What is a Real Food Diet?

How to incorporate a Read Food Diet into your life?

There are so many different "diets" out there that state the benefits of eating real food.  I've always been interested in food, nutrition, and diet (not dieting, there is a difference) since I was a young girl. 

Throughout my life, no matter how I ate, others have always remarked, "you eat really healthy!"  Of course, my first real diet-diet was the low fat/high carbohydrate craze of the 80's/90's -- which of course still is overflowing into the new Millennium, especially with the over 50 crowd.  I remember thinking that it was okay to eat several pieces of bread, just as long as I didn't eat them with butter.

Fast forward to the very small amounts of meat diet in my 20's that correlated well with college years,as eating whole and natural ingredients that are minimally processed.   These foods should be hormone free, non-GMO (genetically modified), and free of other chemicals.  The foods should also be organic when possible.
consisting of bread and cheese (bagels in the morning, pizza for lunch, and pasta with cheese for dinner).  Despite my wheatified food, I still consciously chose salads instead of fries and probably ate better than a lot of my peers.  In 2013, after trying to conceive for some time, I began to eat a "clean" diet and do some research on foods to improve fertility.  Clean eating can be defined

I then further delved into my health by reading The Virgin Diet and doing a 4 week initial reset diet (where you remove the top foods that have been shown be related to allergies/sensitivities), then slowly reintroduce foods one at a time to learn your body's tolerance to them.  I eagerly added eggs as my first food, knowing how amazingly good for you they are, only to be quickly saddened by my body's response to them.  Immediately I would have to run to the bathroom and that's all I'll describe about that.

I moved onto an 80/20 or sometimes closer to 95/5 Paleo Diet, while also avoiding eggs.  I actually have a hard time providing you with a link that is a good reputable source of information for this diet.  There are so many resources, so many blogs, so many different websites describing this diet.  Basically you eat meat, vegetables, fish, and fruit.  No grains, no to minimal dairy, no legumes, and no processed sugar.

Over the last couple of years, what I've most learned is that there may be no one diet that is perfect for each individual.  I do believe that everyone needs to clean up there diet and avoid wheat as much as possible (or never go near it if you've tested positive for celiac or know you have a sensitivity to it).  Wheat Belly is a great book if you want to learn more about why to avoid wheat.  I think it's also important to really listen to your body and try to figure out what works for you.
In the last bit, I came across the Autoimmune Paleo Diet or AIP.  I'd briefly heard about it before but it wasn't until recently that it began to creep into my life.  Although I haven't completely limited my diet to AIP, I am strongly contemplating it and incorporating a lot more nutrient dense foods into my life.  I've been eating so clean, but think that I have to fine tune things a bit more to move to the next level of health.