wholefood – Dr. Brian Foley | Your Alternative Doctor | (615) 333-0021 Chiropractic Physician

Grocery Shop Smart

Shopping for the right foods is essential to eating well unless you grow most of your own food. For the rest of us, making real happy meals starts with knowing what to look for. We are going to explore smart strategies for bringing home the turkey bacon, literally.

Healthy choices start in the heart and mind, where all choices are made. Why the heart? Because eating is a feeling activity. Delicious meals made by someone who cares and eaten together makes for some of our most memorable experiences. So start by loving yourself (and others you shop for) and setting your sights on foods that are both tasty and healthy.

It is no small task to leave the store without one munchie food… or ten. The key is to keep these foods from making it past the cash register. Remember you pay twice for unhealthy foods. Once at the store and later when you pay to fix poor health. Don’t let tempting foods sit in your pantry or fridge and stare you down every time you open the door.

Unbeatable Organics

Confession time: I once was an organic food denier. I didn’t believe organic food was all that different from conventional, but I now know how big the difference really is. If you are on the fence about organics, you have probably grown up without them. It is hard to tell the difference until you remove the offending food long enough to clean the body up. Conventional food is made to sell, and chemical companies have gotten good at adding the right chemicals to improve the taste and smell, but there is no mistaking how much better you will feel when you become chemical-free. Go organic for a month and see the difference.

Outsmart Cart Stow Aways

Is your stomach on empty? Shopping hungry is a sure way to end up with unhealthy stow aways in your cart. Have a healthy snack or meal before you shop. It’s easier to pass up tempting foods if you are full.

Even better – add this tactic. While you write your grocery list, remember a time you felt so good when you were eating healthy foods or how much better you felt when you were making good food choices. This can inspire you to write a list your future self would be proud of. Keep this mental image with you while shopping. This makes it easy to follow your best sense in the moment.

Processed or Not? That is the Question.

Most foods in the middle aisles of the store are of the processed variety. Select foods from the fresh sections such as the deli and fresh produce are at the perimeter of the store. Shop for foods that have ingredients that look like food, not ingredients from a chemistry lab experiment.

There are some exceptions to the perimeter rule, however. Foods that are preserved in specific ways such as pickling (olives, pickles, and sauerkraut), oil preservation (peanut butter, sun-dried tomatoes, etc), and dried foods (tea, dried fruits, and veggies) can keep well without unhealthy preservatives, but read the label to make sure there are no added chemical preservatives or toxic oils.

Eat Clean Meats

For fresh meats, certain grocery stores have better selections. Look for organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, antibiotic-free, hormone-free (especially beef), local, and such labels. If you have never tried true organic meat before, this is an area you can really tell the difference. You may never look back. Lowball priced meats are not worth the discount. Unhealthy animals make unhealthy food and they can make you sick or unhealthy. Also stay away from farm-raised fish, especially tilapia. Tilapia can survive in very polluted water and most fish farmers choose to grow it for this reason. Wild caught fish is much better. Fish is generally easier to digest and better for the body, but it is harder to determine its origin.

Fresh Produce is for Lovers

Food lovers, that is! Do you fly through the fresh produce only selecting one or two things? Of all the foods in the store, the fresh produce is the most alive. People who are alive need foods that are alive, which is a good reason we don’t eat bad, rotten food and shouldn’t eat artificially preserved (processed & dead) food. So how can you even start to think about eating unfamiliar fresh fruits and vegetables? Use that imagination again in this section to picture how those leafy greens or broccoli could taste done up the right way. Imagine yourself enjoying it. The more you dwell on it the more you wont be able to resist.

New fruits are quite to easy to try out, being sweet and not needing cooking. Buy a sample size of a new fruit every other shopping trip and make a rule to eat it before you eat your regular fruits (or at least before you go shopping again). Vegetables take more commitment but are more worth it. You can break into new veggies by looking up a popular recipe that uses it. However, I believe the easiest, tastiest way to try a new veggie is to sauté it in butter. Just cut it up, warm up your fry pan to medium-low, melt organic butter first, and lightly fry it (or, for denser veggies like carrots, cover with a lid and steam it with few ounces of water in the pan and then just before the water runs out, add butter and fry it). About halfway through the process, add seasonings as seems appropriate like garlic, salt and pepper. It could be a double win if you are learning this quick, easy, and healthy method of cooking for the first time, too!

Summary

Shopping smart starts with your smarts, your heart, a vision and a plan. Follow these guidelines for success and remember practice means to make easier:

Imagine yourself enjoying the feeling of having a healthy body.
Commit to your feeling and being well.
Imagine yourself enjoying the delicious taste of eating healthy fresh foods.
Don’t go shopping when you are hungry.
Make a grocery list to feed your best, most healthy self.
Reach for quality organic produce for best results including organic meats
Avoid processed foods and chemistry lab ingredients.

Feel the Sun, Not the Burn

Planning on going to the beach or just being outside for the day? Here is a sunburn tip whether you are sprucing up your yard or relaxing by the pool. Your body can become sunburn resistant given the right nutrition. No need to use chemical-laden sunscreens. Cataplex F Tablets from Standard Process can help avoid sunburn. Just take it before going out and every 4 hours during sun exposure, at the times you would apply or reapply sunscreen, and you can avoid looking like a cherry and feeling like a jalapeño. For people who burn easily and at the time of brightest sun (from 11a to 3p) additional. Extra Cataplex F after you come in for the day helps complete the effect.

Cataplex F Sunburn Protocol
– Before going outside: 9 Tabs
– Every four hours: 4 Tabs
– After coming in: 9 Tabs
* Additional Cataplex F may be needed for those who burn easily and during midday hours.

Summer Hydration

Water is life, and during summer we have to drink more to stay healthy… but did you know you also need minerals along with it? Sweat contains water and minerals you need to replace. Getting plenty of water without plenty of minerals can lead to electrolyte deficiency (a fancy term for water-borne minerals).

Signs of dehydration include extreme thirst, infrequent urination, dark urine, fatigue, dizziness, and confusion. Signs of electrolyte deficiency symptoms include frequent thirst, shallow rapid breathing, poor muscle endurance (muscle fatigue), and swelling in the ankles and wrists.

For water consumption generally, the rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces, so if you are 100 lbs drink 50 ounces of water per day. If you are drinking this and still have symptoms, consider that you may need better quality water. The best water is pure spring water with naturally occurring minerals that are better at satisfying thirst. Be sure you are getting adequate minerals from food or supplements and drink water that contains minerals. Water that contains no minerals steals the body’s mineral reserves. reverse osmosis water or distilled water you should add a small pinch (to taste) of sea salt per 8 oz glass. The water should not taste excessively salty. Salts such as Celtic Salt, Real Salt, Himalayan Salt have a complete mineral profile your body needs. Processed salts such as Morton Sea Salt or other processed white salts lack this variety.

Drinking electrolytes is a good way to maintain minerals in the body but to make up for a mineral deficiency, an organic form is necessary. Organic forms of minerals occur in vegetable and meat products we consume, but even these can be inadequate to replenish the body. I recommend Organically Bound Minerals from Standard Process as a way to achieve deep replenishment of the body’s mineral reserves.

Summer Foods

During the summer, we are more active and spend more time outdoors. Being out and about is good for us, but our bodies do not dedicate as many resources to digesting foods. This happens naturally because of the increased activity. For many people, food sits uncomfortably on the stomach when they eat heavy meals and rich foods such as meat. Eating lighter foods and foods that help with digestion are healthier summer choices. Fruit and vegetable centric dishes work well on their own and heavier foods like meats and dairy can be paired with enzyme containing foods such as pineapple, papaya, avocado, kiwi, bee pollen, kimchi, and sauerkraut. If you are on the go and can’t do this, Standard Process has two enzyme products that can help: Multizyme and Zypan.

What are your summertime health woes? Let us know in the comments below. Have questions? Let us know in the comments or call 615-881-5867.

The information in this article is based on clinical experience and historical uses of nutrition as a therapy to support optimal body function. It is not to be construed as medical advice.