More about real food

This is a great question. Real food costs what it costs - yes, it can sometimes seem like a lot especially if you are on a budget with little room to deviate. BUT the inexpensive food is most times NOT FOOD. It's chemicals and additives that may or have been proven to negatively affect your health (mood swings, weight gain, reduced energy level, gastrointestinal problems, etc.) and buying this type of "food" financially hurts the farmers.  

Eat whole foods. Eat real food. Cook at home.You'll soon find that you are not spending that much more. You are likely to even save money; one reason is that your unhealthy food cravings will disappear in time. Processed foods are very addictive. From NaturalNews.com, "Your body processes whole foods much differently than it does refined, processed, and heavily-modified "junk" foods. Processed foods tend to overstimulate the production of dopamine, also known as the "pleasure" neurotransmitter, which makes you crave them constantly. Your body ends up not being able to resist the temptation to continue eating junk foods in excess, which can lead to obesity and other health problems."

Another reason you'll save money (and our natural resources) is because making a batch of chili, for example, can be cheaper per serving than buying cans. No waste. It's healthier. And home-cooked tastes better!

Read about the other reasons to never eat processed food again. 

You can find lots of articles online about money-saving grocery shopping ideas. Here are two to get you started:

What to Eat When You're Broke
Healthy Eating on a Budget

Too Much Sodium

27% 

That's how much children's risk of elevated blood pressure has increased since 1991, according to a new study in the journal Hypertension. The likely culprits: high-sodium diets and obesity.
-- from  Parents Magazine

If you can't find the willpower to improve your diet, then please do it for your children. There is absolutely no reason for children to start out life with illnesses and diseases that are preventable!

There are times in a rushed day or week when we need to buy a convenience food, grab a store-bought granola bar or a sandwich from the local deli. When you do this, make good decisions and make these purchases the exception. Rely on whole foods to fill you on the go! If you eat well, your family members will learn to eat well too.

Action Item: Ask yourself every time you eat with or cook for your family, "Is this food contributing to healthier children or contributing to obesity and high blood pressure?

For Further Reading: 6 Dangers of Processed Foods for Your Kids

Fed Up

Have you heard about this documentary that opens today? The synopsis from the Fed Up website states "Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever."

Here's a link to the documentary website and you can watch the trailer there too.

I haven't seen the movie, don't know if I'll agree with it 100%, but from what I read I absolutely agree that added sugar is the reason for the majority of health problems in children and adults. In my opinion, exercise is absolutely important, but what you eat is equally important.

In this fantastic article, Fed Up: Cook or Be Cooked, by Dr. Mark Hyman, he says he was in medical school in the 80s and there was not a case of a child with Type 2 Diabetes. I asked my husband who was in med school in the 90s. Same thing. So basically since around 2000, children have started being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes (formerly called Adult Onset Diabetes) because of their diets. How are we setting our children up for a healthy, happy, productive life if we are allowing this to happen?

Why do we eat high-sugar foods?

• Some people know better, but choose to make poor decisions.
• Some people trust food company claims ("healthy", "natural", etc.) It's unfortunate that we can't trust the claims!
• Consumers are bombarded with commercials and advertising and think they must have these exciting new products. 
• Cravings from already consuming too many high-sugar foods.
• Addiction?
• Many, many people unfortunately live in food deserts where healthy fresh produce is not available. What's available are fast food restaurants and convenient stores that sell cheap "food" that looks like a better deal to people trying to stretch their dollar.
• And there are probably many people who buy prepared food just out of convenience.
• Some people never learned how to cook and don't know where to start.
• Added sugar is in almost everything!
• The reasons are numerous, and we should focus on HOW can this be changed?

What can you do? Start with you and your family if you haven't already. First, significantly cut added sugars from your diet. If you are participating in the Real Food Challenge to cut out processed foods, you may be working on that this week with your beverages.

Next, stop buying processed foods with zero nutritional value. It's not just added sugar that makes these foods so unhealthy, but also sodium, preservatives, and artificial colors. You can speak with your money. If companies start to lose money, they'll change their products. It may take time, but it can work.

Also, educate your family members and friends. Set a good example with your healthy eating and healthy lifestyle. If the topic comes up in conversation, explain why you choose to eat fruits and vegetables over sodas and packets of 100-calorie cookies.

Teach your children the importance of healthy food and teach them how to cook or just let them cook with you. This is on top of my to-do list this summer with our son.

Keep in mind that there are people who think they are eating healthy by purchasing some of the products they do, because that's what marketing and advertising has led them to believe. Finds ways to educate others without preaching to them... take real foods to your children's school parties, and soccer games, invite friends to your house for dinner and serve delicious vegetables with a dessert of fruit, ask coworkers to pack a lunch and sit in the park on your lunch break! Be that person that chooses to make a change, slowly others will stand with you, but it may take time. REAL FOOD is awesome. It makes us feel good. It allows us to be who we want and do what we want to do. Be the crazy one out there promoting a healthy life... soon others will join you :)

Action Item(s): Watch the movie trailer. Take the mini-pledge to drink real beverages. Or take the Fed Up Challenge.  If nothing else, PLEDGE to take care of your family members and ESPECIALLY your CHILDREN. Do not let them start their lives with preventable health problems. Teach them healthy eating habits starting today!

For Further Reading: Sugar, Come Out With Your Hands Up, Kids Eat Right, Kids Cook Monday

Are you Committing to a Healthier You?

Today, are you starting the week 2 mini-pledges for cutting processed foods from your diet?

• If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit my page Commit to a Healthier You to find out more.
• If your answer is YES, then today is an exciting day because you are ready to start the 2nd mini-pledge called “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).
• If no, what's stopping you? Perhaps you've already accomplished this goal, then good for you! If you're not sure you can or want to give up your sodas, give it a try. It's just one week! I can almost guarantee that you will see an increase in your energy and a decrease in your cravings. Dropping this bad habit can also save you money and cut way back on the number of plastic bottles that need to be made and recycled.

Keep checking back this week for more tips (or research) on ways to accomplish this goal. And frequently visit the blog where I found this challenge, 100 Days of Real Food; here's the link for tips on this week's pledge, “Real” beverages.

Start today by:

• Adding more water into your diet; put a little fruit in your water for a nice splash of taste!
• Sweetening your coffee with honey rather than table sugar.
• Eating grapes, an orange or other juicy fruit to quench your thirst. This will also help maintain your week 1 commitment of consuming more fruits and vegetables!

I STRONGLY believe for many reasons that unhealthy beverages (high sugar, artificial flavors, artificial colors, unnecessary calories, etc.) should not be consumed, especially on a daily basis. Not by you, not by your children. Here's an excerpt from an article called 10 Ways to Detox from Sugar in 10 Days, by Dr. Mark Hyman.

Don’t drink your calories: Any form of liquid sugar calories is worse than solid food with sugar or flour. Think of it as mainlining sugar directly to your liver. It turns off a fat storage machine in your liver, leading to dreaded belly fat. You don’t feel full, so you eat more all day and you crave more sugar and carbs. It’s also the single biggest source of sugar calories in our diet. That includes sodas, juices other than green vegetable juice, sports drinks, sweetened teas or coffees. One 20-ounce soda has 15 teaspoons of sugar; Gatorade contains 14 teaspoons of the stuff in one bottle. One can of soda a day increases a kid’s chance of being obese by 60 percent and a woman’s chance of type 2 diabetes by 80 percent. Stay away!


Action Item: Take the week 2 mini-pledge today!

For Further Reading: Healthy Beverage Guidelines from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Commit to a Healthier You

Trying to fuel your body with healthier foods, but not sure where to start? Or how to start? Or when to start? Well, I can tell you when to start... NOW.

I read an article from EatLocalGrown.com written by the creator of 100Daysof RealFood.com, Lisa Leakes. She presents manageable steps or pledges for cutting processed foods from your diet. The link to the story is also at the bottom of the page.

If you feel overwhelmed at times with conflicting information (foods ads, news stories, research, friends' recommendations, this blog, etc.) and not sure how to process all that data, these mini-pledges have simplified the information into manageable changes to answer your "where?" and "how?" questions.

These are all topics that I've hit on in previous posts, so if you've been following along I hope you've already marked off a few of these items.

14 Weeks of “Real Food” Mini-Pledges

• Week 1: Two fruits and/or vegetables per meal – Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables (preferably organic) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.
• Week 2: “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).
• Week 3: Meat – All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish.
• Week 4: No fast food or deep-fried foods – No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.
• Week 5: Try two new whole foods – Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.
• Week 6: No low-fat, lite or nonfat food products – Do not eat any food products that are labeled as “low-fat,” “lite,” “light,” “reduced fat,” or “nonfat.”
• Week 7: 100% Whole grain – All grains consumed must be 100% whole-grain.
• Week 8: Stop eating when you feel full – Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.
• Week 9: No refined sweeteners – No refined or artificial sweeteners including (but not limited to): white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice. Foods and beverages can only be sweetened with a moderate amount of honey or maple syrup.
• Week 10: No refined oils – No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
• Week 11: Eat local foods – Eat at least 1 locally grown or raised food at each meal. This includes, but is not limited to: fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, nuts, meats, and sweeteners like honey.
• Week 12: No sweeteners – Avoid all added sweeteners including, but not limited to: white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, honey, maple syrup, date sugar, maple sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, fruit juice concentrate, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice.
• Week 13: Nothing artificial – Avoid all artificial ingredients including, but not limited to: sweeteners, flavors and colors.
• Week 14: No more than 5-indgredients – Avoid any and all packaged food products that contain more than five ingredients no matter what ingredients

Action Item: Tomorrow is the first day of May, so why not start your first mini-pledge today and get a head start. Print this out, save the page on your computer, put reminds in your task list... just make the pledge to eat foods that fuel your body!

For Further Reading: 14 Steps to Cut Out Processed Foods

Another good read that might help you in your journey is 12 Healthy Eating Lessons We Can Learn from the French. And this website, 100 Days of Real Food, is an excellent resource for other reasons (recipes, motivation to change, etc).

Sodium

Another topic I will probably mention a lot. Just as sugar is prevalent in so many processed foods, you're going to find sodium there too! For years I thought I was doing a great job of keeping our sodium levels right on target (or lower), Ron came home from a nutrition class one day and mentioned the amount of sodium in bread. Yes, my "healthy" whole wheat bread. So that started me on a new quest... to find bread with very few ingredients and low sodium. They are out there, but you have to look. Obviously if you make your bread, you can control the sodium content. Our grocery store in Boston sold "no salt added" bread and it was yummy. Pepperidge Farms - for the big brands - seems to offer the lowest amounts of sodium in their breads. We shop at Sprouts now and their store-brand brand is delicious, has very few ingredients, and very little sodium. 


Bread is just an example, read the labels and start cutting out processed foods!

Guidelines recommend no more than 1,500mg per day. Here are ways to reduce sodium intake (thank you Harvard HEALTHbeat):

Eat mostly fresh foods. Most of the sodium we eat comes from restaurant meals and processed foods, including canned vegetables and soups, pasta sauces, frozen entrees, luncheon meats, and snack foods. If you start with unsalted, fresh foods and prepare them yourself, you can exercise better control over your sodium intake.

Take care with condiments. Sodium is found in many condiments besides ordinary table salt — including soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salad dressings, ketchup, seasoned salts, pickles, and olives. Baking soda, baking powder, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) also contain sodium.

Read labels. The Nutrition Facts label on packaged food lists milligrams of sodium per serving, so note how many servings the container holds. The percent daily value ("% Daily Value" or "% DV") is based on 2,400 mg, so if your own daily sodium limit is lower, the amount of sodium in a serving is actually a higher percentage than the label indicates. Read the labels on over-the-counter drugs, too; some of them contain sodium.

Speak up. When dining out, ask to have your food prepared with less salt. You can also ask for a lemon or lime wedge to add more flavor to your food.

Spice it up. Cut back on salt by making your own blends of spices and herbs and using them along with lemon or lime juice or flavored vinegars. (Ready-made blends are also available in grocery stores.) Some kosher and gourmet salts contain less sodium than standard iodized table salt; check the Nutrition Facts label to make sure.

Action Item: Check the sodium content of items in your refrigerator/cupboards!

For further reading: Check out Harvard HEALTHbeat. It's a free weekly email newsletter. I just discovered it myself.