Hmm...No processed food at all sounds impossible
Okay. By now, I had eliminated tons of chemicals from my environment. I had been on a mission to eliminate chemically laden processed foods from my diet. I was eating a lot of fruit and vegetables and other whole foods. But there was a potential glitch looming ahead. I didn't always have the time or the energy to prepare every single thing that I ate completely from scratch. I needed either a personal chef or a new idea. I couldn't afford a chef so I went with the new idea. I felt that being able to use some packaged foods would help me make this a lifelong lifestyle change instead of a temporary experiment.
I wanted to feel as well as possible despite having this awful disease. My fibromyalgia pain was actually getting better. Some days I didn't have any pain at all. This was an exciting and unexpected development. Although I was still having a lot of chronic fatigue symptoms, there were some days when my energy level kicked it up a notch. I certainly didn't want to do anything to hinder my progress. But in order for me to stay consistent with this plan for the rest of my life, there had to be some way to make the process more practical.
I decided to see what happened if I ate mostly whole foods, but occasionally used some prepackaged products. My formula would be to eat whole, natural foods 95% of the time and use some packaged products for the other 5% of what I consumed. All packaged foods are not the same. There is a big difference between something that comes prepackaged and items that are overly processed. There were some non negotiable qualifiers for any packaged product I tried:
I subtracted a lot of negative chemicals from my environment and from my food. That left plenty of room for a lot of positive choices. A little flexibility has made it possible for me to continue a healthy lifestyle. I feel great and am greatly grateful!
I wanted to feel as well as possible despite having this awful disease. My fibromyalgia pain was actually getting better. Some days I didn't have any pain at all. This was an exciting and unexpected development. Although I was still having a lot of chronic fatigue symptoms, there were some days when my energy level kicked it up a notch. I certainly didn't want to do anything to hinder my progress. But in order for me to stay consistent with this plan for the rest of my life, there had to be some way to make the process more practical.
I decided to see what happened if I ate mostly whole foods, but occasionally used some prepackaged products. My formula would be to eat whole, natural foods 95% of the time and use some packaged products for the other 5% of what I consumed. All packaged foods are not the same. There is a big difference between something that comes prepackaged and items that are overly processed. There were some non negotiable qualifiers for any packaged product I tried:
no preservatives
no food dyes
no trans fats
no chemical additives
no artifical sweeteners
no excessive sugar, fat, or salt
the fewer ingredients the better
read all the labels all the time
The prepackaged foods I added to my diet included: dried fruits such as raisins and cherries, canned low sodium chicken broth, canned tomatoes, canned beans, plain saltine crackers, graham crackers, Greek yogurt. I love granola but this was a particularly tricky item. Just because the word, "natural" is on the box, that does not mean the food item has no chemicals. But there are some packaged granola cereals that meet the criteria above. I always read every item on every label of every product so that I have the facts I need to make an informed decision.
I subtracted a lot of negative chemicals from my environment and from my food. That left plenty of room for a lot of positive choices. A little flexibility has made it possible for me to continue a healthy lifestyle. I feel great and am greatly grateful!
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