Day 1: 10 Days of Real Food Pledge

Today I begin the 10 Days of Real Food Pledge.  You can read about one family's 100 days of real food on their blog here.  After 100 days, they made this part of their everyday life.  I intend to blog daily during these 10 days and share my discoveries with you.  I am already thinking I will be real thankful that it is summertime and the garden is beginning to give us some produce!

I began to think about additives and preservatives in our food a couple months ago.  I noticed a loaf of bread in our pantry that had been there for at least a month.  When I checked it to see if it was still good, I was surprised that it was!  There was no mold or bad smell to the bread and it was still soft.  Is that natural?  How can bread last for a month without some sort of spoilage?  Homemade bread doesn't last even a week...how can manufactured bread last longer.  What preservatives had been added to the bread?  Can that be healthy?  I started questioning the list of 20+ ingredients on the bread wrapper.  A couple of weeks ago, I ran across the 100 Days website and verified several of my fears.

I decided after July 4th (I had to enjoy my celebration, didn't I?) I would take the 10 day pledge.  Basically, the 10 day pledge consists of these items:

      What you can eat:

• Whole foods straight from nature
• Fruits and vegetables
• Dairy products like milk, cheese, unsweetened yogurt and eggs
• 100% whole wheat and whole grains
• Seafood - wild caught
• Locally raised meats (good thing our family raises our own!)
• Beverages:  water, milk, all natural juices, naturally sweetened coffee and tea
• Dried fruit, nuts, seeds, popcorn
• Sweeteners:  Honey, Maple Syrup, and fruit juice concentrates

      What you cannot eat:

• No refined grains - white flour (must contain Whole Wheat)
• No refined sweeteners - sugar, corn syrup, cane sugar, or artificial sweeteners
• Nothing out of a bag or box with more than 5 recognizable ingredients
• No deep fried foods
• No fast foods

The hardest habit for me to break is my flavored french vanilla coffee creamer.  I already knew that it added mega calories to my coffee, but it is definitely not on the list - more than 5 ingredients and many unrecognizable.  The serving listed on the label is only 1 tablespoon.  One tablespoon is definitely not enough!  I use at least a 1/4 of a cup which is three tablespoons -- the fat and calories really add up.  AND I usually have more than one cup!  I am learning to tolerate my coffee with maple syrup and half & half...a little healthier option.

I read this challenge a couple of weeks ago and have been more aware of reading labels.  Did you realize that there are very few items with just 5 or less ingredients that you can actually recognize?  I will definitely be making more homemade items in the next 10 days instead of purchasing prepackaged groceries.

I began this morning with oatmeal sweetened with maple syrup and chai tea sweetened with honey.  I added some organic whole milk to the tea -- a habit I picked up visiting my brother in Scotland.  For lunch today, I have a slice of whole wheat bread from Whole Foods, white cheddar cheese (no colorings or preservatives), and 1/2 of a chicken breast thinly sliced that I baked last night.  Tonight (Wednesday night) we have church at 6:00 pm, so supper at our house is usually anything you can put together for yourself from the pantry and refrigerator.  I'll have to think on that one.  So far so good.

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Judy :)