How to Eat Whole Chemical-Free Foods

The surest way to eat whole foods is to prepare your own meals from fresh produce.

Although the American diet is dominated by trans-fats and mysterious chemicals, there is a growing alternative. Organic, whole and chemical-free foods offer people a way to eat healthfully. There are many ways to approach this alternative, ranging from buying fresh produce and preparing your own meals to paying greater attention to the ingredients list on the back of your chips, refreshments and other snack foods. There are even groceries and cooperatives that cater specifically to those looking for whole foods.

Instructions

Preparing Your Own Whole Foods

1. Purchase a cookbook or look for free recipes on the Internet. Find a dish that both appeals to you and that you believe you can make, given your experience and equipment.

2. Visit your grocery store and stock up on the ingredients listed in the recipe. If you want to be truly chemical-free, choose organic produce, as it isn't treated with the array of synthetic pesticides that are sprayed on conventional crops.

3. Prepare the meal as directed by the recipe.

Pre-Made Foods

1. Visit the "health" or "organic" aisle of your grocery store, if it has one. Although whole and chemical-free foods will speckle the rest of the store, health foods will most easily be found in these aisles. Just because an item is in the "health" aisle does not mean that it is whole and chemical-free, however.

2. Look for words such as "whole," "chemical-free" and "organic" on the items' packaging. Just because these words are listed does not guarantee that an item is actually whole and chemical-free. Still, it is a good first indicator.

3. Check the ingredients list. If you find additives in the mix -- such as artificial colors, sodium nitrates and monosodium glutamate -- then it is not chemical-free. As a rule of thumb, if an ingredients list contains over a dozen items, then it probably isn't whole or chemical-free, though there are certainly exceptions.

References

• North Carolina State University: What Does the "Organic" Label Really Mean
• "Mindfully"; Common Food Additives; Susan Girard Eberle; Dec. 2000
• Whole Foods: What are the Health Benefits of Eating the World's Healthiest Foods?

Resources

• AllRecipes: Eclectic Recipes
• VegWeb: Vegeterian Recipes