Conscious eating is all the rage, with numerous movements-local first, all organic, green living, etc.-celebrating the virtues of consuming foods that are good for the body and the Earth. This is great news for American families who have an interest in following a more balanced and healthy diet, as the market for nutritious and more natural food products has grown at a staggering rate.

Also check out... 5 Ingredients to Banish from Meals The 10 Best Foods for Kids Make Food Shopping a Family Affair Cooking in Bulk: The Master Plan

But with this relatively new national obsession with healthy eating, we're constantly bombarded with messages about what we should and should not eat. Many of these messages seem to conflict, or at the very least, urge us to make sweeping prohibitions of entire food groups and/or seemingly unavoidable ingredients (sodium, preservatives, sugar, wheat, carbs, food additives, etc.).

If you're concerned about the foods that you feed your family-and who isn't?-it's worth your while to educate yourself about which foods to avoid and which deserve a place in your kitchen. Instead of setting yourself and your family up for disaster by setting difficult goals - "We won't eat ANY sugar!" - focus on eliminating some of the most blatant offenders and go from there. Small changes can have a huge impact on your wellness. Listed below are the 10 foods to banish from your pantry: