A food/diet challenge

My wife recently set forth a "challenge" of sorts for our household, and I think it's a great idea. Basically, we are going to try to avoid:

1. Any form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
2. Any MSG
3. Any "bleached" products. That means whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, whole wheat tortillas, etc...
4. Any nitrates or chemically-altered animal byproducts

The primary purpose for this challenge is for health reasons - all of these products are known to be totally unhealthy, and unfortunately, highly prevalent in nearly all American's diets. This is especially true of HFCS - that stuff is EVERYWHERE.

The "why" of this challenge is pretty obvious, but the "how" is a bit more interesting. We've been inspired by a combination of (1) living in a fairly health-conscious town, (2) watching some interesting documentaries, (3) reading some persuasive books, and (4) being motivated by friends. Here are a few more details about how we came to this decision:

- As we get ready to move away from here, we're realizing more and more what a great town Eugene is. One cool thing about this place is how it seems like nearly everyone is fairly healthy and active, and there are a ton of great healthy options for eating out (for example, tonight Missi and I are going on a date to a vegetarian/vegan bistro called Ratatouille)

- There has been a series of interesting and high-profile documentaries lately on the food industry. These include Super Size Me, and more recently, King Corn. Another example that I haven't actually seen is Fast Food Nation, based on the book by Eric Schlosser. King Corn focuses on high fructose corn syrup and its unbelievable prevalence in the American diet.

- I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but while in Mexico I read the book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes. In this book, he describes his diet, and he avoids anything "white" - white flour, white sugar, white rice, etc...Considering the fact that he is probably one of the fittest individuals on the planet, I thought this was pretty good advice. Another book that Missi has read that I guess is pretty enlightening is Skinny Bitch by
Rory Freeman and Kim Barnouin.

- As in lots of other areas of our life, we were encouraged toward this move by our good friends the Zimels. They live down in Austin, TX, and have been eating this way for quite awhile.

We'll let you know how this "challenge" goes.