Baby Steps

So, how did I start this WFPB journey? Admittedly, I wanted my entire family to jump right on board and share my enthusiasm. I started, however, with myself. As a parent, I knew from prior experiences, that I couldn’t get my children to do something that I wasn’t willing to do. I had to model to teach.

I grabbed hold of a few principles to begin change. We’ll talk about the first one today. Without my family ever noticing, when shopping, I began to look for items that had 4 ingredients or less and for foods without Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (PHSO). This applied to chips, crackers, ice cream, popsicles, and bread. Those were the items I focused on first.

Now, I have to tell you something. When I began to change the way we ate, I had to obviously change the way I shopped. During this time, my husband’s work was inconsistent. Due to the recession, he had been let go of in the summer of 2009. Our grocery budget went from $180 every two weeks for our family of four to $80 every two weeks. In a sense, changing the way we ate was perfect timing. Because we emphasized less meat and more beans, I was able to get our grocery dollar to go farther. Some people hesitate to eat this way because it is thought that veggies and fruit will cost more; however, as Campbell states in “The China Study,” it actually ends up costing less. Eating beans is one element that contributes to this phenomenon.

For my budget and for my area, I chose to shop at Wal-Mart. We have other local grocers, but they can be fairly expensive, and, because summer was upon us, I would also be able to shop local Farmer’s Markets. I really think spring/summer is the best time to transition to a WFPB lifestyle; with access to fresh fruits, like peaches, apples, and berries, as well as vegetables, who wouldn’t love a straight-from-the-ground, succulent tomato? I can testify that it really helps the transition.

On my first grocery visit, I spent a couple of hours at Wal-Mart, checking the labels of items like breads, crackers, chips, and pretzels for the number of ingredients. Avoiding PHSO proved difficult. This lethal ingredient is found in almost all baked goods, crackers, breads, and even jelly and peanut butter. What kid doesn’t live on PBJ? I knew it was important to find healthy options, so I attacked this ingredient with all my motherly might.

I found a bag of pretzels that listed “whole wheat, salt, and water” as ingredients. Success! It was really hard to find a bread that didn’t list about 15 ingredients. I would come to the decision to make my own bread (more on that later). I eventually decided on "Brownberry" brand of bread that didn’t have PHSO and did list whole wheat flour as the first ingredient. A compromise, I know, but I use this bread as my backup when homemade runs out.

I have to admit my choices in this grocery store were limited. However, I did find at least one jelly that didn’t have the oil, and Smucker’s Peanut Butter was also a great choice. If you’ve ever bought a natural peanut butter, then you already know it can be hard and possibly dry, and the stirring alone can drive a busy mother to the brink. In my opinion, Smucker’s is probably the most difficult peanut butter to stir and it is rather dry. I ended up finding a great peanut butter at Trader Joe’s that everyone loves. However, I can’t stress the importance of enthusiasm when introducing a new products such as this. I spent a lot of time talking to my girls about what PHSO’s do to the body and then showed them how regular peanut butter is so oily and the natural is not. There is a visible difference. They would eventually catch on, but, to be honest, I was the only one eating natural peanut butter in the beginning. Model. Model. Model!

Crackers were also a challenge. One cracker, Triscuits, didn’t contain the oil and only had three ingredients. I loved Triscuits, but would the final critics feel the same way? I wasn’t about to spend over $4.00 on a box of Kashi crackers. That would have to be an occasional treat.

I didn’t let the lack of choice bother me, though. I was thinking gradual transition. So, this is where I started.

1.    Buy only prepared items that did not contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

2.    Look for healthier options that contained less than 4 ingredients.

Next time: How do I know we were getting the right stuff our bodies needed?