Goal: Eat Whole Foods More Often

What are whole foods exactly? Wikipedia defines whole food as "foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as salt, carbohydrates, or fat." So this would include things like fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, whole grains, beans, cheese, etc. That means, not granola bars, crackers, a lot of cereals, VitaTops, hot dogs, frozen dinners, etc. Whole foods have a lot of advantages over highly processed food, mainly that they provide more nutrients, don't have a ton of sodium or other food additives, and will probably keep you from getting hungry longer.

The food I pack for work these days is almost always whole foods. Because I try to eat when I'm hungry, I'd rather just snack throughout the day rather than have a meal because the clock says 12:00. I bring, for example, nuts (unsalted), fruit (apples and oranges are my staples), bread with some sort of condiment (usually some peanut or almond butter), and yogurts. For breakfast I have a smoothie which I take with me in a double walled cup. I drink it between 6:30 and 8:30 and it keeps me full for hours! It usually contains milk, yogurt, frozen fruit and/or berries, egg whites, flax seed powder and spinach. Yes, spinach. It's wonderful. A handful and you don't even notice the taste! Sometimes if you have a light coloured smoothie, like strawberry, it will turn a funny colour, but it won't change the taste.

After all this about eating whole foods, let me point out the wording of my goal: eat whole food more often. So this means I still eat hot dogs, cereal, crackers, etc., sometimes. More of a treat, you know. Especially since my parents just hauled 8 packs of Schneider's Low Fat Weiners from Newfoundland because I can't find them here. There are certain foods though, that I just won't bother with. Frozen dinners for example. They don't taste that good and are full of sodium and other crap. Plus the meat in them is pretty nasty. Also, granola bars. They make my throat burn and don't keep me full for long. Another thing I have recently dropped is popcorn seasoning. The salt and vinegar kind I looked at had something like 1200mg of sodium! In 2 teaspoons! That's  something like what you need in a whole day. Now I stick to plain, or with some light margarine, pepper and a little salt some times.

In the end, I feel better eating this way, and that's the best part!