5 ways to avoid harmful processed foods (without going nuts)

Have you a little freaked out that all of the processed foods you’re eating might be less than wonderful for your health? Do you feel overwhelmed about what on earth to eat instead, so you don’t do anything about it?

Sometimes the hardest thing about making a change is simply deciding where to start and realizing that you don’t have to know everything before you take your first step.

Sure, you could flip your entire diet upside-down all at once and embrace the cold turkey strategy for ditching processed foods. But I’m guessing you don’t find that idea very appealing, so I’m giving you five simpler strategies that will help you start ditching processed foods without losing your sanity.

What are “Real Foods”?

No matter what strategy you choose, you’ll need a way to figure out which foods are “real” and which foods are too processed to keep in your diet. Follow this simple rule: Read the ingredients label on everything you purchase. If you can easily identify every ingredient as having come from a plant or animal in nature, then it’s a keeper. If not, leave it on the shelf.

Sure, you can research even deeper with food additives information and animal welfare issues (which won’t necessarily be represented on food labels), but we’re just taking our first step, remember? So let’s just start with this one simple rule.

Pick Your Strategy

1. One Enemy at a Time

One popular way to start ditching processed foods is to target one food additive or chemical ingredient to avoid. You choose one additive (e.g., MSG, high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, natural flavor), and you stop purchasing anything that contains that ingredient. Once you’ve mastered that ingredient, you move on to another one. You don’t have to know everything about every food additive that exists; you just find one you feel may be harming your family’s health and then refuse to purchase it any more.

2. Weekly Recipe Make-Over

One of the most overwhelming things about ditching processed food is that you likely don’t know how to cook anything. Well, there’s only one way that is going to change—start practicing.

Should You Go Gluten-Free? The real deal on the popular diet trend

From those stirrup pants you rocked in middle school to swearing off carbs in college, we’ve all had our fair share of fads that maybe didn’t work out so well. But since the gluten-free craze hit the news, it seems like it’s here to stay. Here are the goods on gluten so you can decide for yourself if the gluten-free diet is the new LBD or just another trend.

First things first, gluten is a naturally occurring protein in grains like wheat, barley, and rye. But it’s also added to a lot of goodies, like salad dressings, soy sauce, and fried foods.

Gluten first got a bad rep because it has been associated with causing inflammation, stomach pain, gastrointestinal distress, and even osteoporosis in some people. People suffering these gluten-related ailments often have a condition known as celiac disease. And gluten is definitely a no-no if you fall into this category.

But then there’s another group of people who may not have celiac disease, but do seem to feel better and lose weight when they eat a gluten-free diet. A lot of this, however, has to do with the fact that when you eat gluten-free, you typically are eating fresh, unprocessed foods, which is a good practice in general.

If you eat a gluten-free diet that’s healthy and you feel better, more power to you. However, if you eat a diet that’s hell-bent on avoiding gluten but still includes things like gluten-free cookies and baked goods, you’ll be swapping one “bad” thing for another; companies often add fats and sugars as a replacement for gluten in goodies.

The moral of the story is that if you avoid gluten, eat healthy, and therefore feel better, then give gluten the boot. However, if you find yourself switching to gluten-free foods and not feeling better, you may want to add gluten back in because you could be missing out on important nutrients, such as B vitamins, iron, and fiber.