When I began the journey to healthy living nearly three years ago, I knew it would be a marathon rather than a sprint. It's so overwhelming and it can be hard to know where to start. We had many areas to clean up in our lives, and I had two (three if you include the husband) very stubborn boys at home. I always thought we ate fairly healthy, but once I began to dig into some research and facts, I realized we were far from healthy. We still have a long way to go and are no where near perfect, but slowly, we are transforming our lives.
It's not realistic to wake up one morning and declare that you are switching everything over to real food. But, you can start small, and things will snowball because of those changes. Here are five simple changes I made early on in our journey.
1. Eliminate hydrogenated oils
This one is HUGE, yet pretty easy to change. Partially hydrogenated oils such as vegetable oil and margarine are very popular in processed foods because of their long shelf life. However, these fats are artificially saturated and your body has a hard time digesting them. Swap out these oils for coconut oil or ghee.
Coconut oil is all the buzz right now for good reason. It has so many health benefits that go beyond just cooking. This article has some really great uses. There are many options when buying coconut oil and it can be sort of confusing, so here are a couple tips. The unrefined (virgin) variety has a coconut smell and taste. I typically use this in baking and skin care products. The refined kind, however, has no taste or smell. I use this when cooking veggies, or making something savory that I don't want to taste like coconut. But I promise neither variety has a super strong coconut taste. Both can be swapped out 1:1 for vegetable oil in most recipes.
And what's ghee you ask? It's relatively new to me, too. Ghee, or clarified butter, is essentially butter that has been melted and the milk fat is removed. It's delish!!
2. Swap white or "wheat" bread for 100% whole wheat bread
I follow a mostly paleo diet, but my children do not, so it was important for me to clean up the bread we used for toast and sandwiches. Now I realize bread is a hot topic for a lot of folks, and is still considered "processed." It's one thing I have not taken to making from scratch just yet, so I still buy it at the store. I'll admit, I used to think "wheat" bread meant it was healthy. This could not be further from the truth. Companies have a way of packaging products to make you think they are "heart healthy" or "natural" but the truth is, they are usually hiding something. When buying bread, look for 100% whole wheat as the first ingredient.
3. Buy organic produce for "dirty dozen"
Organic produce used to be hard to come by. For me, it meant a pilgrimage to a far away "health food store" which didn't always fit into the weekly shopping trip. But over the past couple years there has been a huge switch in the amount of organic foods in regular grocery stores. I always try to follow this guide when buying my fruits and vegetables. The dirty dozen are very high in pesticides if buying conventional, so try to buy those organic, when possible. The clean fifteen are less likely to hold pesticide residue, so buying conventional would be ok.
4. Avoid food dyes
I did a post a while back about the harmful effects of food dyes, and luckily in the two years since I wrote that post, companies have started to eliminate them from foods. I will not say we are perfect when it comes to food dyes, but we have eliminated nearly all of them when it comes to foods I buy at the store. That does not mean that my boys don't have them from time to time when they are out and about, however, we have made huge strides in this area!
5. Read your food labels
This seems like a no brainer, but I'll be honest, I rarely used to read the ingredient list on foods. Now it's the first thing I do when I pick up something at the store. Look for things like food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and artificial flavoring, and put those things right back on the shelf. Although we are not quite there yet, I'd love to follow Lisa from 100 Days of Real Food's rule of 5 real ingredients or less. It's a lofty goal, but I think we can do it!!
No comments:
Post a Comment