Reader Question: How did you transition from pre-packaged to natural?

A devoted reader and frequent emailer, Shel, wrote to me recently and said:

I wanted to ask you about your transition from pre packaged to natural, because I am just starting to think about doing the more natural/organic thing myself.

I'm not a vegan, but I don't eat red meat anymore- just pork, chicken and fish. My friend just told me about the movie Food Inc.*, and since then, I've been thinking more and more about making the change.

How did you do it? In phases? Was it harder to manage because food is "fresher" and you need to make it or eat it (since mostly everything is preserved in pkg food)?

*First of all, if you have not seen the movie "Food, Inc." yet, PLEASE DO. I think this should be required viewing for everyone that eats - i.e. every single person alive. You should know that I never go to the movies. The last movie I saw in a theater was Napolean Dynamite; but last year, on my birthday, I broke that streak and rode my bike to the West Village to see this movie. It basically reinforced everything I was already doing and everything I already learned from books like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma (which, I will be honest, I am finding impossible to finish. I am so bored to tears reading about corn). Please consider adding Food, Inc to your viewing list. I think it's such an important movie to see.

Here is a super extended version of my response to her:

I became vegetarian in 1983 or 84 (I was 12 years old. Side note of irony: My dad is a butcher!), but I did not know how to eat correctly. I ate a TON of packaged and junk foods. I didn't check labels or know anything about nutrition and balance. I just "didn't eat meat/fish/anything with eyes".

I was on and off WW from January 1989, and I continued to be vegetarian, but I never changed *what* I ate. I ate less and lost weight, but I ate the same crap food. Just less of it. It still didn't even occur to me to eat real, healthy food. And as you know, I did not exercise until 2006. I think the combination of no activity, not eating better, and definitely not having things click for me mentally is why I always gained the weight back.

When I joined WW in Sept 2006 this most recent time, I still relied heavily on frozen meals and packaged snacks and fake foods. A big turning point for me was getting rid of my car in Sept 07. That act changed my lunch drastically - It meant I could no longer drive to Trader Joe's to buy my frozen meals. So I had to come up with a replacement lunch. That was when I started creating my now famous Super Salad. I literally have not consumed a frozen meal since - not even at home. In fact, I unplugged my microwave 2 years ago and it's just sitting on my counter (it's really cool looking, so I'm not getting rid of it).

Then, sometime in 2008 I realized there was something about 100 cal packs I didn't like - mainly, I thought they were addictive. I had a hard time eating just one pack. And I also realized they were not quality food - it was 100 calories worth of 'crap that tastes good'. So I began to limit them.

Using artificial sweeteners in my coffee always disturbed me on some level. And in January 2009, I decided I was no longer going to use Splenda (I used 4 packets per coffee). I quit it cold turkey. It took me weeks to get used to the taste of coffee without it, but I knew I didn't need it and my body would be better without it.

A little later in 2009, as a result of reading about the flavor-calorie associations in a book called "The Shangri-La Diet", it led me to doing a lot of thinking. And that's when I had my big epiphany and decided to give up "fake food" as I call it. And all of that ties into my "Thinking Beyond Taste" mentality, which was also a huge revelation and significant step for me on my journey.

But I remember the little things that led up to the decision to ban fake food. For instance...

I used to eat microwave popped corn with my lunch at work. And one day, as I was going to spray artificial butter on my popped corn, I thought "Why am I doing this?". I had probably never questioned it before because I just hadn't. My instinct was to "make it taste buttery" and so I was using some weird oils and chemicals to get that result - I realized I was looking for a particular TASTE and I wanted to get that TASTE without the calories. I was looking for a shortcut, a cheat. I suddenly became aware of what I was doing and I didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't like that I was basing my decision of what to eat based on taste and I didn't like that I was sacrificing a real food item for a FAKE version of it.

I also learned something in Mindless Eating or The Shangri-La Diet (I can't remember which) that somehow never occurred to me: "flavor" is all fake - it's chemicals - when you see "artificial flavor" on a package, you are ingesting chemicals that have been carefully arranged in a lab to give the TASTE of a particular thing. This no doubt was in response to consumers wanting a lower calorie version of their favorite (junk) foods - so we could eat more for less calories. But we were no longer eating food! It was the shortcut I mentioned above, which I figured out doesn't work (and some studies even say lead to weight GAIN) and I no longer want any part of it.

How about some delicious Diacetyl on your popcorn? Doesn't that sound good? (This chart is from the Wikipedia page for "Flavor")

But if you think you're safe when you see "natural flavor" on an ingredient list, you're not. The definitions around natural flavors are pretty vague and not necessarily any better for you - nor are they necessarily natural, as the name implies. So I tend to avoid anything with the word "flavor" in the label list.

Because of what I had learned, I paused as I sprayed the fake butter that day. I realized I didn't want it. It was suddenly disgusting to me. It was not food. It was chemicals. I was revolted by it. So I poured it (and a brand new unopened bottle) down the drain.

From that point forward, I started really thinking about what I eat and why I eat it - and I realized more often than not, I was eating for the TASTE of something. I decided that was not a good enough reason to eat something. I wanted to know *what* I was eating. And I wanted to eat real food. And I wanted to eat for the right reasons: to feed and nourish my body.

And that led me to where I am today: I don't ingest artificial anything. And I don't miss it at all.

To answer the other part of her question, I did the switch to veganism in phases starting in Autumn 2009. I am still working on this but at this point I have eliminated all animal foods from my diet. Believe it or not, that part was fairly easy. I've removed all my leather shoes from my wardrobe. But there's so much more to do I feel like I might never be 100% 'there'. I still have to look up ingredients I don't recognize every so often to figure out what they are, and I'm currently working on makeup and all the other things I didn't even realize I needed to think about!

But the artificial food ban was not done in phases. It was sudden and immediate. And believe it or not, it was one one of the EASIEST things I have done in this journey. Correction: It was one of the easiest *decisions* I made. The execution is a little more difficult in having to find all new foods (bread products and tortillas, for example, can be tricky to find without any fake food in them). But if you had mentioned me 'giving up' or living without splenda, candy, gum, and artifical foods 3.5 years ago, I would have never believed I would even consider it.

It's been 9 months now and I can also honestly tell you I have not had a single craving for one of those foods since. That's incredibly significant because I used to get terrible, nearly insatiable cravings for chemical foods and candy. More often than not, I gave into the cravings, consuming thousands of calories of chemicals and sugar in mere minutes, followed by intense sleepiness (I never got the high, only the crash). To not have those thoughts or desires anymore is not only unbelievable to me but such a great feeling of freedom from them! To be able to walk into a drug store and not be tempted by those items is wonderful. I can look at the packages and not see food. I no longer associate the 'happy memories' and pleasure of the taste. I see men in lab coats carefully measuring out the right amounts of chemicals to produce the desired scent and taste that will get me hooked. I see non-food items that have no place in my amazing body.

An added bonus of eating real food that I never expected: I honestly cannot believe how amazing everything tastes. I can eat an apple or raisins and it's like the BEST THING EVER. I truly cannot believe how delicious real food is! Those chemicals, I am certain, ruined my taste buds while I was consuming them. The good thing is the damage was reversible. I had no idea how great real food was until I gave up the crap.

I'm no scientist or nutritionist, but based on my own lifelong dependence on these 'foods' I am certain I was addicted to them. I tried to manage them by incorporating them into my life in smaller doses. But realizing I no longer needed them at all and was better off without them and could manage just-fine-without-them-thank-you-very-much is the behavior change I am most proud of, right after my change to lead an active lifestyle.

So, Shel, and the rest of you, that's what happened mentally for me to make the switch and it really was that simple for me. Again, I am sure not everyone will agree with me and some of you will think "I don't want to give up that stuff." And that's fine, it's your choice, it's your body. But I just want everyone to make the best choices possible and be *aware* of what they are eating. It may make you change your mind about what you are willing to ingest.

At the very least, I hope that gave you something to think about.

(For even more information on why we eat certain things and how companies work extra hard to use chemical ingredients to MAKE YOU ADDICTED to their fake food, Please read "The End of Overeating" by David A Kessler, MD)