There are obvious health benefits to eating unprocessed food, but there are other upsides that have surprised me as I shifted my mindset around food and where it comes from. Disclaimer: the upsides are based on my personal experience and may likely differ from yours.
1. Save Money
I feel like we've been fed a false narrative about the cost of unprocessed food vs. processed food. Before our eating shift, we spent upwards of $400 per week at the grocery store for our family of five. This included fruit, vegetables, beans, dairy, cereal, bread, frozen pizzas, hot dogs, frozen chicken nuggets, bags of chips, peanut butter, and more. Trips to the grocery store were spent mainly in the center aisles, and the fruits and vegetables we did buy ended up being thrown away because we never ate them (thanks to all the pizzas, hot dogs, and chips readily available).
In July 2022, I signed up for a community-supported agriculture program with a local farm, Wild Hope Farm. I braced myself for the sticker shock of 14 weeks of fresh vegetables and fresh eggs - and boy, was I shocked. A regular share (feeds 2-4) of vegetables totaled $490. The eggs cost $110.
That's $600 for over three months of fresh seasonal veggies and eggs. Compare what we would have bought at the store, and it would have been at least double that. Not to mention, we would toss most of it, so it's an even bigger waste!
Today, our weekly grocery tab totals $200 or less.
Why this surprised me: Obviously when we stopped buying as many packaged foods, our grocery bills immediately dropped. Frozen pizzas, $3.99. Nuggets $9.99. Cereal $4. Chips/Pirate's Booty/Cheese Itz, $4-$5 each (at best, hello inflation). These all add up, yet they add nothing to our nutrition or fuel our bodies for activity. Meanwhile, even at the grocery store, I can spend half that on unprocessed food like a head of lettuce, a bag of dried beans, and other vegetables to make something nourishing, more satisfying that will last longer, AND yield better cost per meal than most processed/packaged "foods" could offer.
Equally exciting to me is that we waste way less food now.
2. Connect to Community
Probably the best part of that $600, it stays right here in my community, supporting a local farm's operations, not the Harris Teeter down the street. Weekly emails from the farm, let me know they're expanding their field, creating jobs, and more. I feel more connected to my community when I eat food grown here and in season and that my dollars are reinvested in ways that align with my values.
Why this surprised me: I didn't consider where my money went at the grocery store...until I started thinking about it where our food actually came from. Our local grocery store chain is Harris Teeter, which is owned by Kroger. And after reading The Secret Life of Groceries, I see supermarkets in a whole new light.
In my opinion, money spent is a vote for your values. I prefer to use my money to vote for my local farming community.
3. Slow...Down
As I reflect on my relationship with cooking, I realize the only times I actually enjoyed it was when I was cooking with fresh vegetables - especially food I picked up at a farmer's market. So when I began to source most of my food from a farm or local food providers, I noticed I enjoyed a little more.
Preparing fresh, unprocessed food creates a connection to community (see upside #2) and takes into consideration the people who harvested the vegetables my family and I are about to eat.
When I used to pull a frozen pizza out of the oven for my kids, I most certainly was not thinking about the machine that assembled the food-like substances into a pizza shape.
Why this surprised me: Unprocessed eating has slowed me down at a time when a pace anything less than lightning seems like a fantasy. And it's really nice.
What are the surprising upsides of eating unprocessed that you've experienced? Share in the comments below!