What is Real Food

Referring to “real food” by no means construed that some food that we eat is not “real” or edible. The term “real food”, for this matter, simply means food that is prepared using fresh, whole ingredients; not processed and as close to its natural state as possible. So, no corned beef, spam, and sausages, to say the least. And it doesn’t matter whether we mean “organic” ingredients or not. Although, as a matter of preference, of course, we’d go with organic ingredients. But that’s an entirely different topic. 

Benefits of Eating Real Food 

Eating real food offers far more benefits than processed food. First, the most obvious benefit is the amount of good, balanced, nutrients it gives. Real food ingredients provide the body with the natural kind and amount of nutrients it needs. Compared to processed food that are most of the time stripped of nutrients, in part or in whole, which sometimes results in substituting lost natural nutrients with artificial ones.  

Second, preparing your real food means you know exactly what you put in your food. You know exactly where and in what state your ingredients were when you bought it. Freshness is the key to gaining complete and right amounts of nutrients from your food. 

Next, eating real food is more satiating or satisfying than processed food in the right sense of the word. While some may contend that processed food is more satisfying in taste, you actually either feel you had little less or too much of it. With real food though, you always feel the right amount of fulness when you finish eating. Imagine how much cookies you’d want just to get enough of it; while even when you’re already full you’d still want some more. Also, most processed food contains increased amounts of either sugar, salt, or carbohydrates (or all) to make it taste better or look more appealing. It is this notion that makes processed food more or less “addictive” than real food.

We could go on and on with the less significant benefits of eating real food but to make the long story short, real food is healthier, more natural, and tastier than processed food. Ok, let’s be fair. Let’s cite one disadvantage of eating real food. It takes more time to prepare and cook it which makes it less convenient than processed food. But that can easily be overcome.

Planning Your Meal

While it may be true that preparing real food takes a lot of time and less convenient, it doesn’t make it an excuse not to do it. After all, we can’t just let any slight inconvenience get in the way of our health. So the best way to overcome this inconvenience is to plan your meals. Planning your meal will not only save you time but also save you money. Planning your meal before heading to the grocery ensures that you only get and spend on what you need and avoid spending on unnecessary things.

Some Tips

-- It’s not always necessary to buy the whole thing if you prefer only select portions of fowl meat anyway.

-- Make sure to pick the right meat part that will be needed for the intended meal or recipe.

-- Avoid canned ingredients. Prefer to get ingredients that are as fresh as possible or fresh frozen ones, if you can’t avoid it.

-- Opt to pick vegetables that are packed pre-cut (not processed) to lessen preparation time when you need to use them.

-- If you can’t get pre-cut veggies, you may get whole ones and pre-cut them yourself and store in the freezer so it will be readily available when you need it.