You want hippie?
If you haven't already check out the documentary Food, Inc. on NetFlix or Amazon Prime. Check out a
Joel Salatin on YouTube. Joe Rogan did a good podcast a couple weeks ago with
Chris Kresser.
I started down this rabbit hole a couple years ago. I find it pretty fascinating how much of our food absolute garbage, even the stuff on the edges of the grocery store. The vast majority of meat, egg and dairy animals are raised and slaughtered in inhumane ways. They are fed food they are not designed to eat and pumped full of hormones and antibiotics (despite what the packaging says) to keep their miserable selves alive just long enough. Organic, free range and cage free don't mean what you think it means.
Modern agriculture is destroying the environment. Top soil and biomass are being eroded destroyed. Fertile soil is being turned to dust and blown away. Never mind that well managed grasslands and forests make great carbon sinks for all those terrible CO2 emissions. Our agriculture policy in this country (all over the world, really) is absolutely destructive. It incentivizes big destructive corporations (Tyson, Smithfield, ConAgra, Monsanto, etc) and makes it very difficult and expensive for small regenerative farmers to do business.
I'm not proposing new policy here. I'm not saying "something should be done." We shouldn't put the people who $*%*ed the system up in charge of fixing it. I am suggesting that you, as an individual, voluntarily choose to learn about this and then individually and voluntarily act. [/rant]
Look at ingredients in your packaged foods. Educate yourself. Everything the government told you (food pyramid, etc.) is a lie. So is a lot of the AMA advice. Eat a lot of veggies, meat and eggs. Don't be afraid of real fats. It's pretty difficult to overeat that stuff. Dairy is not a perfect food and fruit isn't free (Weight Watchers).
Ideally we would be growing our own food, or at least buying it locally from known farmers. Do the best you can. Buy cookbooks and learn to cook from scratch. A lot. It really is the best way to control what you're eating. I like resources like Alton Brown (Good Eats) and 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss that actually teach technique over recipe. Even if you make your own food with evil pasta and bread, it's still going to be better than the crap you get at Olive Garden or from a can. It's cheaper too.
Remember that processed food and fast food is specifically designed to be hyper-rewarding to your pallet. Moving towards a hippie diet is difficult because real food isn't.