How to Avoid Process Food in General

In following up with yesterdays post regarding GMO, here are 8 steps taken from 100 Days of Real Food to help get you started on the path of cutting out process foods.


1. Read the ingredients label before buying anything. The best indicator of how highly processed a food is can actually be found in the list of ingredients. If what you are buying contains more than 5 ingredients and includes a lot of unfamiliar, unpronounceable items you may want to reconsider before buying.  A key phrase to remember, "If you can't say it, DON'T eat it!"

2. Increase your consumption of whole foods especially vegetables and fruits. We are sure you’ve heard similar advice a thousand times, and we hate to tell you that it couldn’t be more true. This will help to displace the processed foods in your diet, and will actually make your food selections in general very simple. No more counting calories, fat grams, or carbs when your only concern is selecting whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry.

3. Buy your bread from a local bakery. When you buy from the grocery store what is whole-wheat bread you will probably find 40 different items listed in the ingredients, including white flour and sugar. Why would there be so many on the list if it only takes a handful of ingredients to make breads – whole-wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and honey.

4. In addition to your bread choice, when selecting foods like pastas, cereals, rice, and crackers always go for the whole-grain option. And don’t just believe the health claims on the outside of the box. Read the ingredients to make sure the product is truly made with only 100% whole grains – not a combination of whole grains and refined grains which is unfortunately how a lot of “whole grain” products are made. The white flour or other refined grain alternative is simply high in calories and low in nutrition.

5. Avoid store-bought products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and those “that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients” according to Michael Pollan. Despite the mixed research on if HFCS is really worse for you than good ol’ white sugar, it just happens to be “a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed”.

6. Don’t order off the kids’ menu. The next time your family is out to dinner try to avoid the kids menu. Those selections are most often things like pre-made chicken nuggets, fries, and pasta made with white flour, among other things. Instead try assembling some sort of side item plate (like baked potatoes and whatever else your kid will tolerate) and/or try sharing some of your meal.

7. Visit your local farmers’ market the next time you need to restock your fridge. According to Michael Pollan not only will you find “food that is in season, which is usually when it is most nutritious”, but you will also find a selection of pesticide-free produce and properly fed meat products. It is also better for our environment to purchase locally grown products as opposed to the supermarket produce, which travels on average 1500 miles from the farm to your plate.

8. Lastly, to once again quote Michael Pollan, he says to “eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” If you had to peel, chop and deep fry potatoes every time you wanted French fries then you might not eat them very often. Only eating “junk food” such as cakes, sweets, and fried foods as often as you are willing to make them yourself will automatically ensure the frequency is appropriate.

This can be a lot to take in at once and you may feel overwhelmed in the beginning trying to make all of these changes.  Trust us, we know exactly how you feel because we have all been there and we all are still working towards these changes.  Taking it one step at a time and making little changes over time will help make the transition easier.