The Fresh Mouth Potion

Our family diet was in trouble when the exchange rate for eating a single blueberry was four gummy frogs. One bite and an actual swallow of broccoli netted a heaping bowl of strawberry ice cream for our four- and six-year-old boys.

We've decided to do an experiment and teach the kids about healthy eating and real, whole food as a way of life and not as a means to scoring sugar. Our 10-month old son is motivation, too. He's on the cusp of eating real foods, and we want to sustain his untainted palate for as long as possible.

So, we start Fresh Mouth - our 30-day bender on all things fresh, whole and reasonably unprocessed. We're not as hard core as the locavores of late. We admire Barbra Kingsolver and her crew, but we'll still eat chicken from the plants of Perdue. We can't go all organic all the time because we can't afford it. So, we'll make compromises here and there. Organic milk one week, organic beef the next. We'll sow our seeds and grow our own herbs and veggies in the spring.

We'll take the lead from food studies prof Marion Nestle and writer Michael Pollan. We'll eat only fresh foods and processed foods with five ingredients or less. If we can't pronounce the names of the ingredients, we won't buy or eat them.

We're an average American family trying to eat better and enjoy it more. We'll convince our three little kids that fresh food is about pleasure, rituals and family - and not about red dye #40, high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.

The kids seem receptive so far. They're already counting ingredients lists. Our four-year-old asked if we'll be able to eat cereal on "this potion." Since we dubbed it an experiment, he assumes it must involve a potion. We told him he can have oatmeal, but no Cheerios on this potion.

And as a requiem to all of our lost foods and our kid favorite - the chicken nugget- we offer "Nugget o' the Day" on each post. Those little nuggets of goodness that happen when you change the diet of a family of five.