Defining Real Food

Transitioning from American convenience foods to real foods can be difficult for some, my family included. We are still working on it. If you find a sudden switch too hard, make smaller, gradual changes that will help you to stay on track. Unlike many fad "diets", we are aiming to change our eating habits and dietary choices for life.

To begin with, we need to define what "real food" is. The most basic definition is this: anything that you can grow in a garden, or pick off a tree; food that is closest to it's original state. Processed food is food that is a product of refining or made in a lab. The nutrients have been removed while processing and may be later added back in, but in an altered state. A good tip when deciding if it is real food is would your great-grandparent's recognize it as food or could you possibly make it at home?

Below is a more thorough list of real food, as put together by Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food. Another great resource on real food is The Unconventional Kitchen.

Whole Grain Banana Bread

What's better than a nice, warm, homemade loaf of banana bread? A whole grain one! And this one is kid-approved!

This is whole grain bread as we are using two different grains, wheat and oatmeal. Do not use the instant oatmeal packets.

Make sure you use a yogurt that is free of junk. I use Dannon All-Natural Plain yogurt. Be sure and read that label! You will be surprised to find out what is in your yogurt.

You can also add some chopped nuts to the batter to add a yummy health boost. Walnuts are full of healthy Omega Fatty acids!

Healthy Eating, My Way

So now we are reading labels and learning about our food. What do we do with all that information? We use it to make better choices, of course! But almost everything in the grocery store is full of unwanted additives and fillers you say! What are we to do?!

This is when you decide for yourself how much time and effort you are willing to devote to eating a healthy, well-balanced, real-food diet. I shoot for the 80/20 mark. That's 80% real, whole and healthy foods and 20% whatever. I attempt to keep that 20% as minimally processed as possible, but hey, who doesn't make a quick fast-food run every now and then? And by allowing yourself to not be 100% committed will make it way easier to stick to it. There is no guilt because there is no wagon to fall off of!

Mug Brownie Trial and Error

I do love me some Betty Crocker Warm Delights bowls. Mmmmmm..... And the husband loves brownies, but only when they are fresh from the oven. And he wants more than just that little bowl. He eats a few brownies, then I eat the rest of the pan over the next two (if even that) days. We're talking a 9x13 pan here. Not the little one. Nope. That would be just too easy.

So I saw this great idea that you could put brownie mix in a mug and add some water and you could have an instant brownie from the microwave. Well, yeah. That didn't work out so well.

Two of the three mugs there have been in the sink all day soaking trying to get the hardened mass of burnt sugar out of them. One of them still has the fork stuck in it! And the third, well, that was a darned good brownie from the microwave.