7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now

These 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now can help you make better choices and stay healthy. Start making better choices today!

Why You Need To Eat Real Food

It is a sad reality: America is overfed and undernourished.  We are eating more processed foods than ever before and it is making us sick, really sick.  Foods that have been processed are nutritionally depleted. They are loaded with extra calories, chemicals, and dangerous additives. Most processed foods also contain unnecessary added sugars, salt, and fats. Most of the processed foods on shelves these days also contain genetically modified ingredients.

Make better choices and stay healthy

Processed foods today make up 70% of the U.S. diet. Walk into a grocery store and pay attention to what you see: processed foods everywhere! Did you know that about 80% of those products didn’t even exist 100 years ago? With the introduction of new chemicals and genetically modified crops, the way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000.

Did you also know that according to the World Health Organization, about 80% of all chronic diseases are related to a poor diet and lack of physical activity? Poor nutrition in combination with no exercise can lead to all sorts of health problems. If we don’t make a change and start improving our eating habits and lifestyle, we are going to see catastrophic results.

Statistics in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that 1 in 3 children born after the year 2000 will become diabetic. Overweight and obesity rates have doubled among children and quadrupled among adolescents in the past 30 years! Poor child nutrition could lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, joint problems, sleep apnea, early puberty, and several cancers. We could be witnessing the first generation of parents who will outlive their children.

Pretty scary don’t you think? How do you get kids to eat healthily? It starts at home! Check out my  5 Tips For Raising Healthy Non-Picky Eaters.

What You can do to stay healthy

The choices you make now will affect your future health.  If you truly want to change and improve your eating habits you need to start by making little changes. These 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now will help you. One change at a time, and before you know it, you and your family will be eating better and healthier.

If you are interested, please take a look at 5 Ingredient Swaps For Healthier Eating. You cannot expect to completely change your eating habits overnight, it is a long process. One improvement at a time, making better choices, getting used to healthy options, and saying goodbye to unhealthy eating habits.

Processed foods are cheap and convenient, but it is definitely not the way we should eat.  Please take a look at my 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Food Now and start switching to real food immediately!

7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now

1.-Cook At Home

The most important way to avoid eating processed foods in my opinion.  Cook your own food and try to stay away from cans and boxes as much as you can.  Making food from scratch is not that complicated.  Before I started making healthier choices, I used to always make mashed potatoes from a box. I thought it was convenient, but then I realized it is not so complicated to boil potatoes and mash them with some butter and salt.

I avoid all the chemicals and preservatives and actually eat real food.  If you use fresh ingredients, you will notice a huge difference as well.  Your meals will be healthier and tastier.  You will know exactly what is in your food if you prepare it yourself using good-quality ingredients. I have several easy-to-make homemade recipes that are ready in less than 30 minutes.

2.- Read Labels

For these 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now is so important to learn how to read labels and be well informed.  You can definitely tell whether a product is healthy if you just look at the ingredients list.  In general, the more ingredients, the more processed the product actually is.  Do you see ingredients you can’t pronounce or sugars in the top three ingredients? Then you will know it is not a healthy option. Run if you see high fructose corn syrup!

Remember that the ingredient list on a food label is the listing of each ingredient in descending order of predominance. The ingredients used in the greatest amounts first, followed by descending order by those in smaller amounts. I recently shared an article about 5 Processed Kids Snacks You Should Avoid, where I explain reading labels in more detail. Check it out!

3.- Eat more fruits and vegetables

Think “raw”. One of the 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now that will also boost your immune system. Eating raw fruits and vegetables is best because all the nutrients are intact. If you are not used to it, next time you go grocery shopping, try to buy more fruits and vegetables and incorporate them into your daily diet.  Have some berries or an apple as a snack.  What about some baby carrots with hummus? There are so many varieties and seasonal produce to choose from!

Why not try a vegetable you have never eaten before or that exotic fruit you didn’t know existed? Instead of going to the middle isles looking for boxes of processed foods for snacks like snack bars or cookies, choose real fresh fruits and veggies and make healthier choices. Try making Cauliflower Popcorn, I highly recommend this recipe! Making smoothies or juicing is also a great way to eat more fruits and vegetables. Check out my Green Smoothie Recipe for more ideas.

4.- Buy local

Whether it is your local bakery or farmer’s market, those are places where you can find less processed foods.  Lots of seasonal local fresh fruits and vegetables that have never been frozen, and small family businesses that make homemade foods.

About a year ago I discovered a great pasta place near my home. They make it fresh every day and it is a family business. I can actually see how they make the pasta while I am at the store.  Not only is that pasta delicious but so fresh and made using a few ingredients.

If you go to your local farmer’s market also you will find not only great produce but small businesses that sell local raw honey, local bread, and other delicious treats. Remember fresh and local is always better.

5.- Make your own junk food

We all want to eat some junk food right?  Why not make it yourself and turn it into something healthy?  I love making my own junk food like good Homemade Mac & Cheese or Chicken Tenders. Your food will be tastier and the best part is you will be eating real food.

Just imagine the number of chemicals you would not be putting in your body by making your own junk food. Cooking at home is really the best way to avoid processed foods. Try making your own favorite junk food and feel better about making healthier choices. Check out my post about how your Mac & Cheese may contain harmful chemicals (like plastic!) to learn more.

6.- Choose whole grains

Whole grain products are less refined and more natural. From the 7 Easy Ways To Avoid Processed Foods Now, this is the easiest. Studies show that eating whole grains instead of refined grains lowers the risk of many chronic diseases. Your body will digest them easily and they will contain more nutrients so they will be healthier for you.

Once again, please read your labels.  If it doesn’t say 100% whole grains then it is really not a true whole-grain product.  The first ingredient should be a whole grain also.  Stay away from white bread, pasta and rice, and start switching little by little to whole grains.  Before you know it, you will never want to go back.  I also love trying different varieties of whole grains, like for example my Spaghetti Carbonara With Quinoa Pasta recipe.

7.-Avoid low-fat and fat-free products

When a product is labeled “low-fat” or “fat-free”, it only means it has been highly processed to remove the fat first.  After the fat is removed, the product doesn’t taste good anymore so guess what they add? Sugar! Tons of sugar (usually cheap processed sugar like high fructose corn syrup), to make up for the fat they just removed. Sugar producers can actually label their sugar with a huge “Fat-Free” label because sugar is fat-free.

But what they don’t tell you is that if sugar calories are not used as energy shortly after they are consumed, they are converted into stored body fat. This is why people who go on a diet and start buying these products don’t lose any weight. If you feel like eating something sweet, making your own is also a great way to avoid all the artificial ingredients.  Try my Homemade Mini Brownies or the Perfect Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes. They are easy to make and so delicious.

I hope you enjoyed these tips on how to avoid processed foods, or at least found them helpful! Healthy eating doesn’t have to be hard!