My new thing

I have told many of my friends (and also readers of this blog) about my new thing...which is real foods. Real foods mean foods in their natural state. The inspiration for this was surprisingly Mark. He told me about a blog that some Clemson alumni had started and thought I would like it. This is a family that decided to eat only real foods for 100 days and blog about it. Here is the link to their blog:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

This blog is based on the book "In Defense of Food" by Michael Polland. They completed their 100 day goal and have to admit that eating all these "real foods" is expensive. Now they are trying "100 days of real food on a budget" and giving themselves $125 week to spend.

This really hit home with me. I used to be really good about not eating process foods before kids. Lately we have gotten out of the habit, I let the kids eat sugary cereals and I LOVE me some white cheddar cheeze-its! Mark did suggest trying the 100 days, which seems extreme. The rules that they followed are very strict: no white flour, no white sugar, only organic dairy and produce, only local meats. They do have a 10 day challenge which I have seriously considered. I have the following concerns:

1. It is pretty close to the holidays...maybe I should wait until January.
2. I really like my coffee, and can't imagine using honey or maple syrup instead of my beloved hazelnut creamer.
3. If the boys stay in bed until their light is green (their alarm clock) they get chocolate milk. They won't like giving that up.
4. I wouldn't be able to have my kids eat snack or meals outside of the home because the food won't be real (sorry mom!)
5. It will be really hard to eat out. This is really Mark's concern. He cannot fathom not going out to lunch for 10 days.

I have tried to implement the following changes:
1. Taking the whole wheat or at least the wheat option where possible.
2. Using honey and maple syrup in place of white sugar where possible. Reducing the amount of sugar we eat.
3. Stopped buying and providing processed snacks. We have been eating more tricuits, cheese, smoothies, fruit, homemade baked goods, granola, and popcorn.
4. Feeling guilty when cooking processed convenience foods, but they have been from Trader Joe's...that is ok, right?
5. Feeling smug and superior when I provide a real foods meal. Again, for dinners, I do this a lot, but it makes me happy.

I wouldn't want to do this long term. I have the following issues with this diet:
1. Really? No white flour or sugar?
2. Organic dairy. I love organic milk, but we go through 2 gallons a week.
3. Organic produce. I understand the issue here, and I love my CSA and my farmers markets, but in the winter it is just tough. I am not really sure I buy the organic produce movement.
4. Local meats. Again, I do get it. We live in a small town, and there are local meats available, they really are not convenient, and I really don't have a problem with store bought meats.
5. The idea behind this way of eating is that we should go back to how people where eating before processed foods. It is great in theory, but in this time of growth of our population (I am totally sounding like my dad here) many of these changes have been made in order to feed more people in different areas. There are many bad things that have come out of current food era, but many good as well. It is hard to pick and choose which are ok and which are not.

This purpose of this post was really just to share the link with everyone I have told about that blog. This ended up being way more than I intended, but I haven't posted in awhile.