We had been going full steam with clean living in 2024, and I really felt the change. I was cooking and baking nearly all our food; an ingredient household, we were mostly sugar-free and living a high-protein way of life. I was losing weight, and my joints felt great.
Moving in 2025 threw me off course. I had to have most of the cooking gear packed up by March 2025, and didn’t get it until the end of April 2025. But as fall approached this year, I found my way back. We had gone off the rails, and I realized I was spending more on groceries because I was buying processed foods here and there again.
I finally learned my kitchen (once you are used to the layout, everything is so much simpler), and I unpacked my kitchen gear. One fundamental issue that got in my way was learning to cook again on a glass-top stove (ugh) after 7 years on a high-end gas stove. But I kept at it. Living a more unprocessed life is easier when you have the right tools and know how to use them.
Another issue was that when we moved in, we couldn’t drink the water or use the dishwasher. Our water was clean, but it was as hard as stone. This December, we finally (nearly 9 months in) had the house replumbed (we knew this when we bought the house), a new water heater, a new well pressure tank, a filtration system, a water softener, and a lot more was done. It was worth the wait. Suddenly, it made cooking easier, knowing I didn’t have to use bottled water for everything. That really bugged me, in a way I cannot explain. It frees you when you know your tap is safe to use.
But I digress; let’s talk about the title of this post, and what it even means.
A More Unprocessed Life
If I learned anything in 2024, it is that you cannot say, “I will never eat this again.” That isn’t realistic. Traveling makes it hard, as do many other things that crop up. That is why I say “a more unprocessed life” now. Try your best as often as you can. But if you have a bad day, brush it off and move on.
Give less of your money to multinational food companies for highly processed food. Cook and bake as often as you can. Let it become your new way of life. As the months go by, it becomes easier. Things become routine. One day, you notice how differently you shop in stores.
Change how you dress yourself, groom yourself – it is more than just food for a more unprocessed life. I am not saying you must sew your own clothing and make your own soap – which you can do -, but if you do everything at once, you will exhaust yourself.
Buy local as much as you can, support artists and growers. Buy less – it’s good for our wallets, but also for the environment. Buy as little fast fashion and junk as you can. It can be hard to be mindful about purchases – I won’t lie on this one. I still buy things, but only if I need to replace something. Things do wear out or break. We started that back in around 2016, a decade ago. When things broke in the kitchen, I found ways to do it by hand. Or as the kids called it….Zero Waste Goal.
So there is a lot to unpack here. It’s not just about food.
Make Goals
Ask yourself, “What is important to me?” Is it eating clean? Organic? No sugar? High protein? Is it feeding a family the best you can on the income you have? To live a cleaner life? To be less reliant on the system? To make better choices?
Figure out what matters. Make that your focus for the new year.
Then Act On It
You don’t need to throw everything in your pantry out. That is wasteful – of both food and money, and money isn’t exactly free falling these days for many.
Instead? When you go to buy new items, that is when you choose carefully, buying only what matches your new ways.
However, I would still toss any food items that contain high-fructose corn syrup or artificial coloring, if you can afford to. And if certain foods really bother you to have on hand, if they are unopened and not expired, consider donating them to a food bank or pantry instead of the garbage can. Wasting food – even though it isn’t what you want to consume – isn’t helping others out.
But go into the new year with the mission of shopping the perimeter of stores as much as possible: Fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy. Making as much as you can from scratch using whole grains.
Will you have time to do it all? Not at first. Give yourself grace and time to get used to being an ingredient household.
Don’t beat yourself up if you make bread with store-bought flour. You are at least making the bread, and not buying it! You can eventually get used to the new ways, and if you want to, then start grinding wheat berries.
But it doesn’t have to be all at once. That is how you burn out quickly: by guilt and by doing too much at once.
Find The Things You Can Do Easily
Yes, it is that simple.
Find a couple of things you can do easily. When you get wins early on, you will feel better about yourself.
For example:
Start planning out meals, so you are less likely to waste food. Look in your pantry and assess what you have this week. What staples could you use?
When your shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, and similar products run out? Buy things that are clean and safer. Remove artificial scents from your life – be it in your dishwasher, hand soap, laundry, and such. Do not stress immediately, but make the changes. It gives you time to research what works and to find the best price. Or consider that you might make soap without being rushed, giving you time to start another hobby.
Pick a couple of things you can master baking for everyday staples. Do you have children who go to school, or do you take lunch with you? Can you make bread? Cookies? Bake in batches and freeze for easy lunches later.
Try a salad a couple of times a week, bursting with colors. A naturopathic doctor said that to me once, years ago. To eat more color and fresh greens as often as I could. That was one change that would change my life.
When you buy new clothing, choose natural fibers. You don’t have to throw out your 100% polyester life. Just replace slowly as needed. Take time to notice how you feel in different fabrics. Notice, did man-made things make your skin itch? Does your workout wear make you stink?
Start composting your food scraps, and by summer, you will have free soil!
Start planning to grow food in spring and summer, for clean food.
I will be posting much more about clean living, recipes, and gardening this coming year. Walk with us, as I try even harder to have a more whole life. I’d love to have you along with me.
~Sarah