10 Days of Real Food Challenge

Read a great article in the Charlotte Observer this week that had me think about regrouping on our Real Food healthy lifestyle. We have kind of fell of the wagon a bit so I have decided that taking the 10 day Real Food Challenge will be enough to kick start us back on to the right track. 10 Days isn't that long but might be enough to kick my Diet Coke habit that reformed. To give us a little while to get my pantry back up to speed from being away on vacation, I started our pledge on August 8th. This gives me 2 weekends to get to the farmers market and Earth Fare to stock back up on items. I'll let you know how it goes, I think the hardest is going to be eating out.

Here are the Rules from the Challenge:

What you CAN eat:

1. Whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry
2. Lots of fruits and vegetables
3. Dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs and cheese
4. 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains
   
5. Seafood
   
6. Snacks like dried fruit, seeds, nuts and popcorn
7. All natural sweeteners including honey, 100% maple syrup, and fruit juice concentrates are acceptable in moderation

What you CANNOT eat:

1. No refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat…not just “wheat”)
2. No refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff like Splenda
3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label
4. No deep fried foods
5. No “fast foods”
6. Only locally raised meats such as pork, beef, and chicken
7. Beverages will be limited to water, milk, all natural juices, naturally sweetened coffee & tea, and, to help the adults keep their sanity, wine and beer!