Changing our diets is hard; especially when we have a family full of folks used to something different.  When I began this journey, I cried in the grocery store.  I’ve come a long way, baby! Not everything I try turns out well {ahem} but it has definitely gotten easier. These are my:

Top Ten Tips When Starting To Eat Real Food

1. Use other people for inspiration, not comparison.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  There will always be people who eat better than you, and those that eat worse.  Learn from them both.
2. Don’t be hard on yourself for not starting sooner. God will restore the years the locusts have eaten (and also restore your body regardless of the locusts and whatever else you have eaten up until now).
3. Expect to pay more.  Despite all I have tried, read, planned – it just plain costs more to eat real food.  I am a normal grocery store shopper, so if I want food that I am comfortable feeding my family with; it will cost more.
4. Use cheap food in your trial recipes.  It’s tough when a recipe goes wrong.  It’s even tougher when a recipe goes wrong and cost a bundle to make. Once you master it, the recipe will taste AMAZING when non-CAFO/GMO/conventional food is used.
5. Have cheat days.  I read Sidetracked Home Executives a few years ago and was a little bent out of shape when they suggested getting takeout and using paper plates once a week to give yourself a break from doing dishes and cooking.  I still haven’t quite grasped the paper plate idea yet, but I do buy something pre-made once a week to take a load off.  What you do is up to you; organic frozen pizzas? Or live on the edge and get pizza from the traditional parlor once a week. If you have really strict dietary requirements, make a double batch and freeze some home-made meals ahead of time.
6. Loving your family is more important than food.  Don’t be (too) angry with them when they don’t gobble up your Vegan Lentil Casserole.  They’ll adapt with time; be firm and consistent but not grouchy.
7. Start with one thing.  We have tackled food dyes, organic produce, organic and grass fed meat, and dairy.  Look out gluten, you’re next!.
8. Don’t meal plan (yet).  I know this defies everything else you read, but until you get a good 20 or so recipes in your repertoire every day is an anxiety producing experiment.  Try one ‘clean’ meal a week.  Then two.  Then three… you see where I am going with this.  Cooking real food isn’t necessarily difficult, but it takes longer and adapting your schedule to that change takes some time.
9. Unless you have specific allergies or sensitivities, don’t worry about finding the perfect restaurant (but don’t eat out very often!).  If your goal is to instil healthy habits in your family it’s WAY more important to serve good food at home and partake in the occasional junk outside of the home as long as most meals are cooked and eaten in your very own UnProcessed Kitchen.
10. Don’t get too upset if you backslide.  Life happens; sometimes diets slide down the priority list.  You’ll quickly see how much better you felt when you ate better or how much better your kids are doing on a healthier diet, but don’t beat yourself up if you backslide.  Just learn from it and move on.

 What else helped you launch a new way of eating in your home? Share it here!

This post is linked up to Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings.