BankerGirl’s 30-Day Real Food Challenge
Matt and I typically don’t eat a ton of junk. I’ll be the first to admit that we’re far from health nuts, but when I cook, I try to prepare balanced meals. For example, my tator tot casserole recipe calls for a big bag of frozen peas and when I make tacos, I typically use ground turkey. While these items aren’t exactly health food, we could do a lot worse.
Over the weekend, some old college friends came to visit (for a wedding), and we indulged in a booze-induced binge of some of our favorite processed foods. Over three days, four adults managed to eat two bags of Doritos and three jars of queso (we decided that ‘orange’ was a food group). We also polished off lots of “healthy” snacks such as pita chips with humus and crackers & cheese (note the alarming lack of fruits and vegetables).
It makes me feel sick to my stomach to admit that in writing.
Yesterday, as we reflected on our weekend of debauchery, Matt and I decided that we needed to detox our poor, abused bodies. My proposed solution: an entire month of real food. No synthetic food. No engineered food. No preservatives. No orange food (except for raw carrots, naturally). Surprisingly, Matt went for it.
Beginning June 1st, we will eat only foods that have ingredients that we recognize. Hydrogenated and high-fructose and any word I cannot pronounce are strictly prohibited. We’ll be making our own ketchup and barbeque sauce, baking our own bread, and eating much more simply.
I have been thinking about doing this since reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and there’s no time like the present. We will begin taking regular weekly deliveries from our CSA this Friday, so we should have fresh onions, asparagus, rhubarb, and maybe some spring lettuces on hand at all times. We also get farm fresh eggs from our grower, so I see a lot of omelets and fritattas in our future. In addition, I imagine I will be preparing more stir-frys, grilling even more chicken (we eat this a lot already), and enjoying lots of simple salads (I make an awesome quinoa and basil dish).
What are your favorite real, simple foods? I’m going to need all of the help I can get!
Stumble it!
May 27th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
You can still eat Fritos!
Three ingredients: Corn, Corn Oil, and Salt.
No preservatives.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
My absolute favorite quinoa dish is just 1 cup of quinoa cooked in 1 cup of water and 2 1/2 cups of organic vegetable broth (for extra flavor). I also sometimes add sauteed mushrooms and onions into the mixture while the quinoa starts to get fluffy. Then I dice up tomatoes and avocado to add on top with Bragg’s liquid aminos for a little extra flavor. It’s really simple, but so filling and yummy!
May 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
If I could give you one piece of advice, get a bread machine (if you don’t already have one). It is the easiest way to get healthy cheap bread. My husband and I run ours once a week on Sunday and it is really simple just through the ingredients and hit start 2 1/2 hours later poof, healthy fresh bread.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I am not sure I could take out all of the ingredients that I do not undertstand. It will be interesting to see what sort of impact your new eating trend will do to your overall health. More power to you!
May 28th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The 30-day real food challenge sounds like a great idea!! I actually talked my husband into something very similar. We followed Gillian McKeith’s Slim for Life plan. Her web site (you are what you eat - I would link to it, but I’m not that smart) has some great recipes for free. We were shocked at how great and light we felt. My biggest tip is to make sure you have food that you like with you at all times, or life will take over, and take out will be ordered. Good luck!
May 28th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I hear you on that. Sometimes I wonder what the heck is in what I really eat. Fortunately, a lot of our food is pretty much what I make…at least the lunches and dinners. So it’s rice, meat, veggies, beans, spices, whatnot. I don’t know what kind of pesticides or antibiotics might have influenced it but there’s less scary stuff.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I only eat real foods. I kicked the fake food crap habit years ago when I made the connection with “excellent bike racing” to “eating real food”. I also dropped 12 pounds by eating ONLY real foods. I also stopped eating pasta, gluten, and white foods. I switched canned beans to soaking dried beans, and now eat quinoa (a protein-packed, zero gluten carbohydrate).
My top ten list of Fantastic Frugalicious Foods
May 29th, 2008 at 7:49 am
And when you get the Fritos that Red suggested you can dip them in homemade guacamole. Just smash up some avocados and add salt and chopped garlic to taste (in my case a lot of garlic). You can also add onions for flavor as well.