Switching to Real Food

If you’ve just recently discovered how bad the Standard American Diet is, you are probably planning on making some changes.

Bloggers and social media influencers will be vying for your attention, trying to point you to specific, restricted, confusing diets.

Don’t fall into that trap if you’re new to this.

It’s a recipe for overwhelm and failure - trust me!

Start with simple…just replace the foods you’re used to with a better alternative. And I’m not telling you to go through your pantry, fridge, and freezer, throw everything out that doesn’t pass muster, and buy all new replacements.

As you finish off the pasteurized, homogenized milk in your house - buy raw to replace it. As you finish off the conventional eggs from Kwik Trip, buy from a local farm.

When you finish a bottle of ketchup sweetened with corn syrup, buy ketchup sweetened with cane sugar or honey, or maybe even make your own if you feel you have the time and it won’t overwhelm you.

I don’t want to get into the weeds of things like whether or not you should have grains and maple syrup or honey. You can work that out as you get further along in your journey.

Buy almost entirely whole, unprocessed foods. Cook mostly at home. (To be honest, there will probably always be a box of Costco pizzas in my freezer, and boxes of Annie’s mac and cheese in the pantry for bad days).

Time and again, I’ve seen people start out, try to do allllll the things right away, get overwhelmed and burn out, and quit entirely.

If you make small changes here and there, you will be able to look back in one year and say “wow, I have made a lot of progress towards my goals.”

Play the long game.

I made a chart to help you out with suggestions for better and best alternatives for standard American diet food. The reality is that our budget doesn’t always allow for the “best” alternative, so sometimes “better” is what I have to buy, and I’m okay with that.

I’ve let too many processed foods back into my house over the last couple of years, so I started over again after Christmas. I did the same thing I did in 2013 when I started my family’s journey into Real Food - I made a list of all the processed foods in the house that I wanted to get rid of. Then I looked at it before I did my menu planning. We only have a few items left, and then my goal is to eat 90% whole, unprocessed, home-cooked food.

(We have SO MANY POTATOES left, so if you have some great potato recipes, send them my way!)

Your Farmer and Fellow Real Food Mom,

Amy