Welcome to 100 Days of Real Food

We invite you to read along and hopefully join in by taking the 10-day pledge as our family of four begins our 100 Days of Real Food journey. Our hope is that if we – a family that does not live on a farm, has two young children, and a husband that travels frequently – can go 100 long days without eating a single ounce of processed food then you will consider taking our 10 Days of Real Food pledge. To make our boundaries clear we have set some ground rules. If we can do it for 100 days, then I am absolutely convinced that anyone can do it for only 10 days! And in case you need some more convincing, check out our list of 10 reasons to cut out processed food.

Even though we first began our personal mission to cut out processed foods a few months ago, I estimate that we only went about 85 or 90% of the way. This initial change was an extremely big transition for us, and I imagine that going the extra 10 to 15% of the way is not going to be easy either. The biggest challenge of all may very well be getting our 3 and 5-yr-old children (who will be faced with day camps, playdates and birthday parties this summer) to go all the way without having any slip-ups! Hopefully it will help that we plan to reward them with a fun day at Carowinds Amusement park when the 100-day pledge is over. But before we get started, I would like to reminisce for a moment about what each of us will miss the most…

• Me: Let’s see, how many things am I allowed to list? First and foremost – chocolate! I have a big sweet tooth and during our initial transition I cut back a lot on my chocolate consumption, but I do slightly fear going without it completely. I also originally decided that anything in moderation is okay (and I still pretty much feel that way), therefore I kept my once-a-day highly processed white chocolate mocha, which I will miss too. In addition, I did switch to some much better, organic condiment alternatives, but due to the number of ingredients on the list we will all have to go 100 days without store-bought ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard! Agggghhhh!
• My husband: Since he travels several times a month for work he says he will miss the convenience of easily eating out for meals while traveling.
• My 5-year-old: She said she will miss the once-a-day treat she was allowed to eat after dinner. Both girls will still be allowed to eat a “treat” after dinner if it doesn’t break any of our rules. So this just means that mommy must get creative even beyond fruit juice popsicles.
• My 3-year-old: I can’t say that my youngest fully understands what is about to happen, but when I asked her what she will miss she answered my multiple choice question by saying chocolate. She is a mommy’s girl after all.

I will add new posts almost daily (subscribe to receive an email) to discuss the challenges and hurdles we face during our journey. And this is officially day 1…so let the games begin!