I definitely plan to keep cottage cheese, feta, and some canned/frozen veggies in there. While I do want to cut down on processing, I think my focus is basically "whole" foods. I want the ingredients in my cottage cheese to be milk solids, salt, water as opposed to all that plus a slew of other stuff because they added some sugary fruit component to it, know what I mean?

I know we live in a day and age where pretty much everything has been through some sort of process, and I'm okay with that. I intend to primarily eat whole veggies, fruits, nuts, grains and proteins (meat, fish, shellfish, etc.) but there will definitely still be dairy in there.

How do you feel since having switched to that sort of diet? Do you EVER eat anything else? I plan to even have my "treats" be whole foods/organic/natural. (Has anyone else made that same choice?)

Joss- I think it has helped me to feel fuller, since I am usually getting more bang for my buck. And I don't have as much rebound hunger, which I would get after I ate or drank something altered to be "light", etc.

I still eat ice cream, dark chocolate, pizza, etc. The biggest change for me was my twice daily mocha. I always made it at home, but coffee creamer had to go. I used just cream for a while, but it wasn't the same. It took a month, but I eventually just stopped wanting it. Such a small thing! And I get annoyed when I can't find something like tortillas without them being made with crap. Like, hello...it's a freaking tortilla. Why is is made with extra junk?? So I make my own.

Like my general approach to eating and exercise, if I can't do it for the next sixty years, I'm not doing it! ;-) I enjoy being able to have the convenience of packaged foods when necessary, so I don't think I'll ever go "au natural".

This. This. This!

Yeah that's pretty much it. "Clean" eating but by my own definition. Reading about so many different diets and things makes my head spin, so I'm just focusing on eating as many healthy things as possible It's working for me, so I'm going to keep at it.

That's pretty much what I do now—treats are still whole foods, etc. For example one of my favorite treats is a frozen half of a banana dipped in dark chocolate If I'm craving something cold I will go for that instead of ice cream. If I want something chocolatey/dessert-like, I go for a Quest bar.


I still straight up calorie count and have "junk" but it's been happening less frequently

This is what I'm hoping for... more satisfaction out of my meals.

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that. I already make my own pizzas and things like that, and it's not hard to find natural versions of chocolate and other goodies that aren't filled with unnecessary things.

Exactly! Why so much extra garbage in everything?

Yeah, I don't intend to be a zealot about it and start growing my own seeds in the windowsill... haha. I just want to do as well as I can to feed my body.

Thank you so much for all the chit chat so far! I'm really pumped about this little change.

I think I'll eventually get to that place, but right now I'm still using a Ready to Drink protein shake and a few random condiments/canned veggies/frozen foods, etc. I still have to have those little conveniences otherwise I won't be able to maintain it, and at times I know work will force me into situations where I have to eat what's available to me.

That being said, I'm happy I'm making this change! I will admit that my coffee this morning wasn't as creamy with almond milk in place of the sugar-free coffee mate creamer I was using, but next time I get to the store I'll find a better creamer to use. Like Chickie was saying, I just have to keep trying things!

I eat about 90% of my foods whole/unprocessed, but I'm just bad at making breads, so I try to just make the best choices I can at the store.

I have a four year old and I feed her similarly, but she's more like 80% whole foods. Because she likes things like ketchup and BBQ sauce, I make my own. Tortillas and flatbreads aren't too hard to make, but the first time I made homemade "goldfish" they were delicious, but entirely too thick and didn't puff up the way they were supposed to.

I can cook my azz off, but I'm a bad baker!

This is how I freeze my beans just for those emergencies. I like to be frugal, so that helps too

Congrats, Joss - that's a noble goal in a difficult world. The angst I have left is that sifting through the PRODUCE is now a complicated operation. Going "whole" is a huge improvement - making that final step into "organic" is where it gets touchy. We are trying hard to eliminate all GMO from our foods - and now, it's becoming hard work. California's Prop 37 will give consumers the right to choose whether they eat this stuff or try to avoid it ... and if it's so freaking safe (it's not - see latest Norwegian 10-year study on GMO corn), then golly, the manufacturers can proudly label it. So goes California, so goes the nation. Knowledge is NEVER a bad thing!

Wow, Joss. That sounds like an amazing plan.

For a while, I was doing what I have heard referred to as 'Frankenfood.' Protein bars and SlimFast kind of choices. I finally realized that I just didn't feel good when these foods accounted for most of my calories. Now, I do lean protein and produce almost exclusively. I need simple. And I feel way better. I haven't decided not to eat those foods, and I do have either a protein bar or shake after I lift, but even just the shift to getting the bulk of my calories from whole foods has been amazing.

I tossed out my Natures Own Light Whole Wheat Bread and picked up some Sprouted Grain Ezekiel bread the other day. I don't use much bread anyway, so the fact that it's kept in the freezer just means it's not going to go bad because I don't use it quickly enough.

Have you tried the Ezekiel bread? It's actually not really hard to find. A lot more stores carry it than I would have thought.

Yeah, baby steps! haha

Right now I'm just focusing on making my choices more natural; trying to stay away from packaged foods, and choosing items with fewer ingredients when I do have to go packaged... no artificial chemicals and such... eventually I would like to buy more organic foods as well but they are so hard to come by in this area and soooo expensive. I buy my eggs free range and organic, but that's about it.

This weekend I'm actually going to try making a couple of recipes I found for salad dressings. I can't seem to find any in the stores that are both natural AND low calorie, so I'll make my own!

Right there with ya sister. I'm still drinking my RTD Protein shake after my workouts, (I picked up a couple of samples of natural protein sweetened with Stevia. I'll try those after I run out of the other shakes.) but other than that, Frankenfoods are out.
I would rather have bread that is 80 calories a piece and is natural than have a piece that is full of crap for 40 calories.

Yep - I love it. My daughter, however, doesn't like it much We don't eat much bread, and she usually opts for some sharp cheese and cherry tomatoes in lieu of a sandwich at school.

Just wondering how everyone is doing? This is an inspiring thread for me. Like others here I'm not following a diet and I'm trying to eat clean. One thing I've done is starting to make my own salad dressings, condiments etc. and I feel so much better because I know what's in them.