Another thread about processed food....

I used to eat nothing but processed foods. When I joined MFP, I decided to eat like I normally would and log it, just to see where my issues really where. I thought I was well. OMG! I was amazed at the numbers the first week.

I wouldn't say that I quit cold turkey; I dramatically reduced the number of pre-made meals that I ate, eventually, I just stopped all together.

The biggest change that I made, was I started cooking. I live alone, so those pre-made meals were perfect for me. Now, I just make them myself, freeze them in individual portions. Super convenient. On Sunday nights I pull out a few meals from the freezer for the week and put them in the fridge. Still super convenient. And I forgot how much I like to cook, and add my own flavors. Not to pat myself on the back, but this food is really good; and I can control what goes in it.

As I mentioned above, I don't really eat any of those processed meals anymore. I donated anything that I had left in the pantry or freezer to a friend who had fallen on hard times recently.

I wish you luck. Get creative and have some fun!!!

Just curious........Who has cut out processed food? I know what you life long health food warriors are going to say, but I specifically want to hear from those that went from eating processed food and other so called health foods, like frozen lean cuisines, etc.

1) What made you want to change?

2) How did you go about making the change?

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?

5) Did you manage to stick to it?

1. No one thing made me want to change. The process happened gradually. As I began cutting back on my calories, I found that if I made my own food or ate unprocessed fruits and vegetables, I felt more full and less like I was on a "diet."

2. Began bringing in a salad for lunch every day rather than a frozen Lean Cuisine, etc. Then I made the most of going to the farmer's market over the spring and summer and getting fresh vegetables for recipes at home. Then I started cooking a lot more of our dinners from scratch rather than from a box.

3. Very slowly. Like I said, it was a gradual change

4. Great. I will say that my food-preparation time has gone up quite significantly. Rather than pulling something out of the freezer and throwing it in the oven, I spend time chopping, peeling, and generally cooking. But I do think this is a good thing. I think it's very easy to divorce yourself from the food that you eat. Taking the time to prepare a good home-cooked meal makes you more likely to take the time to savor it rather than simply throw it down your gullet. That's not to say that I spend every night slaving in the kitchen. General pattern has me make something for dinner on Sunday that we also eat on Monday. Also on Sunday I make a stew or soup for the latter part of the week. Thursday I'll generally make an easy stir-fry (so this is the only weekday evening that I'm creating a meal from scratch in the kitchen rather than re-heating something I prepared on the weekend). Then on Friday, we often go out on a date night. Saturday I may make something a little more elaborate because I have more time.

5. Yeah, for the most part. Maybe once a week we eat something for dinner that I didn't cook from scratch.

I'm not someone who absolutely refuses to eat anything processed, but I am making a concerted effort to avoid overly processed foods where possible. I really do find that the bang for your caloric buck goes a lot further with foods your prepare yourself. I made a turkey shepherd's pie this weekend that had just over 600 calories per *enormous* piece. Not only that, I managed to control the sodium by limiting the added salt. Had I bought something similar from a frozen foods section, it would have been probably double the calories with triple the sodium. Similarly, I've been tweaking a fruit-crumble recipe over the past few months that allows me to have a nice dessert with far fewer calories than in anything store-bought.

Basically for me, the net is - I feel more full, and healthier since I've cut way back on eating pre-prepared meals. (My nails have never been stronger!)

Just curious........Who has cut out processed food? I know what you life long health food warriors are going to say, but I specifically want to hear from those that went from eating processed food and other so called health foods, like frozen lean cuisines, etc.

1) What made you want to change?
- My husband and having a baby... He was an big believer in natural and unprocessed foods. Then when I got pregnant we really made the switch to set a good example for our daughter and to ensure I was nurishing my body and hers witht he best quality items we could afford.

2) How did you go about making the change?
3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?
- For us it was a gradual change but a cold turkey comitment.... Basically as the processed stuff was consumed from our house, we refused to replace it. So we didn't waste all the food by throwing it out or go on a huge binge to eat it all "before hte diet starts monday". Just when we ran out of an item, we didn't replace it or we replaced it with the "good for you" version (ex. ketchup)


4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?
- I love hte way I feel.. more energy, less ups and downs, less bloating, feel fuller longer, etc. I'd say that it took at least a week of not eating processed stuff to notice the change. But after that it's easy

5) Did you manage to stick to it?
- Yes and no... we still live that way, but have days or even weeks where we fall off the wagon for a variety of reasons. We do allow at least one cheat meal a week for social and sanity reasons though

... What makes you ask??

1) What made you want to change? The salt in processed foods.

2) How did you go about making the change? I quit buying processed foods about 3 years ago.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey? Cold turkey.

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer? Immediately.

5) Did you manage to stick to it? Yes.

I have always been a good cook, but got into the habit of quickie foods (not fast food). After noticing some water retention a few years ago, I decided it's time to cook my meals instead of just heating them up in the nuker.

1) What made you want to change? Some articles I read about clean and whole eating, plus I'm the sort of person who likes to do for himself.

2) How did you go about making the change? I cleaned out the pantry and threw out everything that contained sugar or preservatives.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey? Cold turkey with sugar and preservatives, later removed sodium and tweaked as I learned more about what I was eating.

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer? Immediately I felt great and everything tasted so much better. After 10 months I still feel great and I'm having a great time discovering new foods and ways to cook.

5) Did you manage to stick to it? Yes, absolutely.

I've posted quite a few recipes and so on at my blog, http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/bhankiii

1) What made you want to change? - All the information on how bad the stuff in processed food is for you and just wanting to be healthier

2) How did you go about making the change? - I just started buying unprocessed/minimally processed foods. I read labels, found out which items had little or no processing etc.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey? - Slowly

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer? - I felt better knowing I was making healthier choices

5) Did you manage to stick to it? - Hell yeah. It's not a "just for now" kind of thing it's a complete change. I still read labels and God forbid I'm in a new store that has different brands than what I usually buy because then I'm there for HOURS reading labels.

1) What made you want to change?
I went on a really big bender of food documentaries on Netflix. That's sort of a silly answer but it's true.

2) How did you go about making the change?
I stopped buying them. I've always been a good cook and really eating out of packages has was just me being lazy. It's not cheaper or easier to eat out of a box.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?
Slowly. I do but "treats" for my kids/husband but I don't get into them. As a family, we generally eat a lot better than we ever have. We do still indulge in take out/fast food once a week or so. I'm not the food police or anything. I just have a hard time justifying spending money on crap food now

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?
Awesome! Awesome even after a week of cleaning things up.

5) Did you manage to stick to it?
You really get to the point of just flat out not wanting it. It'll make you feel crappy after you eat it as well. Once you clean up your system, I think your body WANTS to stay clean.

1) What made you want to change?

Discussions of food culture and general overeducated yuppiness--Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman have had an effect on the way I eat. Living in Italy also introduced me to a very specific food culture wherein my body felt amazing, I ate a ton but lost weight, and everything tasted amazing. I grew up in an Italian family and my mom cooked most days, so I acquired a taste for homecooked food early on--homemade soup, pasta, sauce, salsa, salads. Once you know the difference between food cooked from real ingredients and canned crap, it is really hard to go back. I honestly think Lean Cuisine and canned soup taste terrible. This makes it is easier for me.

2) How did you go about making the change?

Cooking. Buy a few cookbooks, make some high-fat meals and some more healthy meals. Savor the taste difference between real beef stew and the stuff from a can. Developing a taste for home-cooked food means breaking an addiction to sodium-laced convenience foods, so if you eat really delicious (and sometimes high fat) food at home, you will learn that this tastes a million times better.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?

I sometimes still eat processed things, but in general I've always eaten fresh stuff.

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?

I'm still a fatty, but my IBS is much better and my body usually feels great.

5) Did you manage to stick to it?

I love cooking, so it is pretty easy to stick to it.

I read a novel years ago "My Year of Eating Meat" with the back story of feedlot farming part of the plot and the proliferation of hormones and pesticides turned me off, so I went off meat for several years. I also became more aware of studies such as the yearly "Dirty Dozen" that measures the highest level of pesticide residue in fruits and veggies and buy organic for those especially (spinach, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries among them). Books like Food Inc. do a masterful job of researching the agri-business and feedlot business to tell the story of how our health is compromised in the name of profit and greed. Common sense says that eating local is healthier and I like supporting local farmers and businesses who are doing their part by treating the environment and land with respect, as well as animals in the case of meat production/consumption. So many reasons.....

I read the labels on everything that packaged. I just started someplace and as I got it down and a routine added more and new things. And change as I learn more, etc. And I make it easy. I do a lot of one skillet cooking.....brown onions and mushrooms, add in meat, then spinch at the end to wilt it, etc. And I'll often cook potatoes or brown rice for several meals and keep it in the fridge to add to the meal.

I'd say I did it somewhat gradually. Overall I didn't notice a huge change, but at times when I've been in situations where I'm eating processed foods (travelling, too many packaged on the go, or sweets) I feel incredibly lethargic and bloated.

Yes, I am pretty consistently good about eating non-processed. Even when I'm eating unhealthy or gaining, it's usually on whole foods out of portion size or too many sweets (but not Tasty Cakes or Twinkies!).

Just curious........Who has cut out processed food? I know what you life long health food warriors are going to say, but I specifically want to hear from those that went from eating processed food and other so called health foods, like frozen lean cuisines, etc.

1) What made you want to change?

2) How did you go about making the change?

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?

5) Did you manage to stick to it?

1) What made you want to change?
Fear of GMOs and wanting to know where my food comes from. I am a huge localvore and the thought of giving my hard earned grocery money to a farmer up the road is more appealing to me than lining the coffers of Kraft, Nabisco, etc.

2) How did you go about making the change?
Made the decision I want my family to eat whole and more importantly, organic. We are very busy people - now instead of grabbing a frozen Smart Ones for lunch, I will grab a frozen Amy's Organic burrito - if I don't have time to make something from scratch. I'll grab a Newman's Own frozen pizza if I don't have time to make one from scratch. 100% of the dairy we consume is organic and I've made great strides in other food groups as well.

3) Did you start by slowly reducing or going cold turkey?
A hybrid, I guess. I didn't throw out our non-organic/processed food, we will go through it and use it up, but I rarely purchase it anymore.

4) How did you feel after 1 week, 1 month, or longer?
Have been consistently working toward 100% organic (and reduced processed food) for over a year now, and have really clamped down in the past few months. I feel so much better, a lot less weighed down, and as others have said I feel full and am less likely to snack on sugar and garbage foods when I've eaten well.

5) Did you manage to stick to it?
So far so good. Not to say I'm a saint - if I'm at someone else's house and they serve crap food, I will eat it. But I prefer good, real food instead.