A bit more of the backstory

Okay, sorry for the story in snippets here, but life is a bit busy (doesn't everyone say that), so I have to take the opportunities when they arise.  Here's a bit of a back story on who you're going to be reading about:

I'm in my early thirties, and could classify myself as a wife, mom, teacher, runner, and amateur baker & photographer.  I love reading, the beach, naps, and traveling.  My family consists of my husband, who we'll call the Banker, since he's in finance, and my four year old twins.  Peanut Butter is my little girl, who's my mini-me in looks and personality.  Buggy is my awesome boy who challenges me to no end, but gives the best hugs known to man. 

I have an undergraduate degree in exercise science and have been around sports my whole life, so I like to think I've always been aware of nutrition.  We ate pretty healthy food when I was growing up, and I've tried to keep my family doing the same as well over the past few years.  A couple of years ago, I read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and was inspired by the idea of eating seasonally.  While I definitely didn't fully embrace it, we did start making more trips to the local farmers markets.  I tried to stick to local produce and even purchase some local meats & eggs when I could.  Recently I stumbled onto the website www.100daysofrealfood.com and the ideas presented there just really connected with me.  I read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" and was convinced that I needed to make a change for myself and my family.  Which pretty much leads to where we are now.  We are doing our best to embrace the "real food" mindset, as Pollan laid out so well in his book.  I had planned to transition us over gradually, as I didn't want to waste the food we already have stocked up, but once I get into a project it's hard for me to pace myself so we dove in a bit faster than I had planned.

Here are the guidelines we are attempting to follow:

1) Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, local and organic when possible
2) Stick to 100% whole grains for all of our grain products
3) Eat pasture-raised meat from local farms
4) Eliminate any preservatives, artificial dyes, and unnatural ingredients in our foods
5) Stick to less-refined forms of sugar (honey & maple syrup)
6) Avoid any store-bought items with more than 5 ingredients

Pollan does a lot better job of laying this out in his book, and they explain it real well on the "100 Days" site as well, but that should give you enough of an idea.  We've been dabbling in this for less than a week, so I'm still doing a ton of learning myself, but hopefully I can teach you a bit along the way, even if it's just how we are making this transition in our own small family.