Switching to a Natural Foods Diet

This post is the final part of my natural foods diet series. If you missed the beginning sections, I talked about the importance of natural foods as well as what I consider to be “real” food.

Below I’m going to share my experience with switching over to the diet, a few tips to help you out, as well as the results I have experienced from eating real food.

The Transition Phase

Just like with any diet, there is definitely a transition phase that you need to make it through. Your body will take its time getting used to real foods, especially fruits and vegetables. I can tell you right now that eating tons of vegetables is difficult in the beginning. I’m not even going to explain why…

Besides your body getting used to the foods, you also have to get your mind used to it. For me, the hardest part was fighting through the cravings for junk food. I’ve gone so long eating different foods that it was really hard to say goodbye to some of them.

Below are the foods that were the hardest for me to give up along with some useful tips I used to beat my cravings:

Soda

I’ve been kicking back soda since middle school. I still remember late nights where I would consume an entire 12 pack of Sundrop (it’s a delicious soda). That’s well over a thousand calories worth of sugar alone. Not to mention a huge amount of preservatives and caffeine.

So how did I kick the habit? I started drinking seltzer water. The only ingredient is carbonated water and it’s also much cheaper than soda. I usually add a dash of lemon or lime juice and a little stevia to sweeten it. It tastes just like a citrus type soda and never fails to satisfy my soda craving.

It also works for mix drinks and it  helped me kick my rum and Coke habit.

Margaritas

I’m not going to lie, I love margaritas. They are my favorite drink on the planet, especially when summer rolls around. However, the store bought mixes are packed with sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Instead of using the mix, I have started using pure lime juice, stevia, and a dash of agave nectar. With a good tequila the margaritas taste amazing. Far better than the mix type ones and I do not feel guilty about them at all.

Pizza

Pizza is one of my favorite foods and something that I could never give up. Luckily all-natural pizzas are not that bad for you. The key is to avoid frozen ones that use a lot of artificial ingredients.

A few times a month my girlfriend and I make a delicious pizza at home using whole wheat crust, marinara sauce, and a variety of toppings including spinach, garlic, and basic. I don’t miss the cheese at all.

Transition Tips To Help You Out

As you can see, adapting to the diet does take some time and effort. Here are a few tips to help make it as easy as possible for you:

Transition Slowly

In other words, don’t toss out every bad food you have in the house right now. Instead, slowly eat them and get rid of them. Start implementing healthy foods into your diet and replace the bad ones. Over time, you will get used to the non-processed foods and learn to love them.

Find Healthy Alternatives

As I mentioned above, I had a hard time with a few foods. Instead of banishing them from your diet forever, find some healthy alternatives. That way you can still enjoy it and not feel guilty about it once you are finished. This works wonders and will make sticking with your healthy eating plan much, much easier.

Cook At Home

This one is a life-saver. Cooking at home is the easiest solution of all to eating healthy. When you go out to a restaurant, you really have no clue what they use to prepare your food. They might be marinating your steak in MSG and frying it with hydrogenated oils. Who knows what happens behind the kitchen doors.

Instead, try to make the majority of your meals at home. You’ll start to notice it is a hell of a lot cheaper as well, which allows you to spend a little more on groceries.

Make Stuff From Scratch

One of the most powerful changes you can make to your diet is to start making everything from scratch. A great example is making your own hummus and crackers. Both foods require only a handful of ingredients and are much easier to make than you would think.

You’ll also start to notice how little ingredients you actually need to make stuff. It’s crazy when you make something yourself and realize you used 20 less ingredients than the store bought version. Plus you can save a lot of money since both raw ingredients are super cheap.

Stop Impulse Buying

It’s really easy to grab a package of cookies off the shelf and throw them in the cart. I know this from a personal experience involving monkey bread from the grocery store bakery. Before I knew it, my girlfriend and I had consumed the entire thing.

The key to stopping the impulse buys is to force yourself to leave the grocery store and go home. If you really want something, you will get back in the car and drive right back to the grocery store to get it. However, I have found that this almost never happens because your cravings disappear once you get out of the store.

The Results

As far as results go, I must say that I am very impressed with the changes I have seen. I have lost around 15 pounds by simply eating healthy and running 4 days a week. My body-fat has hit an all-time low and I feel great.

And added bonus is that I haven’t been sick in what seems like forever. I guess eating healthy really does boost your immune system.

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After going through the entire process, I would highly recommend making the switch to real, unprocessed foods. The results are well worth the effort and you will feel great knowing you are eating foods the way they were meant to be consumed.

Photo: slynndesign’s

This post was published on February 22nd, 2010.

PS. Don't forget to check out Life After the Cubicle.