Low processed foods diet?

What would that consist of? I'm not sure if I'm eating that way now...

Low-processed foods are foods that you find in their natural forms, i.e., raw chicken breasts that you cook from scratch instead of a chicken patty.  Another example is brown rice instead of polished white rice or instant rice.  Most low-processed foods aren't packaged in a box or a can.  Think fruits, veggies, whole grains, fresh meats, real dairy...such as real english cheddar instead of processed american sliced cheese.

Hope this helps!

It does help! Thanks :)

If you cook it yourself - and not in the microwave - it's probably close enough! 

Do a search on clean eating.

Don't eat it if you can't hunt, fish, pluck, grow, or ferment/culture it.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Don't eat it if you can't hunt, fish, pluck, grow, or ferment/culture it.

Can I put this on a t-shirt?  

Original Post by floggingsully:

Don't eat it if you can't hunt, fish, pluck, grow, or ferment/culture it.

Does this mean that beer counts? ;)

hahaha, thanks everybody :)

Fun replies! I always think of it in terms of how many steps away from its original state its in, and try to keep that number low. For instance, produce is one step away from the ground - the travel/shipping. If its prepared, like a sauce, then that's more steps - the slicing, mixing, packaging and THEN shipping...Whole grains are fewer steps from the ground to my table than refined grains.

Also, if it comes in packaging, I try not to eat it...stick to the perimeter of the grocery store: Breads, produce, Dairy usually...the middle is the higher processed canned, boxed and frozen.

That's a cool way to look at it!

Original Post by floggingsully:

Don't eat it if you can't hunt, fish, pluck, grow, or ferment/culture it.

But I don't need to do the hunting, fishing, plucking, growing, fermenting and culturing myself, do I?   Because I'm already pretty darned busy...

Augh.  Where do you draw a line? Every food is processed to some extent.  For starters cooking is processing.  Preserving is processing - drying, canning, smoking, salting, you name it.  Agriculture is processing - almost everything we eat has been selected and bred for thousands of years.

I think you're safe eating wild nuts, berries and the chipmunk under my driveway.

Figuring out the level of processing in a particular food, involves a lot of time and research, but I believe it's well worth it.  When I set out to eat healthier and lose weight a couple of years ago, I knew nothing.  One by one, I knocked many of my staples out of my diet, as I discovered more and more about the food I was eating and it's health benefits.   A lot of it involves unlearning what you've learned through word of mouth, myths, old wives' tales and advertising, but also learning that some old wive's tales are actually true.  There is on way to figure it all out in one post, and the end result is different for every person, because some people have a higher personal tolerance for processing, or a higher level of addiction to certain foods that they are going to eat regardless of the amount of processing involved.  

You have to do the research yourself I think, and find your own balance and what works for you.

People are way over thinking this. Buy ingredients, cook yourself.

UD

Original Post by umneydurak:

People are way over thinking this. Buy ingredients, cook yourself.

UD

 Exactly  and read labels.

In the summer I plant my own little vegetable garden.