I've been thinking/reading/researching about whole food lately. I've been slowly trying to wean my family off of processed foods… within reason. (Mama's gotta have her Cherry Coke Zero!) Its going to be a long process, but we're taking baby steps here! I don't grind my own wheat or bake my own bread. (Although I want my mother-in-law to teach me how to make bread when she's here this summer. She makes the yummy healthy bread!) So here are my baby steps:
1. Trying to cook from scratch whenever I can. This has been the easiest step! I never used boxed dinners (like Hamburger Helper… shudder) and I love to bake. So, yes, they're eating cookies but at least I know what is in them! (And I've been exploring sneaking whole wheat flour and such into my cookie recipes. But don't tell them, okay?)
2. Adding more fruits and veggies. I'm a lucky girl – this is not hard for me. My whole family – even the kiddos – love every kind of fruit and most vegetables. So its just a matter of staying on budget 
I've been making a point to stop at my local farmers market once a week or so to stock up.
3. Buying all hormone-free dairy (organic when I can): I buy all our dairy at Trader Joes. Everything is hormone-free and affordable. My kids love single-serve Stonyfield Farm and Trader Joe's brand yogurts, which make great snacks! And I always buy large tubs of vanilla yogurt (to serve with fruit and granola) and plain (for smoothies). Trader Joes has great cheese options as well.
4. Making breakfast 3 days a week: The other two days my kids have toast and yogurt or cereal. We are no longer buying sugary cereal or, more specifically, any cereal with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Because there is a lot of 'healthy' cereals out there that really aren't! We have pancakes and waffles, smoothies and toast, scrambled eggs… its great to have a hot breakfast on a cold morning!
5. Snacks. My challenge: My kids are just like me… I tend to eat small amounts all day long as opposed to three big meals. And my kids are the same. They'll eat a meal and want a snack two hours later. And its a challenge to keep those snacks healthy. They love their fruit snacks and granola bars as much as the next kids! But we've been having more cheese, fruit and veggies, yogurt, popcorn, homemade banana bread or muffins, or pretzels.
6. Shopping at Trader Joes: This is KEY to my success so far! Its where I can find great prices on everything from whole-wheat pretzels to canned beans. My kids love so much of their food, so its easy to convince them to try new things from there.
As I said before, I still buy soda (for the grown ups) and juice. But I'm (slowly) trying to convince the kids that water is an acceptable beverage! Its all baby steps and I'm hoping to make some bigger changes in our diets soon!
About Melissa
I love this! We are also trying to reduce the amount of processed foods – eating less meat – and overall eating more healthy. I’ve become really involved with my grower’s market (I blog for them as well), and it has become more important about eating local and eating sustainably. It’s hard though! Like you, I love my diet Dr. Pepper and Baked Cheddar and Sour Cream Crisps (but it’s baked so it’s better, right?). Thanks for the encouragement of this post – and keep on keepin’ on! PS – your Farmer’s Market is open year round? The West Chester Grower’s Market is only open 1x a month until May. Where do you go?
we go to gentiles in newtown square, sometimes hit produce junction in exton and LOVE the year-round farmers market in wayne (open wednesday, friday and saturday)
I’ve been trying to do the same things. A loves apple and peanut butter for a snack or raisins. She gets a total of 2 ounces of juice all day but I’ve been trying to wean her off of that. I just can’t get her to drink plain water! I’m hoping that she’ll be more amenable to it once cold season is over. What do you give your kids for lunch? That’s my biggest challenge since A pretty much will only eat macaroni and cheese or pizza for lunch these days…
We’re doing the same thing! I now do my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s and love almost everything from there! My biggest challenge is convincing my husband…a chemist!…to jump on board and support my efforts – we’re not quite there!
Oh, how I wish that we had Trader Joe’s here!!!
Whenever I’m visiting friends out of town, I HAVE to visit TJs. Sounds like you’re doing a great job, and I’m doing the same thing here.
Good for you!!!! We’ve been trying the same thing for a couple of years now and it’s tough — especially when you’re out of the house. ( Actually, the whole processed food reduction thing is why we provide the Daisy snack so I can control the food in more more place…. ) BUT if you feel your resolve weakening you should read the book Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It will help you with the Whole foods/local foods resolve in an amusing way. Good luck!!!!
I started doing this at the beginning of the year, and have been posting about my progress in a series (What We’re Eating) on my blog.
Like you, I shop at TJ’s a LOT! They have lots of healthy options and very reasonable prices.
I got my children off of the really sugary cereals by buying Honey Nut Trader O’s. I think it only has 8 grams of sugar.
I totally agree with you about the cheeses. Great selection and prices! If you have not tried the Valedon Blue Cheese, go get some today. It is that good!
I love this! I am trying to eat clean whole foods as well. Some things are easy, some things are not so easy.
We do a few of these, cutting out as much processed food, cooking more from scratch etc, but can never envisage giving up Diet Coke! Wishing you well in your baby steps
such a challenge…baby steps are the only way to go…and I drink way too much diet pop and nothing is goign to stop me!!!
Great job!! It does take baby steps. I changed how we ate this fall and it was almost a revolt because i went to fast. It is better now, and Boo even helps.
She has never been a big sweets kid, so fruits, veggies and other good snacks are perfect for her and Hunter (he will eat anything…13).
thanks guys! its so encouraging to hear your ideas! (and that i’m not alone in my diet coke habit
megan, lunches are really hard for me as well. my kids would eat nothing but pizza and lunchables (sigh!) if i let them.
they eat string cheese or turkey hot dogs from TJs or leftovers.
ellie brings string cheese and crackers or pretzels and carrots and fruit, sometimes she brings a sandwich or yogurt.
gracie and colin eat lunch at home usually, so they are a little easier. gracies favorite lunch is cereal, so shes easy. a bowl of cheerios isnt too bad when im in a hurry
jo-lynne has a fabulous post about lunches that i highly recommend!
http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2009/08/school-lunches.html
I’m definitely with you on number one! Although I probably came to it from another angle, cooking from scratch just tastes better–and I want food that tastes good. I’ve started shopping at Trader Joe’s more often, their prices are not bad. I tried to convice my husband to buy a half of a half share in a local CSA… he’s not on board yet. I’ve also almost given up on buying cereal. It doesn’t fill me up, my son doesn’t like it THAT much, and my husband could go through a box every other day. It’s just not good for any of us. Love your suggestions!
i wish we had a trader joes… I know that the organic yogurts and cheese at our market are far above what they should be- price wise… That’s our only issue. We do buy the large stonyfield yogurt… but cheese and individual yogurts end up not being organic because I can’t seem to find wiggle room in our grocery budget for $2.50 per yogurt…
I feel like I’m one step forward two steps back with this! It is a struggle!
it totally is — its really hard. of course the day this post went up, I ate cookies for dinner or something equally healthy