So you’ve heard of the traditional foods diet and want to make the switch—or, if you haven’t, check out my post What Is a Traditional Foods Diet (And Why Should You Switch To One)—but you don’t know where to start. I totally get it; there is a lot of information to take in and it can feel kind of overwhelming to think about all the changes you would need to make to really follow this diet. That’s why I made this list of five tips for transitioning over to traditional foods.
1. Take it slow.
If you are transitioning to a traditional foods diet then don’t feel like you have to change everything at once.
You don’t have to go from buying premade freezer meals at the grocery store to baking all of your bread, fermenting dozens of vegetables, and making everything from scratch. That’s the easiest way you will experience overwhelm and decide to just drop the whole thing.
It’s perfectly fine to take a while just planning what specific things you would like to change. And once you have a plan, just take it one step at a time. Each individual thing that you change in your diet will contribute to your overall health.
Decide for yourself what the easiest change is going to be for you right off the bat. Can you, for instance, find a local milk delivery and start buying raw milk instead of getting it from the grocery store? Or perhaps you simply want to start soaking beans, rice, and oatmeal overnight before you cook them.
Take things at your own pace, and overall just remember that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
2. Find easy things to start making yourself.
One of the best ways to eliminate processed foods and icky ingredients is to simply make things yourself. And I have good news for you—this is not as hard as it sounds!
In fact, there are actually a number of things you can make yourself that are super easy.
Did you know, for instance, that making homemade mayonnaise is insanely simple and quick? Or that if you have an Instant Pot making homemade yogurt is about as easy as adding milk and starter culture and leaving the pot to do its thing?
Find little ways like this to add homemade foods to your diet that won’t bog you down with a bunch of extra work.
3. Decide what foods are a priority to you and your family.
When it comes to a traditional diet you can end up spending a lot of money on ingredients and time on food prep if you feel like you have to be making all of the things all the time.
So take some time to prioritize what foods are most important to you. Does your family love meat? Then perhaps you will want to put a big focus on getting high quality, grass-fed beef and pastured chicken and pork.
Or do you guys love to eat bread? Then focus on finding a good, easy recipe you can stick with making regularly.
Basically decide what foods are essential to you and your family and limit the rest. This will help conserve your time and your budget.
4. Change your buying habits.
I think one of the easiest ways to change over to a traditional foods diet is to change what foods you are buying. The hardest part, potentially, is just finding different places to source your food if your local grocery store doesn’t have the right sort of ingredients.
For meat it’s as simple as buying grass-fed; you don’t have to worry about preparing it any differently.
In the case of many grains, which you’ll want to consume after they have either been soaked overnight or sprouted, you can buy them pre-sprouted to make things super easy. You can, for instance, find sprouted flour/wheat berries, rice, quinoa, and oatmeal.
The point is, there are a lot of things in your diet that can be changed over to the traditional method simply by changing what you are buying. So learn to be strategic in your food purchases, and that will be one of the biggest helps in the long run.
5. Get in a routine.
Once you have worked on all of the above items, try to get into a buying and cooking routine that works for you so that you can keep things going smoothly.
I, for instance, have started purchasing our meat once a month from Crowd Cow (you can get $25 off your first purchase through this link) so that I don’t have to worry about trying to find the right quality of meat at the grocery store. I also joined a milk pickup and every Thursday evening head over to the drop location to get our farm fresh milk, cream, and eggs.
Bread type items are important to me so I made a sourdough starter which I am in the habit of feeding everyday (unless I want a break and stick it in the fridge for a bit).
When we are out of mayo now instead of adding it to the grocery list, I pull out all of the ingredients (which aren’t very many) and blend some up in a mason jar with my immersion blender.
Transitioning to a traditional foods diet does not have to be a super complicated process. Switching over can take as long as you need it to. Start by changing what you buy and discovering what foods are most important to and then get into a good routine. Just take things one step at a time, and your health will thank you!
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
