Most of us eat way to much processed food. We eat much more processed food today even than just 10 – 15 years ago. The MSN article, 7 Tips for Avoiding Processed Foods, makes some good suggestions on how to avoid processed foods. It is based on suggestions from the book, Unprocessed, which details a 26-year old grad student’s year of eating nothing but unprocessed foods and even doing it on a salary of just $16,780 per year. (She did spend about 27% of her income on food…)
Here are the the 7 tips for avoiding processed food:
1. Not sure which foods are processed? Read labels.
2. A general rule: avoid multi-ingredient foods
3. Make your favorite treats at home
4. Join a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture program
5. Prepare your food in advance and in bulk
6. When traveling, buy prepared foods at a natural food store (instead of restaurant)
7. Start small and make deliberate exceptions
To read the details of each of these tips, click the link above to read the whole article. It may seem like a tough task at first, but with a little prep and a little planning, avoiding processed food will become second nature.