How to Food Shop – Get Your List

I created a list of things that might help you shop for groceries.

Meat / Eggs

• Go for grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free
• Turkey is a good pick; lean and nutritious
• Reduce meat intake to 10-15% of your diet

Fish

• Pick: farmed mussels, farmed oysters, wild-caught Pacific sardines, wild-caught pink shrimp from Oregon, wild-caught salmon from Alaska, wild-caught spot prawns from British Columbia, and farmed rainbow.
• Avoid – all other farmed fish, imported shrimp, tuna (except troll- / poll-caught)
• Get a full list on www.edf.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf

Dairy

• Always pick dairy products made from grass-fed cow’s milk
• Avoid UHT (ultra-high temperature) pasteurized milk
• Consider goat milk
• Try raw milk
• Give milk substitutes a chance, especially almond or hemp milk

Processed/canned food

• Avoid as much as you can, always pick whole, fresh food
• Pick a bottle over a can

Breads

• If it claims to have whole grain, you must see the grains!
• Choose harder bread over the soft one
• Made of unbleached flour
• Check for sodium and sugar content
• Avoid preservatives and added vitamins

Water

• Avoid bottled water (for health and environmental reasons)
• Avoid water enhanced with vitamins and flavors
• Get a good filter at home and a metal bottle

Grains

• Pick: brown rice, quinoa
• Avoid: white rice, white flour pastas
• Experiment with grains like buckwheat, amaranth or quinoa
• Beans and legumes
• Use plenty as a protein source, reducing meat intake ·For best results, cook with grains

Fruit

• Berries, pomegranates, grape fruit are your super foods
• Slow down on oranges and watermelons
• Reduce fruit juices (high in sugar, low fiber), eliminate ones made of concentrates

Vegetables

• Green leaf vegetables are highly unappreciated in our diet
• Try veggies like kale, chard, broccoli (super food)

Sugars

• Read product labels carefully; 3.8g sugar = 1 spoon. Many low-fat products like the Danone yoghurt (a tiny container) has 20g of sugar, that’s 5.3 spoons of sugar. Wow.
• Different names for sugar: brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, corn syrups, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), honey, invert sugar, lactose, fructose, cane sugar, sucrose, turbinado.
• Minimize all of the above
• Avoid high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners at all cost
• Introduce agave syrup or maple syrup

Sodium and MSG

• Daily intake maximum 2400mg/day. Again, read these labels, especially broth, soups and sausages.
• Sodium found not only in salty food but cakes too
• MSG hidden in names like: gelatin, calcium caseinate, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), textured protein, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP), yeast extract, autolyzed plant protein,   yeast food or nutrient, autolyzed yeast, vegetable protein extract, senomyx (wheat extract labeled as artificial flavor)

Cereals

• Check sugar content carefully
• Don’t let advertising claims fool you! Read the labels!

Advertising Traps

• If you see the brand on TV, it is very likely highly processed food. Do not buy it.
• “Natural” is very vague and means nothing, has to have a USDA label
• Careful with “Enhanced”, it just mean synthetic additions
• Don’t let cute cartoon characters fool you and your kids

And finally

• The fewer ingredients, the better
• Avoid food coloring and ingredients you cannot pronounce
• Pick organic, locally-grown, non-GMO
• Visit justfood.org to buy directly from farmers, delivered to you
• Bring a shopping bag with you, cut on plastic bags

Happy and healthy shopping!