the whole unprocessed thing - the plan

Just three days away from the start of the new year, I though it about time I posted my 'master plan' for this whole unprocessed thing ! I've done lots of thinking, do continual reading and have chatted with my husband about this and we've come to an agreeable plan.

(photos - Christmas 2009 fruit bowls)

We will eat no foods with additives and preservatives (with the exception of a few like 'gelatine' that have no adverse reactions) I have a comprehensive list of additives and preservatives used in Australia to make our shopping easier.

No white flour.

No white sugar (or brown sugar which is just white sugar with molasses added).
We are classing anything that has more than .5g of sugar per serve as having sugar.

No white rice or pasta.

No trans fat.

We will limit our dairy. Cheese will be an occasional food. Milk and yogurt will still be part of our diet but I'll be researching nut milks. So far I haven't found any without added sugar. All of our dairy will be low fat.

We will concentrate on eating leafy greens, lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes.

I will endeavor to keep our sodium intake to less than 1000mg a day.

Exceptions ...

I am not wanting to take our family into the 'realm of weirdo'. For that reason, we will have a few exceptions throughout the year. Each of our birthdays will be a 'free day'. We will be sensible and try to make decisions as close to our 'plan' as possible but we will probably have birthday cake with sugar in it ...

As well ... I will not put myself or my family or our friends through the awkwardness of 'we don't eat that' when we go to someones place for dinner. So ... again, making sensible decisions ... but we will eat what is served to us when we are at someones place. The same if we are in a restaurant. Although ... restaurants will be easier as we will be given a menu with many choices.

The reasons ...

Improved health is the most obvious reason. After reading Additive Alert a few years ago and then again recently, I feel that it's time we 'take the plunge' to eliminate these 'nasties' from our diet.

I also was struck by something I read in another book that was something to the effect of "why do we wait until we are sick to make the changes our bodies need to be healthy ?" To me ... it makes sense to feed my family (and myself) food that will keep us healthy instead of waiting until it is too late.

I'm not someone who has much success with 'little by little'. I'm an all or nothing sort of girl. Hence the reason we are cutting all of these things out at once. I've tried it the other way ... doesn't work for me. So ... here we go ... starting an adventure ! I'm excited !

Oh ... the other reason I want to do this has not got much to do with health but more with a trend I see in society that I'd like to not see in my home or in my children. That is the trend towards 'instant gratification'. The 'I'll just run out and grab something quick' sort of mentality. You know what I'm talking about ? I want to see what it is like to not be able to do that. I want to be forced to make things from scratch ... even more than I already do. I know it will take a lot of planning and preparation and organization but I think I'm ready for that ...

We'll see ... because it starts in just three short days !!

I plan to share with you the foods we eat. The recipes. The challenges. The struggles. The physical, emotional and financial changes we discover. I'll share books and resources and who knows what else ...

I'd love to know your thoughts. Suggestions are always welcome too ! Links to recipes that fall in line with our plan ... hook me up !!

Look out two thousand and ten ... here we come !!