all four of us did it for 100 days, I am convinced that absolutely anyone can do it for only 10 days. And what harm is there in trying?
On the other hand, if you feel the need to ease into things then check out our weekly “real food” mini-pledge series or our list of suggested pledge alternatives on the rules page. These may help you get ready for the 10-day pledge or simply help you make some general changes for the better. However, if you want a true wake up call to just how pervasive processed foods are in everyday life, we believe there is no substitute for the 10-day pledge! We promise that your new-found perspective will be worth the effort.
Benefits of Taking the 10-Day Pledge
Upon completing your goal we predict you will gain the following:
- A first-hand, eye opening experience of how to identify the real food in our processed food world.
- At least one improved health benefit such as having more energy, losing weight, improving regularity, or just feeling healthier overall.
- The realization that some of those pre-packaged processed “food-like substances” don’t even taste that good compared to real food.
- The opportunity to teach your children (if you have them), by example, the healthiest way to eat and enjoy the food mother nature has given us.
- A congratulatory letter and complimentary gift – a silicone wristband debossed with “10 Days of Real Food” which you can wear to make sure all of your friends know what you accomplished!
- The ability to continue on with your life however you chose, but with the new knowledge of how and why to avoid processed foods. Hopefully your 10-day experience will convince you to consider making at least a few changes for life.
How to Take the 10-Day Pledge
- Review the rules that you must follow for the full 10 days. In case you need some more convincing you may also want to review 10 reasons to cut out processed food.
- Complete the form below including your start date. We recommend that you take at least a few days or longer to plan and prepare your kitchen with whole foods so you have enough to eat once your mission starts. Also, consider boxing away the stuff that might tempt you to break the rules – we want you to succeed!
- We also recommend that you spend a few moments reviewing our concise list of real food meal ideas (that link directly to recipes) on the Recipes and Resources page of this site.
- Don’t forget to update your facebook or twitter status to let your friends know that you are starting the 10 Days of Real Food pledge so they can provide you with support and accountability!
- Once you have completed your 10-day pledge visit the Real Food Graduates page to tell us about your experience. We want to know how it went, keep track of how many people have come this far, and be able to send you your free gift.
[...] Take the 10-day Pledge [...]
[...] to my regular posts on The Food Illusion). We are also inviting readers to join in by taking the 10 Days of Real Food pledge. If we can do it for 100 days then absolutely anyone can do it for 10 [...]
Great challenge. I certainly would like to swear off processed foods all together. 10 days seems like a great start.
Congrats on taking charge of your health! We are a family of six and when our 16 year old daughter started getting really sick from MSG (in ALL processed foods), we all started to eat only real foods. It’s been seven months now and although it was a really big adjustment, it is well worth it. Most of us now will not touch anything processed, mostly because we can now taste the chemicals in the food. Good luck!
I am so excited to participate – my husband and i have been very strict with our eating for the past 5 days – due to a medical condition, he cannot have salt, dairy, grains, chicken or seafood for 2 weeks…so we are only eating fruits, veggies and very little red meat….
Greetings, I am SSSSSOOO looking forward to the benefits of this pledge. Thank You in advance!
[...] coming across the 10 day pledge, I decided I’m going to shoot for that first, and then worry about swapping items out for [...]
[...] 31, 2010 by easawyers Well, folks, today’s the day. I’m starting the “challenge“. After spending an ungodly amount of money at the grocery store yesterday, I think I have [...]
Tomorrow I start the 10 day challenge. Doing this alone. Husband dragged in a bunch of really horrible processed foods for snacks yesterday. I brought home fresh fruits! I have a large garden with veggies and fruit. I have free-roaming chickens that supply my lots of eggs. We also raise beef cattle so good meat is always available. Going to miss my one daily soda the most.
Good luck to you….you can do it! The whole point of us doing this for 100 days is to convince people that 10 days will fly by…
I am not too awfully worried about it but it would be easier if I could just not have the crappy processed food in the house at all. Husband sure likes it though.
I don’t know if this is allowed, but if not, just delete this post. I am making my first blog and am going to blog about the 10 day challenge as part of my learning to blog. If anyone wants to follow my adventures in the 10 day challenge they can read about it in the Musings by Roxie blog.
Day one is here and there is a package of Oreo cookies on the counter whispering to me when I walk by. I should have made husband take them to work with him. Note to self: push him to take his junk food with him.
And Here we go! Very excited.
It is a great point!
Help – I don’t see the form for the pledge – I only see “Loading….” where I expect the form should be. I’ve tried both IE and Mozilla…Any help?
thanks!
Mary
Thanks for letting me know…it is fixed now!
[...] had been eating so good the past few days in preparation for the big 10-days of whole foods challenge, and then yesterday happened. Luckily, we aren’t currently taking the challenge, that starts [...]
Hi there! I am thrilled to say I completed my 10 day pledge with flying colors and am wondering how I get my special achievement bracelet? Also, I am having trouble and wondering the easiest and fastest way to direct communication with you as I am very interested in joining the 100 day challenge (my 10 days feel like a tease and I feel amazing and want to take this to the next level!) but wanted to “chat” with yoiu about a few details first. I look forward to all of it! Take good care and have a wonderful day!
-Devonne
Good for you!! All you do is fill out the form on this page: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-graduates/ and we will send you your wristband within a few weeks. Also, you can email me at info@fliggity.com. I try to respond to everyone within 24 – 48 hours.
What an inspirational site.
Last Summer (2009) I started questioning where did my food come from and what was happening to it. I was shocked to see how our food is treated and how much salt, additives, etc. was being added to maximise the food industry profits.
At the beginning of September (2009) I made the decision that I would not eat processed food nor any meat unless I knew where it had come from and how the meat was teated (i.e. not injected with sodium). Everything was out even shop bought breads, pastries, takeaways, crisps, sweets, fizzy drinks.
Basically I have to know what is in my food.
So from September (2009) I have eaten only fresh fruit & vegatables, shellfish & fish, home made bread. I make my own salt-free bread with wholewheat flour, make my own soups, stock, salad dressing, etc. Christmas was a special treat, I had a duck straight from the farm (still had feathers on it which had to be plucked), with a seafood starter.
Since changing the way I eat I have lost weight, enjoy my food more and am finding more and more interesting ways of cooking a variety of different meals. A few different herbs and spices can change food so much!
The rules I chose are so close to yours (I have an extra rule about minimum salt, preferably no salt), I am tempted to sign up for your challenge, but I have far exceeded your 10 day challenge as mine has become a way of life.
Keep up the good work and good luck with everybody’s 10 day challenges.
Wow…thanks so much for sharing your story! It is wonderful to “meet” others out there on a similar mission! I hope we can continue to convince others to join us.
AAAAAAHHHHHH here I go!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a box meal kinda woman, terrible I know. I am taking a Renew Your Strength challenge at the church so a friend of mine told me about this site that one of our speakers had suggested. SO hope I can make the challenge. I know I can do this.
Good luck…you can do it!!
Is this similar to the Daniel fast that some churches have challened its members to?
I don’t know all the details around the Daniel Fast, but others have told me it is similar.
Good morning! I am curious….is Laughing Cow cheese allowed?
The varieties that have less than 5 ingredients are allowed.
Got it! Thasnk a lot again for helping me out!
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Hey,
I’m planning to take the challenge for 40 days over lent (giving up processed food for lent). I have 2 questions about some store bought products. One is the kashi line of products, particularly their cereal. It doesn’t seem to have any processed flour, but it doesn’t seem possible for it not to be processed. My second question is the food for life products, ezekiel bread and pasta made from organic, sprouted grains. I love this product and have noticed a difference in my energy since switching over. I want to do it for real (not the modified rules) but really depend on these short cuts in my busy schedule. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Good for you!! Great idea for lent. Which Kashi cereal are you looking at? If the ingredient simply says “wheat” then it is processed/refined. It has to say WHOLE wheat to be whole-wheat. I’ve looked at some Kashi products before and remember thinking they would not fit the “real food” bill. Food for Life on the other hand has some decent whole-grain options. They use sprouted grains, but they are whole so that counts!
Alright I’m excited to do this! I will start tomorrow and looking forward to the benefits
I’m so excited to have found this website! Our family is in our 3rd week of no sugar and no sugar alternative and we are loving it! It isn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I’m enjoying finding new recipes to try and learning to make our favorites in a healthy way! Thanks for your awesome website and pumpkin bread recipe!! I’m making it today!
Two more days of my 10-day pledge challenge! Truly this has not been that hard for me to accomplish – but I did one day HAVE to have some cheetos (and they weren’t organic…). All in all, an enlightening experience. I learned that I CAN buy organic foods in our ‘regular’ grocery store, just have to look. What did amaze me, after reading the challenge rules and observations, truly how many ‘extra’ ingredients are in our foods – things we surely don’t need.
I very much appreciate the recipes and daily blogs (and Facebook page!!). All this has helped me become more aware of what I put in my mouth!! Thanks very much!!!
I am so glad it was such a great learning experience for you!
[...] Mar A few months back I took the 10 Day Real Food Pledge as advocated and created by the 100 Days of Real Food blog. At the time, I was trying to really [...]
I usally have one or two cups of coffee in the morning,and I always use splenda or equal to sweeten my coffee and a little flavored creamer. On the 10 Day Real Food Pledge,however I cant use sugar or artifical sweetner so is it ok to use raw sugar and 2 percent milk? I really enjoy my coffee in the morning and hate to give it up, but I want to give whole foods a try…help me!
Raw sugar is not quite as refined as regular white sugar, but it is still somewhat refined therefore not allowed during the 10-day pledge. Plus it is kind of a fun exercise to see what is like to avoid sugar all together since it seems to be in anything and everything these days! Check out this link for homemade coffee creamers, which might help: http://deliciouslyorganic.net/homemade-coffee-creamer/
Hola, even though I agree with most of what was said in this article you’ll find some I simply do not agree with at all. Even with that said, this was a overall very good high quality post.
[...] and also invited readers to join us by pledging to follow our same “real food” rules for only 10 days. So far over 1,000 people from Austin to Australia have taken the pledge with us and a growing [...]
I’m starting tomorrow. I think the hardest part for me is going to be cutting out my french vanilla creamer in my coffee every morning.
Try some of these homemade creamers instead: http://deliciouslyorganic.net/homemade-coffee-creamer/
I started making real organic baby food for our son when he began eating solids at 4 months. Then yesterday we cleaned out the pantry and fridge and went to Sprouts. My husband was happily walking through the store and reading labels looking for “approved” foods. We’re ecstatic to be getting the junk out of our diets. Our goal is to continue eating real food so we can teach our baby (now 8 months old) good eating habits to carry him through life.
[...] the next 10 days, I’m taking the 10 day real food challenge. This lady pledged to feed her family nothing but real food for 100 days (and did it); surely I can [...]
[...] because they did it for a 100 days at a stretch, they even have a pledge section on their website where families can go for 10 days of real food (which is quite [...]
Thanks for being such a great resource for those of us who are trying to walk a similar route! There’s definitely strength in numbers!
[...] Source: 10 day pledge [...]
[...] are the rules we followed during our original 100 Days of Real Food pledge. If you are taking the 10-Day pledge you will follow these same [...]
[...] the rules we followed during our original 100 Days of Real Food pledge. If you are taking the 10-Day pledge you will follow these same [...]
[...] Days of Real Food Pledge Tomorrow I start my 10 Days of Real Food Pledge from the 100 Days of Real Food [...]
Starting the 10-Day pledge today! I ‘warmed up’ by taking a few mini-pledges (and failing several times). But that experience helped me detox my kitchen and pantry and observe a few ingrained behaviors that needed to change.
So, here we go————
We are starting the 10-day pledge today! It should be pretty easy as this is already how we eat. Of course there is the occasional mis-step, but not often. I figure this will keep us more accountable if I actually pledge to someone besides myself to not not slip up!
Every Wed. I will be posting a progress report on our blog
[...] our family (5 people: Mom, Dad, 3 kids ages 7- 21) will be taking the “10 Day Pledge” from the 100 Days of real Food and I’ll be chronicling it here. I am hoping to encourage [...]
[...] can check out the website here: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/ This family did it for 100 days so I’m thinking I can manage ten (Maybe I should change [...]
[...] a look at the 10 Day Pledge Rules and taking stock of my pantry, I realized I was going to need some time to prepare for this Pledge. [...]
[...] or two to each serving… perfection! We used a boxed granola not in conformity with the Real Food Rules because that was all we had ( and we haven’t officially started the pledge!). I’ll be [...]
[...] her recipes and experiences with it on her website, as well as challenging families to take just a 10 day real food pledge. She also even has “mini pledges” to help you ease into the real food movement if [...]
I am very afraid… But I (and the rest of my family, and maybe some friends!) Are going to give this a real shot! Wish us luck!
I’m thrilled and terrified all at once! LOL! For years, I thought I was eating “healthy” and feeding my family well. None of us struggle with weight, we exercise and have no major health issues. I have made several small changes in what we eat…more fruits and veggies, organic whenever possible, but I hadn’t completely cut out the chemicals that I know are killing us. Recently, I started having a lot of stomach and back pain along with vomiting. Turns out it was my gallbladder. I’m having it removed on the 1st of September. I’m 31 years old, which to me, seemed young to be having these health problems. When I expressed my concern to my dr. he said that he was removing them in people younger and younger. He has removed the gallbladders of several 10 year olds! I was stunned! When I asked him why, he said, “The additives in our food.”. That was a wake-up call for me. I just kept thinking, “If what I’m eating has ruined my gallbladder, what else is my diet killing? What else in my body and the bodies of my family is going to waste?” I had heard of clean eating, and had been toying with the idea of giving it a try for months now, but I felt a bit overwhelmed by it. I asked some online friends for some direction, and one of them gave me the link to your blog! I’ll be forever grateful! As soon as I recover from my surgery, and I’m on my feet and able to shop and cook, I’m starting the 10 day pledge. I truly believe that we’ll continue with the lifestyle change, but to keep us all from feeling too overwhelmed, I’m going to start small. Thank you for the challenge, encouragement, wonderful recipes, and the example that it CAN be done!!
There are definitely numerous details like that to take into consideration. That could be a great level to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as common inspiration however clearly there are questions just like the one you carry up the place an important thing shall be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if greatest practices have emerged round issues like that, however I am sure that your job is clearly recognized as a good game. Each girls and boys really feel the impression of only a moment’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
Hi – I am excited to take the pledge for my family (2 adults & 2 kids). It is going be tough, though! Is Sugar in the Raw allowed? That’s what I put in my coffee along with organic skim milk. Also, are there any pasta products that we could use instead of making our own? We do not have a pasta maker. Or a bread maker. Or one of those Harvest Baking Companies. We do have a Trader Joe’s and a Whole Foods about 20 minutes away.
I am so excited to have found your blog!!! My dad was such a health nut when I was growing up and I hated it to be honest. When I got older and could buy my own food, of course I was buying JUNK!! I now have a 3 year old and 4 year old and I want to incorporate my dads’s style with my own family. I am so thankful I came across your blog, because this has beeno on the back of my mind for years. I just needed a plan of action to get my family started as well as myself. I can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge with all of us.
We are excited to begin this challenge!!
2 Adukts 2 Kids 0 Processed Foot
Jenny
Could I spread the word about your site on my blog? Your site is helping me and it could help others!