The Real Foods Lifestyle

Do you know where the food you eat comes from? Most people get food from a grocery 
store of some kind. This modern reliance on grocery stores creates convenience, but 
also makes it harder for a large portion of the population to get healthy, fresh foods. 
That’s because a heavy focus is now placed on pre-packaged convenience foods, but 
researchers have been clear that these foods aren’t good for you when you eat it on a 
daily basis. In the next few pages you’ll see a healthy alternative in the Real Foods 
Lifestyle. 


What It Is 

When you hear the term “Real Foods Diet,” it probably makes you think about some 
kind of new fad diet that is touted by every artsy type, but what it really means, is that 
you simply eat fresh whole foods in their natural state. This can include delicious 
organic vegetables, freshly collected milk, fresh eggs, home baked breads and freshly 
cut meats. This means avoiding many of the boxed science experiments that are called 
food in stores today. When you mention a diet like this, it’s likely that a certain 
percentage of people will probably roll their eyes. The tragedy here though, is when you 
really think about it, it’s easy to see that until 30 years ago, all people ate food of those 
types. In fact, this is what humans have been eating for several millennia until this last 
few decades, so why is there resistance to natural eating now?


1. Understanding More About Real Foods 

At a quick glance, most people will be able to see that clean eating and real food diets 
are pretty similar. Back in the 1960’s when clean eating was being developed, the 
people behind it were mainly motivated by the notion that they could improve health by 
taking processed foods out of their diets. 

After eliminating the processed foods, the next target was the fat content of dairy 
products.  This meant that people would be following their diet, but the low fat milk that 
was being made still had to contain chemicals that help the milk to retain a familiar and 
pleasing texture, so there were a few minor holes. After a few decades research, 
scientist have come to the conclusion that processed foods are in fact very bad for 
people when they are eaten on a daily basis.

Today, scientists now know that in order for the human body to process certain foods, 
there has to be a natural and balanced appearance of fats in your diet. The main 
difference between the real food diets and clean eating is that clean eating didn’t have 
the natural and plant fat equation worked out. Eating the right amounts of healthy fats 
can help your digestion and absorption of nutrients, so at the moment, it appears that 
real food based diets are the winner of the day. 


Some Challenges

A lot of the problem that people face today is that they’ve been told that fresh fruits and 
vegetables are too expensive for them to eat, and in some places this is true. The 
majority of the time though, fresh fruits and vegetables are nearly always less expensive 
than canned goods unless the store sells damaged cans, which can contain dangerous 
bacteria like Clostridium Botulinum. 

Some areas are without grocery stores that have a decent produce section, and 
unfortunately, the produce section of the grocery store is usually the only place to get 
real food in most store these days. If that’s the case, then it might be very difficult to find 
foods that fit without having access to some gardening space. 

Hydroponic systems have added some flexibility to people who live in tall buildings, but 
not everyone can afford the cost or the space to set up these kinds of systems in their 
dwelling. Fortunately, some inspired individuals have made it possible to have access to 
these foods by starting inner city gardening projects so that people in nearby areas can 
have access to fresh vegetation.

Aside from that, you may have noticed that many demographics of people have been 
targeted by marketing companies to sell them unhealthy fast food at prices that are low 
enough to encourage day to day thinking. This is when people spend money they feel is 
negligible instead of buying groceries that can last for days after each trip. 

When this habit is coupled with the believe that fresh foods are unattainable, the effects 
can be devastating, but if you’re willing to take some time to do some research, you 
might find that you can open up an entire new world of possibilities and health. The only 
issue from here is finding out where to go from here!




2. Your First Steps into the Real Foods Lifestyle

Before you get started, it’s important to note that just because the title here says 
“lifestyle,” doesn’t meant that trying to eat real food means the end of anything that you 
enjoy completely. The reason why is because the stiffness and rigid nature of most 
dietary changes is one of the primary causes for failure. 

It’s much better to let yourself have a snack cake or two than to languish over the extra 
200 calories that you ate, or beat yourself up for the cheeseburger that you had late at 
night once this week. Stress is counterproductive and can actually make it so that you 
don’t lose weight, or get healthy in any way, so let yourself breathe for a second. As 
long as you’re eating real foods most of the time, you’ll look and feel better. 

It’s simply up to you how much progress you want to experience and how fast, but if you 
want the best results, it would be better to take it slow than to jump in with both feet on 
the first day. The next few paragraphs will explore how you can inch into better eating 
habits. 


1.  Find Information and Learn About Real Foods

One of the most important parts of being successful with dietary changes is that you 
learn as much as you can about your food choices. These days you can find almost 
anything you need to know about different ways to eat by finding books at the library or 
buying some online. 

For a few dollars you can pick up a detailed info source in electronic form so you can 
become an expert on Real Foods in your spare time. You might even be able to find 
some great tips on YouTube or any other video site that allows people to post vlogs. 
There might also be complete documentaries dedicated to the subject!










2. Revamp Your Old Recipes REAL FOODS STYLE

Even though it might seem sort of daunting changing the way you eat, you might be 
forgetting that you don’t really have to change things up THAT much. The reason why is 
because you can use what you learn from your real foods research to turn those old 
recipes into healthy masterpieces. 

All you have to do to make that happen, is to simply replace the unhealthy elements 
with freshly made, healthier versions of the foods you would normally prepare. Instead 
of cooking with those corn-based oils, you can use virgin olive oil. Of course, this 
wouldn’t be for deep frying anything. If you like crispy fried potatoes, then you can try 
cooking them in the oven instead of frying them. 

You can cook an entire batch of fries for the family with a small sheen of olive oil 
amounting to less than a tablespoon. If you enjoyed canned soups in the past, then you 
can make a low sodium version at home with fresh bone or vegetable broth that you’ll 
enjoy enough to never look back again. A little imagination can go a long way. 


3. Don’t Compare Yourself to Other People 

It’s fairly common to see other people and wonder why they’re having such great 
results. In reality, you have no idea what the circumstances are surrounding their lives 
may be. This is a trap that a lot of people get caught up in. Repeat to yourself every day 
that you don't compare yourself to others. 

This is important for the same reason that you don’t want to beat yourself up for eating 
that slice of beautiful cake. The things that you say to yourself should always be 
positive, so it’s important to acknowledge that you’re on your own path like everyone 
else and that you’ll get where you need to be healthwise as long as you stay the course. 


4. Learn About the Main Ingredients to Avoid

A lot of the processed foods that exist today are filled with different types of chemical 
that are intended to help preserve foods, but many of these products that are being 
added to your food have been linked to hormone imbalances and other side effects. 
You can either learn about these chemicals or simply avoid anything that is difficult to 
pronounce. Unfortunately, many of these additives switch names every few years to 
make it more difficult to pin down exactly what they’re for. 
Some of the chemicals to look for are things like monosodiumglutimate (aka MSG),  
aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, or anything derived from 
soybeans. While some of these like corn syrup aren’t the worst on this small list, it can 
still have negative effects on your digestive system that makes it harder for your body to 
absorb nutrients. As a general rule, you can also say that you will try to avoid foods that 
come in in boxes which have more than 5 ingredients. 


5. Make Shopping Easy for Yourself 

What is your normal shopping style? For some people, the wandering around until 
something jumps out method might be their usual habit, but in order to have success in 
a major lifestyle change it’s important to stay slightly organized. The easiest way to o 
this is by splitting your food groups up and then fulfilling each category as you walk 
through the store. This makes sure that you get everything that you will need to be able 
to make the healthy and tasty meals that you've been planning. 

You can easily start with your grains and dry foods like beans and rice, then move to 
sweeteners like stevia, and plant fats like olive oil for cooking. After that you can hit the 
produce aisle for your fresh fruits and vegetables, then round it up with proteins like 
meats, eggs and dairy. That way your food will keep cool and safe during your shopping 
trip. 


6. Try Making Your Own Probiotic at Home 

If you’re still feeling excited about the road to your new lifestyle then it that last thing 
you’ll need to get started will be to introduce a homemade probiotic into your daily or 
weekly diet. Probiotics are great for your gut health because they contain life strains of 
the kind of bacteria your stomach needs to process certain foods. Adding foods and 
drinks like these to your diet can even help reduce issues that you might have 
experienced over the years. 

Another amazing effect is that these tiny organisms can help protect you from a lot of 
germs that can make your horribly ill, so try to work them in whenever you can. You can 
easily start out with an easy kefir or kombucha recipe. It’s really all up to you overall. If 
you had unlimited resources, which probiotic would you make first? 



3. Some Basic Rules to Follow 

Now that you've already seen the important points about how attitude can affect your 
journey towards real foods eating, it would be a good time to look at some general rules 
that can help to further simplify things. Success is the most probable when you keep 
everything to a short list of things that are easy for you to recall. 


Foods That You Should Eat 

Foods that come as they appear in nature, generally unaltered and unfiltered. Many 
foods that are processed in this way lose a large portion of the nutrients that you are 
trying to get by eating them in the first place. Always try to find the freshest most 
naturally grown foods. 

Be sure to wash it in case there has been any kind of contamination through. The best 
way to find foods like these that are more likely to be safe will be from local farmers 
markets. Food sold at those events is more likely to have been inspected by a few sets 
of eyes, and has probably been washed if it’s been removed from its natural sheathing 
already. 


Only Eat Caught Seafood 

If you choose to eat seafood, try to make sure that you only get seafood that was 
naturally grown, or at the very least was not raised on a farm in a pond. Those sea 
creatures tend to contract various disease fairly easy, and can be influenced by their 
unnatural environment. This could be difficult if you live completely inland, but the 
demand for seafood is pretty high, so finding the right source is usually the primary 
issue that needs to be addressed. One you find a good company, you’re likely to 
experience years of great seafood. 


Make Your Own Bread or Find a Bakery

Did you know that there are a lot of different bread makers that you can buy for 
relatively inexpensive prices? Having a bread maker is a great way to make sure that 
the bread you eat is up to the real foods standard that you’re attempting. 
All you have to do is put the ingredients into the machine at the appropriate times, and 
within an hour or two, you’ll end up having some great homemade bread that you can 
enjoy. You can even use them to make all of those great holiday breads that you’ll love. 
 
If you don’t want to make your own bread, then it would be a good idea to find a local 
bakery that produces breads that are up to the real foods standards. Bread like these 
will only be made with whole grains and avoid the use of chemically based 
preservatives that are found in store bought brands of bread loaves. 


Eat Locally Raised Meats 

Try your best to find a local source for meats if you continue to eat them. Most major 
meat sources fill their livestock full of hormones, and many of the practices that are 
carried out as daily procedure have been less than satisfactory in the eyes of multiple 
consumer studies. Issues with the handling and quality of conditions in meat producing 
facilities are very likely to continue with the recent changes in regulations. As always, 
meat should be kept as a smaller percentage of your diet, with many experts saying that 
the average person should eat no more than 4 oz a day. 


Drink Beverages That Are Naturally Sweet

The things that you drink should stay in the realm of naturally occurring drinks, or drinks 
that have been sweetened using naturally occurring sweeteners like juice, or honey. 
Tea is always a good option and it provides a wide range of health benefits. 


Eat Dried Fruits and Nuts

Fruit that has been dried can be a great source of nutrition. If you want to get extra 
adventurous, you can make a trail mix with nuts, seeds, dried fruit. With a small amount 
of imagination, you can even create sweet snacks that are super healthy, and great for 
the midday pick-me-up. 

You can use honey and natural peanut butter to create and instant treat that your entire 
family or friend circle can enjoy. Add some cran raisins and you have the perfect fast 
healthy snack to get you out the door. Experimenting with probiotics and that mixture 
could actually be one of the most solid breakfasts you could eat. 

4. Food to Stay Away From 

It should go without saying that if there are foods that you can eat, and this dietary 
change calls for you to stay focused on a specific type of food, then it’s stands to reason 
that you’ll be doing your best to stay away from an army of sweats and sodium filled 
junk calories. 


No Fast Food

Fast food chains spend a lot of money marketing their products in ways that are 
contrary to the facts about the effects that their food has on the human body. Don’t be 
tricked. Stay away from any and all fast food you see. Even though some chains might 
boast that they have high end ingredients that go into their food, a small amount of 
research will usually reveal that they’ve cut corners in the meat or breads that they 
serve. 

Even a large presence of condiments on the food can completely ruin the results of a 
carefully planned diet plan.  The sauces that these companies use are often very low 
quality, and are full of chemicals that can upset the delicate balance of what your body 
expects from the food you ingest. 


Only Eat Whole Grains 

You should avoid any kind of grains that have been refined into a powder or paste with 
no visible grains of fiber. These kinds of fiber have basically no benefit. Also, the lack of 
whole fiber in your diet can cause issues with your digestion. Some people develop tiny 
pockets in their intestines during adulthood. If you eat too much of the refined grains, 
they become a pasty sludge inside your intestines. 

That flour paste can get trapped in the pockets and prevent those parts of your 
intestines from healing, or even worse, rupture. Eat whole grains help your body carry 
out its proper elimination, and that can protect your from having serious physical issues 
down the road. `





Avoid Refined Sweeteners 

Refined sweeteners are still being studied by various groups. One thing that we know 
for a fact is that the corn syrups used in the foods of today has had unintended side 
effects. These types of sweeteners should be avoided at all costs, and that includes 
many option like splenda. 

No deep fried foods at all. Everyone knows that fried foods are terrible for them. The 
food might taste pleasing, but the far reaching health complications shouldn’t be the 
price of a tasty but overly salty meat snack.


5. How to Prepare Ahead of Time

It’s about the time in this article where you’ll see a deeper look into how you can make 
some things easier on yourself. Meal planning is always at the center of a successful 
diet upgrade, so when you’re getting everything laid out like your grocery list, you’re 
also going to want to take some time to think about how you plan to sore many of these 
wonderful foods that are going to help you get healthier. 

You’ll want to buy enough of what you like so that you have enough to last until you’re 
ready to venture out to the store, but be careful not to buy anything just because it’s on 
sale, because you’ll simply end up wasting the food in all likelihood. Only get what you 
really know you’ll need.  As you get more experience, meal planning will become easier, 
and you’ll probably find that you enjoy the process. 


1.	Find out what foods you think you’ll be making. Be sure to include items that you 
can grab quickly, especially that are satisfying in the event of a strong craving. 
2.	Plan for the space where it needs to be stored. YOu’ll have to take into account 
that there will probably be some plastic containers. Find out what they might be 
and plan accordingly. 
3.	Go to the store to shop, purchase any and all materials related to storing your 
food for the week, or month. Buy decent containers that can seal well enough for 
foods to stay fresh tasting. They might be slightly more expensive, but it’s worth it 
to be able to keep your food separate from the dry, musty flavor trying to push its 
way into your food containers. You’ll probably need a good amount of bags and 
at least 3 different sizes of containers. 
4.	Collect the most perishable foods last to make sure that it isn’t exposed to the 
unsafe temperatures for any longer than needed. 
5.	Get home with your goods and follow the plan you created to sort and store the 
foods from your grocery trip. 


6. Tips for Saving Money

If you’re someone who is just starting out, or you’re hitting hard times, it’s still quite 
possible to get healthy meals, you just have to be more selective about which 
ingredients you choose to purchase, and be ready to think ahead. In order to get the 
most out of your purchases, you have to be sure to get things that can go together in a 
few different combinations. 

When you get ingredients that are only good for one kind of meal, you run the risk of 
letting those ingredients go bad. That will increase the likelihood of them becoming 
some kind of disgusting refrigerator sludge about 3 months from now. It’s a good thing 
that buying whole foods encourages you to use the ingredients in their purest state, 
which will go great with the other veggies.  


Buy in bulk

Take it home to be divided into smaller portions for meal preparation. Be sure to have 
extra bags for the meal size portions of food. If you don’t have enough of an ingredient 
in the meal you’ve prepared,  you can simply add another portion to the food that is 
cooking. One of the biggest advantages to this style of food prep is that the smaller 
meals don’t have to be a huge deal when you do need to make them. 


Eliminate waste

Food waste is a massive drain on finances for a family. When you cook food that 
doesn't get eaten, you are literally throwing money in the trash. This increases 
massively when you have to get food out at restaurants after you have already 
purchased food. 






Make Your Own Condiments 

Store bought condiments are full of chemicals and preservatives. If you make them 
yourself, you will have healthier and fresher versions of the sauces that you love. 
Homemade ranch, ketchup, and hot sauce can save you a lot of money. Sauces that 
are made in a factory are pumped full of chemicals do they can survive long trips across 
the country. 

They will usually have astronomical amounts of sodium that can cause your joints to 
feel stiff. When you make these items at home, they don't need anything other than the 
basic ingredients: the vegetable matter, seasonings, and to cook them for the 
appropriate amount of time. There might be an order of placement that makes them 
come out the best. 


Grow Herbs for Yourself

It’s relatively cheap to grown herbs indoors. Herbs can grow very quickly and don't’ 
require a lot of water or nutrients to get them to grow nicely. The only thing you need 
would be a small window box that will help you to produce the wonderful herbs that you 
can use in a variety of meals. You can find a variety of seeds at plants stores, but you 
can easily browse a database of seeds online and order them all at the same time so 
you can have everything you need. 


Create Meals That Can Be Repurposed

Have you ever make a batch of rice or beans that just sits in the fridge until it grows a 
beard? It can be really depressing when you discover a wasted meal. The best way to 
combat this would be to make food in a way that makes it transformable. For example, 
when you make ground beef, beans or rice, you can leave it plain so that it can be 
seasoned in a way that gives it the character of whatever meal you are making that 
night. That way you have food that is already prepared, but it’ll take a lot less time. 


Stocking Up on Bulk Dry Foods 

Do you have a place where you can keep large quantity of dry food? If you can get 
away with having the space be used on a nearly constant basis, then stocking up on big 
bulk bags of dry food can save you tons of money in the course of a year. When you 
buy the small 4 - 8 oz bags of rice, it will often cost at least $1.50 - $2.00. That means 
that it should be a no-brainer when you see a 10 lb bag of rice for $5 - $7. You can even 
keep a container filled that you can use for easy dispensing for the day to day food 
cooking uses.  


Buy Food Directly from a Grower 

When you really put your mind to it, it’s a pretty easy thing to eat healthy. If you are 
lucky enough to live somewhere near a grower of some kind, then there are ways you 
can make deals with them to come and purchase their fresh foods. This will help both 
yourself and the farmer at the same time because they’re keeping their inventory 
flowing. 


Stock Up on Foods You Can Just Grab 

When you’re at the store, you probably notice how cheap bananas and fruits like them 
can be. It’s a good idea to stock up on these fruits and veggies because they are a 
great aid to helping you stay the course with your diet.  These fruits also promote 
serious gut health, so they’re always good to have around anyway. 


Buy the Ones You Can Freeze

Have you noticed how well fruits like berries last in the freezer? You should always keep 
a heavy rotation of these great fruits around because they keep very well. They also 
make great treats for breakfast replacements because they make great smoothies.  

