One Size Does Not Fit All When It Comes to Food

10 Tips on How to Quit Processed Foods

Interested in eating healthier? Well, there sure are a lot of different pieces of advice out there. Unfortunately, most of it is served up by people trying to sell you something.

And have you ever noticed all the contradicting opinions? It’s really hard to know what to believe!

Well, I’m not a health professional, but I used to market processed foods for a living. And if there’s one thing I know for sure it’s that processed foods are bad news.

In Bruce Bradley'S Ultimate Clean Eating Guide This Former Processed Food Marketing Executive Shares Why He Quit Processed Foods, How He Did It, And Outlines Tips And Steps You Can Take To Lead A Happier, Healthier Life!

Get My FREE Ultimate Clean Eating Guide

Learn what’s in your food, get 10 tips on how to quit your processed food habit, PLUS a whole lot more!

To hit that point home I’ve been sharing my real food journey over the past several weeks—first sharing why I quit processed foods and then details on how I made my break. To round out this story I thought I’d assemble my

To round out this story I thought I’d assemble my Top Tips on How to Quit Processed Foods. Hopefully, you’ll find them helpful no matter where you are on your goal to eat healthier!

Top 10 Tips on How To Quit Processed Foods:

  1. One size does not fit all when it comes to quitting processed foods. Instead, find an approach that makes sense for you. Let’s face it, making a big change like what you eat is going to be difficult. Therefore finding an approach that fits for you, your family, and your relationship with processed foods is crucial. While small, simple steps have worked for me, I can also appreciate the challenges of food addictions. So whether it’s slow and steady, cold turkey, or some blended approach, I truly believe there’s no one right way to quit processed foods!
  2. Listen to your body. Whenever you’re making changes to what you’re eating, listen to your body. While it’s not abnormal to experience some “withdrawal” pains from processed food ingredients like sugar, salt, and fat, these feelings last days not weeks. So if you’re not feeling well, think about what you’ve eaten, keeping a log if necessary, and try to figure out a pattern. Furthermore, you can’t just assume what works for one person will work for you. Our bodies are amazing machines, and each one is built just a little bit differently!
  3. Make a mini-pledge. Selectively cutting out a type of food or ingredient for 7-14 days can be a great way to become more aware of what you eat as well as figuring out what foods may be hijacking your health. Some mini pledges you may want to consider include eliminating sugars, artificial ingredients (sweeteners, colors, or flavors), gluten, fast food, processed foods, meat, soda, etc. So try a mini-pledge and listen to how your body feels!
  4. Discover your food values. Knowing what you believe and value can be an incredible tool to help motivate change and inspire you to act. Here are several questions to get you thinking more about your food values. How important are simple ingredients to me? Are sustainability and the environment a concern? How do I feel about eating meat and animal products? Do I care about the humane treatment of animals? Is eating local and supporting small farms important to me?
  5. Don’t judge yourself or others. We’re each on our own journey and judging yourself or others only isolates us. Remember, we all come to make decisions based on different values, and that’s especially true when it comes to food.
  6. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can find a wide range of “fixes” out there—from Big Food companies hawking their leanwashed processed foods to modern-day snake-oil salesmen selling their latest magical food or detox plan. The bottom line is if your plan doesn’t include some combination of cooking more often, eating out less, eliminating additives, and eating more vegetables and fruits, then you may want to reconsider your approach.
  7. Extremes are rarely healthy. “Always and never are rarely true” is a piece of advice I learned from a therapist, and I think it applies to food too. While I’m not a fan of the word “balance” since it leaves so much up for interpretation, if you go back to tip #2 (listen to your body) you can rarely go wrong.
  8. Don’t be fooled by superfoods or exotic ingredients. Hardly a day goes by without someone promising the crazy benefits of some superfood or a new ingredient. While some of these foods and ingredients may offer real benefits, don’t get lost in this insanity. Honestly, you don’t have to travel far to get real food—find a local farmer, go to a farmer’s market, or visit a co-op. Even regular grocery stores are doing a better job of stocking real, local foods.
  9. Recruit a friend to keep you on track. Navigating this crazy food world can be maddening. Hopefully, our website is helping you sort through some of this insanity, but there’s nothing like having a real-life buddy to help you out. And the power of personal connection is truly amazing when it comes to creating a happier and healthier lifestyle!
  10. Don’t forget to have fun! While culturally we’ve forgotten that food is first and foremost about nourishment, mankind has a long history of connecting and celebrating with food. There’s no reason why we have to abandon having fun when it comes to food. Rather, we just need to realize that every day isn’t a celebration AND that enjoying real food can be fun too!

Do You Have Any Tips on How to Quit Processed Foods?

What are your tips on how to quit processed foods? Where are you on your real food journey? Have you just started or are you still in the “thinking about it” stage? No matter where you are, getting help from others and sharing your story can be powerful steps.

So please, take a few moments and share a little about your journey and some tips you’ve learned along the way!

Cheers!

Bruce

In Bruce Bradley'S Ultimate Clean Eating Guide This Former Processed Food Marketing Executive Shares Why He Quit Processed Foods, How He Did It, And Outlines Tips And Steps You Can Take To Lead A Happier, Healthier Life!

Get My FREE Ultimate Clean Eating Guide

Learn what’s in your food, get 10 tips on how to quit your processed food habit, PLUS a whole lot more!

One Size Does Not Fit All When It Comes To Food

6 Responses

  1. I have been eating ketogenic now for 2 years..I was sick from auto-immune hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, etc….sick and dying….I did my own research and began eating clean and giving my body the nutrients it required and have never felt better than I do now. Lean protein, whole fats and tons of leafy greens changed my life…

    1. Thanks for sharing your story, Kathryn! Glad you’re feeling so much better. I’ve heard of ketogenic diets helping with pediatric epilepsy. There’s so much we don’t know about diet and nutrition, and we’re all made differently. That’s why listening to our body and not assuming a “one size fits all approach” makes so much sense … at least to me.

  2. I quit soda a few years back. I do my best not to drink my calories. I drink water, and tomato juice, and the occasional cup of coffee.

  3. Patience! It took us 10 years to get rid of processed food. First to go – all soda. We stayed with that until it was a lifestyle, almost a year. Then empty ‘white’ carbs, but this change only took 6 months. After 2 years, the number and quality of change was exponential. By then your body is just done with the processed mayhem and its fairly easy to remove the culprits.

    1. Thanks for your comment, Maureen.

      You’re so right. Quitting processed foods is a journey. As I like to tell folks … your processed food habit took 20 or more years to take root, unwinding from it isn’t going to happen overnight for most of us. But simple steps and consistent progress can yield some amazing results!

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