HOW TO AVOID PROCESSED FOOD
Tips from Lisa Leake, founder of 100 Days of Real Food.
1. Read the ingredients label before buying anything. For
years, if I even looked at food labels, I was reviewing items
such as fat grams, calorie count and sugar content. While
this may be important to some, 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 in-
gredients and includes a lot of unfamiliar, unpronounceable
items you may want to reconsider before buying.
2. Increase your consumption of whole foods especially
vegetables and fruits. I am sure you’ve heard similar advice a
thousand times, and I 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. I actually used to eat
white bread, but what I bought for my husband from the gro-
cery store was what I thought was whole-wheat bread. When
we finally checked the ingredients and found 40 different
items on the list, including white flour and sugar, we decided
it was time for a change. Why would there be so many on the
list if it only takes a handful of ingredients to make bread? We
since started buying our bread from Great Harvest Bread
Company. Not only do they grind their own wheat every
morning, but their honey whole-wheat loaf only has five ingre-
dients – 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 un-
fortunately 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 Pol-
lan. Despite the mixed research on if HFCS is real-
ly 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 Mi-
chael 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 of-
ten. 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 fre-
quency is appropriate.
Source: Leake, L. (n.d.). Real Food Defined (The
Rules). Retrieved from https://
www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-
rules/
Upcoming Wellness Events
January
Monthly Challenge: Unplug: spend one waking
hour each day with our phone, computer or other
electronic device
1/7/2020: Maintain, Don’t Gain weigh-outs
February
Monthly Challenge: Eat Real Food: replace at least
one processed food with one real food every day this
month.
Heart Health Month
2/3/2020: Under Pressure Challenge begins
Wellness Newsletter Issue 36/ January/February 2020
March
Monthly Challenge: Catch Some Zzzzz’s: Aim to
sleep at least 7 hours each night
National Nutrition Month
Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
3/1/2020: Under Pressure Challenge ends
3/16/2020: Stretch For Success begins
April
Monthly Challenge: Sit Less: Try working while
standings for at least 30 minutes every work day.
Alcoholism Awareness Month
4/20/2020: Stretch For Success ends
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