You Are What You Eat Part IV

A commenter on a nutrition article got me started on this thread when he expressed concern about misleading labels. Hint: “Figures never lie, but liars sure can figure.” The more ingredients the manufacturer has to work with, the more opportunity to mislead the shopper who just wants to get home and fix lunch. I like to keep shopping simple. 

I have dabbled with “organic” and decided I can’t afford it. I seem to be doing fine with ingredients from the grocery store.  If you can afford organic, by all means eat organic.

I do most of my shopping around the outside perimeter of the store. That’s where you find the produce, fish, dairy, frozen food…About all I buy out of the middle are items like brown rice, lentils (beans), stone ground oatmeal, oat bran, canola/olive oil, canned solid-albacore tuna, powdered skim milk (I use it to make my own yogurt), lemon juice and canned pumpkin.

The latter is a good example of how to avoid misleading advertising. The label reads “100%” pumpkin” and features a nice orange pumpkin. 

My frozen blueberries with the purple berries on the bag are unsweetened, 100% blueberries. No labels to decipher on the produce, and the colors speak for themselves.

I don’t use sweeteners anymore. I opt for healthier flavoring from spices, lemon juice and a surprise treat to be revealed in my first “basic recipe.” To help you or the family ease into this new regimen, you might use frozen apple juice or molasses for sweeteners. Glucose (AKA, sugar) is glucose, but molasses is, for me at least, more satisfying in perceived sweetness per calorie, due to its intensity.

I also buy sauerkraut and tomato sauce in the canned goods aisle, both of which have added sodium. That doesn’t add up to a lot of sodium and, we need some sodium. And, along with yogurt, sauerkraut is a “fermented” food and contributes to a healthy gut microbiome.

Bonus tip: If the kids want a “choice,” tell them, “eat or go hungry.” No, ease them into it as well.

Full Disclosure: At this point, I do not accept payment for “product/vendor placements.” If that should change, I will notify you. 

Fuller Disclosure: Nobody has offered me any payment, but I have received a few death threats if I keep writing.

I see that I have once again jumped into a vast subject with a plan that is only half-vast. The food recommendations I intended to introduce one at a time have been given away in this “where to shop” post. So, next time I will give you a couple of basic recipes that you can modify to suit your personal tastes, introducing new foods in small amounts and one at a time.

If you have a topic you would like me to write about, please leave a comment on the blog, reached by clicking on the title, underlined in blue.