By the time July rolled around, I don’t recall there being any processed food in my day to day life, and when I did eat something a bit more on the ‘grey area’ side, it was in combination with ingredients that were nutritious.

I’m talking a ‘bar’ from the health food store that had soy (it was non GMO though) in it, but also ginger and linseeds.

I also enjoyed loads of white rice sushi. Can we be real though? Cooled rice contains resistant starch, whilst avo, salmon and nori are nutrient dense. Is white rice really such a threat? Me thinks not.

All in all, I wasn’t doing too badly and had come along way since January.

To give you an idea of how my diet had changed, below I’ve done a before and after comparison of my diet from the beginning of 2012 until July 2012*. This exemplifies that you needn’t change everything at once. Ideally, you’ll eventually feel comfortable enough to make the shifts that you weren’t ready for/didn’t know how to implement initially

*These example are based on averages, I wasn’t eating the exact same thing everyday … just so we’re clear.

Breakfast – 

January – Plain oats, cooked in water in the microwave, with a dash of skim milk and honey and usually some berries on the side

February – Plain oats, cooked in water in the microwave, no milk with honey and usually some berries on the side

March – Plain oats, cooked in water in the microwave, no milk, no honey and some organic apple, pear and cinnamon puree

April – same as March

May – Plain oats, cooked in water in the microwave, with chia seeds and cinnamon added upon serving

June – same as May

July – Plain oats, cooked in water in the microwave, with chia seeds, cinnamon and acai berry powder stirred in upon serving

Comments: I was still using a microwave (I told you I didn’t change everything at once) however my porridge got progressively more nourishing as I learned to enjoy it without sweetness and substituted honey for chia, cinnamon and antioxidant-rich acai berries.

Lunch – 

January – Leftover chicken, salad, avocado and wholemeal bread

February – wholemeal bread with vegemite and avocado with either carrot sticks or an apple as well

March – same as February

April – 2 raw salmon and avocado sushi rolls and sometimes a seaweed salad on the side

May – leftover bolognaise sauce (with lots of veggies) and kelp noodles

June – a platter of cheese, dried fruit, veggie sticks and nut butter

July – Spelt Bread with avocado and poached eggs

Comments: Apart from the wholemeal bread (doused in glyphosate – an antibiotic-like pesticide), and Vegemite (talk about processed salt), my lunch choices were reasonably nutritious. I guess when you take away the wheat and focus on fruits, proteins and veggies, you can’t go too far wrong.

Dinner –

January – Homemade chicken and vegetable soup with a slice of wholemeal bread and margarine (I’m crushed inside as I type the ‘m’ word)

February – Homemade butter chicken curry (made from the Patacks paste … not the worst one on the market but still has sugar and a few additives that aren’t all that groovy) with lots of non-starchy veggies added to the sauce, served with Jasmine rice

March – Homemade Thai Basil Chicken and Asparagus stirfry with loads of veggies, served with Jasmine Rice

April –  Baked Salmon with baked spuds and steamed carrots, broccoli and green beans

May – Homemade bolognaise (with veggies added to the sauce) with kelp noodles

June – Roast Chicken with roast pumpkin, spuds, carrots and greens

July – Chicken coconut pie with sweet spud mash topping and greens on the side (made with coconut cream and coconut oil – this was the month we started to make the oil switch)

Comments: Dinner, was always pretty nutritious and would vary from night to night. Mum and I both love our veggies and quality proteins, and as mum is coeliac, by default we nagivate towards either veggies or rice as a side dish.

There were a few things we were still yet to learn.

By July, we had discovered coconut oil, whereas at the start of the year we were still cooking with rice bran oil (yikes … rice isn’t oily and therefore is treated with harsh chemicals to yield an oil).

It wasn’t until about August that I had a ‘pin-drop’ moment about margarine. I know, it took me a while. Advertising paired with naivety wasn’t a nourishing combo.  I’m ashamed to admit that we used flora proactive in place of butter in baking too (shudders).

Snacks –

January – a glass of skim milk and 2 squares of 85% dark chocolate

February – Plain Almonds

March – Green Tea Mango Mantra Smoothie from Boost Juice

April – plain greek yoghurt with cinnamon and a glass of skim milk (sometimes with a sipahh straw!)

May – carrot sticks with dip (usually a bought dip – not always 100% natural)

June – deli dippers with natural peanut butter

July – raw cashews and raisins/sultanas

Comments: My snacks were a bit all over the place, and would vary from day to day. Sometimes they’d be super simple and nutritious, othertimes, psuedo-healthy foods would creep in. You can see both my effort to be healthy, following conventional thinking, and also my downfalls, where I was sucked in by buzz words (and quite possibly addicted to the added sugars … smoothie I’m looking at you!)

Desserts –

January – Special K original cereal with plain greek yoghurt

February – glass of skim milk (often with cinnamon sprinkled on top) and 2 – 6 squares (depending on the brand and therefore size of squares) of 85% dark chocolate

March – same as February

April – same as February and March

May – Homemade self-saucing chocolate pudding (gluten-free). I only had this a few times this month, but thought I’d better share to show to give you an idea of the types of treats I still loved.

June – a heaped teaspoon (and I mean HEAPED) of natural peanut butter with deli dippers

July –  a heaped teaspoon (and once again, I mean HEAPED) of natural peanut butter with massive chunks of ice-berg lettuce

Comments: I have fond memories of all of these desserts. Dessert was a time of day where I was totally relaxed. Homework done, shower done, chores done, responsability for that day … DONE. I love that the choices reflect my evolution to nutrient-dense easting, it’s obvious that I was learning as I went and using ‘bridging foods’ (foods that aren’t brimming with nutrients but are a great during the transition period … #delidippers)

So. there you have it. As you can see my whole foods diet was coming together nicely, and I still had quite a lot of learning to do. There were still many faux paux (did I spell that right?) when it came to ingredient quality (certain gluten-free flours and questionalble sauces), being sucked in by advertising (low fat dairy and green tea smoothies) and also preparation methods (microwaving!), but I was slowly learning, and enjoying the process.

Tip #7 for transitioning to a whole foods diet …

Embrace you fave healthy foods. Lettuce and peanut butter … a quirky combo, but both nutritious and enjoyable … so why not make them ‘dessert’? Cashews and dried fruit … sweet, creamy and satisfying. I loved bread, so I switched to spelt (and wondered where it had been all my life! Stunning). At this point, it’s all about creativity and crowding out meals and snacks with nutrient-dense options so that there’s no room left for the fillers.