Step #1 to transition to a whole foods diet

Sometimes transitioning your family over to a whole foods way of eating can be a little tough.  I wanted to break it down for you and give you some steps to make it easy to do! When you think of a whole foods diet one of the first things that may come to mind is lots of veggies and no sugar right?  While those things are wonderful there is one thing that is overlooked while making the transition and to me it was one of the easier things to start with.  What you DRINK is as important as the way you eat! A lot of families are consuming sodas and Starbuck coffees on a daily basis.  These can introduce a huge amount of sugars, chemicals and bad fats into your diet that possibly you weren’t aware you were even consuming (not to mention the calorie count)!  I’m sure we’ve all heard how bad these things can be for our health so lets not linger there and lets get to some easy solutions!  Keep in mind that one of the things you may be thinking or your reluctant family may be saying could be “but it doesn’t taste the same!”  No, these things don’t taste the same BUT they do taste good.  Variety is not a bad thing!

What to do if you are used to drinking soda

Here are some quick and easy solutions if you are a soda lover!

  You can get just plain sparkling water or lemon and orange flavored water at your local grocery store.  I am talking about the ones without artificial sweeteners in them.  They only contain sparkling water and a natural flavor.  You can purchase a wide variety of stevia sweetened flavored drops.  They even have them in cola, root beer, berry and orange! These make a great soda replacement.  It’s free from dangerous chemicals, sugars and caffeine.  It tastes great too!

Another way to make a soda, especially for small children would be to add a no sugar added juice to the sparkling water.  The possibilities are endless for your flavors here.

There are other healthy options available that also have probiotic benefits such Kombucha tea and water kefir. The actual culturing process adds bubbles to these drinks making them a great carbonated option!

Non-carbonated options

So what if you don’t like soda? What if  you’re more of a tea drinker or your kids love cool-aid?  Why not give some of these herbal teas a try?  They come in some really good flavors that you wouldn’t expect to see in an herbal tea! I love tea hot or cold but in the summer it’s best cold.  You can sweeten the tea with some raw honey, coconut sugar or even some lemon flavored stevia drops!

Another great option is just to simply flavor your water with some cut up fruit.  Don’t forget to add a sprig of mint or even a couple of cucumber slices for a twist! Give a couple of these a try and see if it makes your transition easier to a real foods diet.  Your body will thank you! Coming next week: Step#2 nourishing snacks and other related posts: Step #3 Clean meats