A few years ago, we started paying attention to something we'd spent most of our lives barely thinking about.
The actual ingredients in the food we were eating.
We'd been paying attention to nutrition for years. We understood calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. We'd look at nutrition labels, compare macros, and make decisions about food based on how it fit into our nutrition goals.
After my celiac diagnosis in early 2020, we had another reason to start reading labels: gluten. We needed to know whether something was safe for me to eat, so we paid attention to that.
But beyond checking for gluten? We rarely gave the rest of the ingredient list a second thought.
We were paying attention to what was in our food, but only through a pretty narrow lens.
That started to change about three years ago. As I was spending more time learning about nutrition coaching, health, and wellness, I started coming across more information about food ingredients. People were talking about additives, fillers, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, preservatives, and all sorts of things I'd never really considered.
And I started getting curious.
What exactly were these ingredients? Why were they being added to our food? What purpose did they serve? And perhaps most importantly, what did they mean for our health?
So I started digging. And the more I learned, the more I realized how little attention Tom and I had been paying to what was actually in the products we were buying.
Turns out, there's a lot of crap in our food.
And once we started paying attention, it became pretty hard to stop.
One Ingredient at a Time
We didn't wake up one morning and throw everything in our pantry away. We didn't suddenly become people who made everything from scratch or refused to eat anything that came in a package.
We just started reading ingredient lists.
And then we started making different choices.
Sometimes that meant finding a different brand of something we already bought. Sometimes it meant making something ourselves. Sometimes it meant realizing that a product we'd considered a healthy choice wasn't necessarily something we wanted to keep eating.
Little by little, our grocery cart changed. Our pantry changed. The way we cooked changed. And eventually, the way we thought about food changed.
Today, our philosophy is pretty simple.
We aim to build about 90% of our diet around whole, minimally processed foods, prioritizing simple, recognizable ingredients.
Meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and other simple, nourishing foods. Foods that are recognizable for what they are, without a bunch of additional ingredients.
That doesn't mean we never eat packaged or processed foods. Of course we do. But when we buy them, we read the ingredient lists. We want to know what's in the product, why it's there, and whether those ingredients align with the standards we've developed for ourselves. It's not uncommon for us to pick something up at the grocery store, flip it over to read the label, and put it right back on the shelf because of what we find.
We tend to favor shorter, simpler ingredient lists, and we've become much more intentional about what we're willing to consume regularly.
It's been a gradual evolution over the last three years. A lot of learning, a lot of label reading, a lot of trying different products, and a whole lot of small decisions.
Just like we talk about at CrossFit 605, 1% better every day.
And We Started Feeling the Difference
This is where things got really interesting for us.
As we started eating more whole foods and significantly reducing the amount of ultra-processed food in our diets, we started noticing changes in how we felt.
Less bloating. Fewer digestive issues. Clearer headspace. Better sleep and recovery. And fewer cravings for the highly processed foods we'd previously eaten more regularly.
We started craving fresh, nourishing foods instead. Things began tasting better. And the more we ate this way, the more we wanted to continue.
We genuinely felt better.
Now, I can't tell you that one particular ingredient was responsible for every change we experienced. But I can tell you that changing the way we ate, paying attention to ingredients, and being more intentional about our food choices made a noticeable difference in our lives.
And we've also learned that certain ingredients simply don't agree with us.
Carrageenan is one example. It's an ingredient used in some dairy products, creamers, desserts, and other packaged foods. Through our own experience, I've learned that when I consume it, my digestive system is NOT happy.
(It's also an ingredient we consider pretty gross in general, and one we've placed on our personal 'red' list. But we'll get into what that means, and why, in a future article. 😉)
So for us, carrageenan is a hard no.
And that's part of what this journey has taught us. The more we understand about ingredients, and the more attention we pay to how our own bodies respond, the better equipped we are to make decisions about what we want to eat.
Knowledge has changed our choices. And our choices have changed how we feel.
But Life Is Still Meant to Be Lived
Here's something I want to make very clear.
We are not perfect. We don't eat perfectly. And we have absolutely no desire to live in a bubble where every single food decision becomes a source of stress. Been there, done that, and it's not fun.
We have standards around what we eat, and we work hard to uphold them most of the time. We prepare the vast majority of our meals at home, choose ingredients we feel good about, and prioritize foods that help us feel our best.
But we also believe life is meant to be enjoyed.
When the gym crew decides to head to B&G Milky Way after the Friday 5:30 class on a beautiful summer evening, you better believe we're going.
Are we going to find some ingredients in that ice cream that we'd typically avoid, and potentially feel some digestive discomfort after? Probably.
Are we going to enjoy the ice cream and the experience anyway? Absolutely.
Because sometimes the memory, the experience, and the people you're sharing it with matter more than the ingredient list.
That's a conscious decision, too.
Having standards doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It means you understand what matters to you and make your decisions accordingly.
And that's really what we hope to encourage through sharing our experience.
Start by Getting Curious
We're going to start talking more about ingredients here at The Herd Health & Wellness.
Why certain ingredients are used, what we know about them, how to navigate labels, and how to become a more informed consumer. We've learned an incredible amount over the last few years, and we believe this is an important part of taking ownership of our health.
Not because we expect everyone to eat exactly the way we do. Not because every ingredient you don't recognize is automatically bad. But because we believe you deserve to understand what's in the food you're putting into your body.
And you might be surprised by what you discover.
So here's our challenge to you this week.
Go to your pantry and pick three things.
Turn them around and read the ingredient lists. Not the calories, protein, carbs, or fat. The actual ingredients.
How many ingredients are there? Do you recognize them? Do you understand what they are and why they're in that product?
You don't need to throw anything away. You don't even need to change what you're buying right now.
Just start paying attention.
And if something surprises you, or you find an ingredient you're curious about, we'd love to hear what you discover. Reach out and tell us what caught your attention. Because that's how this whole journey started for us. A little curiosity, a little education, and one better decision at a time.
The more you know about what you're eating, the more intentional you can be about what you choose to eat.
That small shift in awareness is where some pretty incredible changes begin.