How to introduce healthier, less processed foods

I have wanted to and been thinking about trying to go additive and processed foods free for a ling time. I have been trying for a while to make my family's eating habbits healthier. It has been an up and down struggle, and I have unfortunately reverted back to buying easy to grab foods, like processed bars, crackers and cerials ect for the kids. I am trying to minimise them again and make healthier, less processed choices when buying and making foods for everyone. I will be doing up a menu plan to help with it all, though it's all a little daunting.

For my birthday, my mum brought me a bread maker. While I have been having fun using it, I haven't been doing so for health benefits, just because it's yummy! I have thought about it and decided it would be better for us if we have fresh bread most days. DH asked me if it really is better. I am hoping it is, and I can't see on the box of bread mix anywhere that there are additives in the mixture like in bread. Would it be better for me to get the flour and yeast and everything and do it myself, rather than use the mixes (would probably also be cheaper??) I have also been thinking of making my own yogurt, or getting a yogurt maker. Would it be better than store brought yogurt? Are they easy to use and is the yogurt healthy (with less additives ect) and (most importantly) nice to eat?

What other ways could I make our diets healthier?

Try the book "Additive Alert" by Julie Eady. She is a WA lady, has her own website and has some great ideas about what additives etc to remove from your diet. She also gives suggestions for medical conditions like asthma ie what specific additives and preservatives to eliminate.

You need a thermomix! ;)

I make my own bread, costs about $12 a fortnight all up, and I make a loaf basically every 2nd day. I don't know that its cheaper, but I buy the flour and yeast and can control the amount of sugar and salt that I put in it.

I make our own yoghurt too - works out to $1.13 per litre, so its HEAPS cheaper, and it is yummy. Thats if I do it the really really cheap way, its still cheap to buy the sachet, however, the texture is a bit funny using the lite stuff, so we use the full fat stuff here - which is ok for the kids anyway. I eat it, just not every day and not a huge amount :)

My advice, get back to basics!! Highly processed foods ARE convenient! It sucks A-RSE when all you want to do is devour a dirty cheeseburger through pure 'memory of it feeling good' LOOK AT EVERY LABEL, and just try googling the ingredients to find out what it actually is, how it's made etc, that should scare you! What I did was clean out everything in the pantry and fridge and START AGAIN! write down a list of your goals, what your committed to 'doing' and give yourself a 6-8wk timeline with a date to come back and reassess what is and what isn't working. Your destroying a LIFE times worth of habits it doesn't happen over night! Ummm I'm here if you want to ask direct questions when they come up? It's taken us 2yrs to get to a full gluten/soy/dairy/ red meat/sugar free and organic house hold. We started off gluten free first, then it was anything processed and down the line we went it's only recently that we changed to organic and were on our way to consuming raw foods, slowly but surely! I have SO MANY FB and twitter friends who have blogs and have so much information to links and I find so much information every single day by just reading!!!! Get your hands on the DVD food Inc, and also food matters. They are true eye openers! I have been using a Thermomix since July and I'm in love! I'm saving so much on buying in bulk now and don't even goto Coles or woolworths anymore!


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Leah and Dan
Lucy 5
Minnie 2
Pippi due 29 sept

YOU are what YOU eat!

Porridge is a big thing for me. If they start their day with a bowl and lots of fruit I figure we are off to a good start.
And raw veg.

Great thread. I would like to do this too. It's so overwhelming though! I'm just going to start slowly eliminating things.
Any meal ideas?

This is something I've been interested, and like Mrs NB said, getting a thermomix is definitely a big help! I make my own bread now, make my own butter/spreadable butter, jam... that's just the tip of the iceberg of what you can make with it though.

Something else I want to do is get a herb and veggie patch started. The more you can grow yourself the better!

I'll be watching this thread :).

I am scared to check out this thermomix thing in case I want one and I assume they're expensive, LOL.

I don't eliminate anything from my diet, but I do try to eat healthily. We don't buy snacks in packets here (except for 1-2 packets of muesli bars a year for 'emergencies') so snacks here are fruit and veggies, cheese or yoghurt (I buy organic) or homemade bikkies or muffins (and nuts for DH and I). With the baking, I try to use mainly wholemeal flour, very little sugar (I often Google for recipes or I muck around with ones I have - apple puree works well) and lots of fruit. I like oats in my baking too!

For main meals, try substituting the usual carbs with different grains. I really like quinoa atm ;) Do you have a vege garden?

I used to have a bread maker but not sure what happened to it. I'd definitely be making it from scratch if I were you. I was only thinking last week I'd love to make my own bread again...rye, spelt, lots of grains etc Yummmmmm!

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I am scared to check out this thermomix thing in case I want one and I assume they're expensive, LOL.

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They're just under two grand... but worth it :). There are payment plans, etc. :)