My Natural Foods Diet

I didn't really know what to call this diet I've decided to put us on for a month. I thought about calling it the "Whole Foods" diet but I realized that I would violate it almost immediately because the term "whole foods" is extremely narrow and would not allow us to drink homogenized milk. The goal here is to eliminate (as much as possible) processed foods from our diet for a whole month. I am not doing this to lose weight (though I'd be thrilled if I did). I am more concerned about removing the junk from what we eat and giving our bodies natural fuel.

Any experiment needs parameters and since I live in a typical subdivision rather than on a farm I decided I needed to determine ahead of time what I can and cannot buy at the store. I will buy foods that have been minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients. This means I can buy real, organic cheese but not Velveeta. We can have mashed potatoes if we use real potatoes and natural ingredients but we cannot use instant. We can use real butter sparingly rather than butter substitutes. I'll buy lean, organic, humanely farmed meats but not hot dogs or deli meat. I can buy dried, frozen or fresh beans instead of canned. I'll make our spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc...I'll make all of our bread. I can use brands of dried pasta which contain only natural ingredients. Get the picture? I'll be posting daily for a week to keep track of our choices. So...here goes.