While it’s possible to eat a nutritious diet shopping in a traditional grocery store there are a few choices to keep in mind to make the most healthy decisions.

Fruits & Vegetables

Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are by far the better choice. The most important study of organic food to date was completed in 2007 and found that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more antioxidants than conventional equivalents, and that the figure was 60% for organic milk. The 4-year study was funded by the European Union and was the largest of its kind ever undertaken.

In addition to higher nutrients and better taste you can also reduce your exposure to pesticides that are found in non-organically grown fruits and vegetables. While most of these foods don’t exceed safety tolerances for a dose of a single pesticide, most contain multiple pesticide residues. Consumers Union and Environmental Working Group have also considered combined exposures and risks to children. One-year-olds eat three times as many fresh peaches, per pound of body weight, as do adults, and more than four times as many apples and pears, according to CU’s Consumer Reports. Also, in February the Environmental Protection Agency published, Pesticides and Food: What You and Your Family Need to Know which warns that children are more vulnerable to pesticides, and that farmers may at times such as impending crop failure, use pesticide amounts above safety standards.  In addition, children’s rapidly developing bodies are more vulnerable than adults’ are. Pregnant women should take care, too, as many pesticides cross the placenta to expose the fetus.

It is commonly thought that imported foods from Mexico and South America are more contaminated than U.S. grown foods, but 11 of the 12 highest contaminated foods are U.S. grown.

Grains

Grains are processed before being made into food items like bread or pasta, and the nutritional value of grains depends highly on the amount of processing. Whole grains are grains that have not been processed as much and still contain parts of the bran and the germ that surround the grain. When whole wheat is milled into white flour, 83 percent of the nutrients are removed, with mostly starch remaining. The fiber is gone, and the Vitamin E content is reduced, along with twenty-one other nutrients. The flour that is produced is so useless as a food that it must be fortified with synthetically manufactured thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin, as well as iron.

In addition to nutritional abuse and synthetic vitamin fortification, flour often suffers further adulteration with chemicals used to age, bleach, whiten, and preserve the product. Chlorine dioxide, an irritant to both the skin and respiratory tract, is used to bleach flour. Benzoyl peroxide, another bleaching agent, is also a skin irritant. Other additives include methyl bromide, nitrogen trichloride, alum, chalk, nitrogen peroxide, and ammonium carbonate.

Organic whole-grain flour, when milled properly, does not lose its nutritional value. No synthetic nutrients or chemical additives are necessary. Quality whole-grain flours smell sweet and fresh, and deliver plenty of flavor when they are eaten.

You can find more here at our site; http://thegreengrocerri.com/resources/healthy-living/eating-more-whole-grains/

Fats

People tend to forget that fat is an essential nutrient. It provides energy (calories) and essential fatty acids. Fat is needed to absorb fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and Kand helps us recognize the feelings of being full so we don’t overeat. Even the demonized animal fats have a purpose in hleping to metabolize protiens into tissue.

Unfortunately, most Americans consume too much fat, especially saturated fats. Research links a high fat intake with heart disease, cancer and obesity.

Focus on reducing foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol, which are found in animal products, commercially baked goods, and fried foods. Select more foods made with unsaturated fats such as monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and Omega-3 fatty acids.

• Foods high in monounsaturated fat include olive, peanut and canola oils. Avocados and most nuts also have high amounts of monounsaturated fat. These fats remains liquid at room temperature but may start to solidify in the refrigerator.
• Foods high in polyunsaturated fats include vegetable oils, such as corn, sunflower, safflower, soy and cottonseed oils. These fats are usually liquid at room temperature and in the refrigerator.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats found mostly in fish. Good sources of omega 3s include fatty, cold-water fish, such as salmon, mackerel and herring. Flaxseeds, flax oil and walnuts also contain omega-3 fatty acids.

Sweets

The reasons to reduce refined sugars are numerous and would require several blog entries just to cover.

Excessive sugar consumption is believed to be involved in many common health problems: hypoglycemia, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, indigestion, myopia, seborrheic dermatitis, gout, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety, and more. Sugar is rapidly converted in the blood to fat (triglycerides), which increase obesity, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. Sugar greatly increases the risk of dental decay. It is devoid of vitamins, minerals, or fibre; it is an empty food. The lack of fibre in sugar causes a tendency to overeat.

With that said let’s take a quick look at the options to refined sugar.

Agave nectar is a natural juice extracted from agave, the same plant that’s processed into tequila. Agave nectar does not cause dramatic blood sugar fluctuations so energy levels remain more consistent. It is 42 percent sweeter than white sugar, so less is needed in recipes.

Erythritol: A naturally occurring sugar alcohol (found in small quantities in mushrooms, pears, melons, grapes and wine) that is produced commercially by fermentation of table sugar (or other sugars) in a process somewhat akin to making yogurt. It’s only about 70 percent as sweet as sugar, but has only a fraction (about 0.2) of a calorie per gram  — basically low enough to qualify it as “zero calories.”

Erythritol is a small molecule, rapidly absorbed by the small intestine, meaning little of it gets to the colon to cause the typical intestinal misery common to other sugar alcohols. On the good side, research has shown that more than 90 percent of what’s absorbed is excreted unchanged in the urine within 24 hours.

Xylitol is a widely approved sweetener for people with diabetes and sugar intolerance. It is extracted from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables. Xylitol is a great tasting bulk sweetener with 40% less calories than sugar. The best part is that it is actually known to reduce the incidence of tooth decay and offer protection against cavities.

Stevia is a South American herb that has been used as a sweetener by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. It has a delicious and refreshing taste that can be 30 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia is calorie-free and doesn’t upset blood sugar levels. In fact, it can actually assist in regulating blood-sugar levels.

Probiotics can be taken at any age. They can be taken as a daily supplement as they heavily influence the entire digestive and immune system.

If a child has been on an antibiotic, it is extremely important to replenish the beneficial bacteria lost by taking a quality probiotics supplement over the following two weeks.

Probiotics can help boost the immune system whenever a child might be coming down with symptoms of a cold or flu.

Allergies are another indication of one’s immune system under-functioning and probiotics are ideal in this situation.

Acne and any digestive issues like irritable bowel syndrome or Chrohn’s disease would also be an indication.  A child who is sufering from solid stool can benefit greatly from supplementation with probiotics, its safer and often more effective than over the counter stool softeners.

So where is hope now? How do we weather what some thought would just be a short-lived “winter of discontent” that now looks to stretch on much longer? Surely there is a need for belt tightening on all of our parts, and that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. But I’m beginning to notice other levels of impact from all this bad news. There’s something insidious here in the way I—and others I know—are looking at our own lives, our choices and what the future holds. The necessary external contraction of frivolous spending or use of resources has translated into a kind of internal pulling in or pulling away. It’s subtle in some ways and can look like a person is just being prudent or thoughtful about committing time, money or energy. Better to wait until things become clearer, less volatile, more stable. The risk, though, is that the need to be prudent too easily becomes a kind of paralysis.

Hope “is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart…” Those lines help me to recognize that I can, in fact, find an internal orientation that can hold its own when I’m overcome by scarcity thinking. I can incline my heart to hope—looking for the many small ways hope is in evidence around me every day, even as I know there is so much that remains out of my control. 

As hard as I may be pulling back on some things I also need to remember to reach out! To reach out to connect with others in my family and community, to reach in to find the courage to continue to take risks, to reach toward those things—many of them simple and close at hand—that bring me joy.

Enjoy!

Now we are off on a grand adventure to explore how natural and organic foods, the internet and you are tied in. Should be interesting!