Nutrition

Incredible Ways Your Grocery Store Can Change Your Life

Your Grocery Has This Hidden Power

Here’s what I want you to understand.

This is a basic, a fundamental. To really experience Health As It Ought To Be doesn’t require you to drastically change your life.

In fact, many people I see come to my practice only require slight modifications in their lifestyle to change their health.

It’s really not the most difficult thing in the world to do, I promise.

What I want you to learn in this article is how changing the way you shop at your grocery store can lead to a dramatic improvement in the quality of your life and health.

For most of my patients, their decision to follow the advice found in this article meant they were healthier, more energized, and happier.

Now tell me you wouldn’t like to be all three of those?

Remember, there aren’t guarantees attached to this advice. Guarantees come with technology that’s bound to break.

I wish I could say that following this advice is the only thing you need to do to change your health.

I can’t, and I won’t.

However, I can guarantee if you follow this advice, you will see improvements in your health. Some of you will see big changes. Others of you will see smaller ones.

That, and if you follow this advice you’ll prove you are in the one who’s in the driver’s seat when it comes to your health.

Let’s get into this.

How to Change The Way You Look at the Grocery Store 

When I was a kid, we didn’t really have a  “plan of attack” when it came to getting food from the grocery store.

We’d head in with our list, and we’d go to get what we had written down. Well, that’s how it was supposed to work in theory. Most of the time, a trip to the grocery store would mean we’d leave with way more than we had written down on the list.

Some of that was my fault, I’m sure.

I’m guessing that might describe many of your grocery store trips, too.

You needed milk and eggs, and before you know it, there’s potato chips and two tubs of ice cream in your cart (that you swore you wouldn’t get).

So, here’s a few tips to make sure you come out of the grocery store “unscathed.”

  1. Don’t Go Hungry: I think this is probably one of the best pieces of advice I can give. It’s simple. If you don’t buy bad food then you won’t have it in your home to eat. And let me ask you, how many times have you ever tried this?  Probably not that many, at least not intentionally.This really works.Here’s what I recommend.  Eat enough to where you’re comfortably full and then go to the grocery store to get what you need (use a list).If you go while full then you’re not going to make the mistake of buying food you don’t need. On top of that, it’ll be even easier to stick to a budget, and extra money is always a nice thing to have, I’m sure you’d agree.
  2. Stick to the Perimeter: The middle aisles of a grocery store are a “death trap”. All those cookies and sodas are just begging to be the food that gives you diabetes. For the most part, the food you want to eat is located on the perimeter of the store.This is true of both regular grocery stores as well as health food stores.The few things you’ll need to pick up in the inside aisles are going to be spices and oils and various cooking supplies.But, generally, the middle of the store is filled full of processed and artificial foods…things you don’t need. If you scan stick to the perimeter most of your time shopping, your life might change entirely.I’m serious!
  3. Buy 75%-90% Pure Food: If there’s one thing that can really work to change your life, it’s eating pure food. What do I mean by that? I’m of course referring to foods that have never cussed or told a lie. Actually, I mean you should eat foods that are just one ingredient.This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you stick to buying a food type that isn’t more than one ingredient, it means you’re eating something in its original state. And, generally, single ingredient items are great for your health.With that being said, it should also be fresh and unprocessed, if possible.  My personal recommendation is get fresh veggies and fresh meat (avoid deli meats with preservatives), as well as nuts, seeds.That’s going to be a very good springboard for a healthy life.

Now, all of that being said, there’s an easy way to make quick work of what you get at the grocery store.

Buy what you need and not what you don’t.

It’s a simple concept, and here’s how to make that work for you.

Here’s What to Buy at the Grocery Store: 

One of the biggest components of integrative health is understanding just how important food is for the body.

So, when I say your grocery store can change your life, I’m not kidding.

Depending on where you live, you might not have access to the same kinds of foods as people in larger cities.

That means your options might be a little bit more limited than others. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty you can do to continue eating in a healthy manner.

My recommendations on what to get at the grocery store, regardless of what kind, are outlined in these  5 steps:

  1. Eat What’s Green, Red, Purple, Yellow: From a health perspective, fruits and vegetables are some of the healthiest foods to build your diet around. The colors a fruits and vegetables possess tell you a lot about how healthy that plant is for you. Colors represent bioflavonoids, which are the healthy chemicals inside of  fruits and vegetables.That means you want to buy foods that are bright, and/or very rich in color.For instance, carrots are orange because they’re high in carotenes. The brighter the carrots, the higher in bioflavonoids they are.The same goes with deep colors.The darker your fruits and vegetables (in whatever color spectrum), the healthier they generally are for you.So, even if you live in an area where there isn’t a wide variety of interesting food, you can at least build your diet on bright or dark fruits and vegetables:
  2. Wash Your Food: If you live in an area where organic produce isn’t readily available then the next piece of advice is to wash the food you do eat. On that note, wash organic produce, too. It’s handled by dozens of people on its way to you, so its always a good idea.This is important because residual pesticides and herbicides might still be on your food while at the grocery store. Buying a simple vegetable-Wash at the grocery store can help you get rid of those health disrupting chemicals.
  3. Avoid the number 5: When you’re selecting fresh fruit and veggies, you’ll notice all of them have a little 4 or 5 digit code on them. This is the PLU. When a food’s PLU number starts with a 5, that means it’s a GMO food. Your best bet is to skip that food and get one that doesn’t start with a 5. The best number for a PLU to start with is 9.9 indicates organic, and generally, organic foods have higher nutrient values.A simple 4 digit code means the produce is conventionally produced.
  4. Supplements:  If you’re not sure you’re getting enough nutrients from the grocery store then you can always turn to supplements to get that little bit of extra “oomph” you need.My recommendations are to get vitamin D-3, an Omega-3 Fish oil complex, as well as a general multi-vitamin. Pay attention to what some of the ingredients of the pill happen to be. I’d recommend staying away from pills that are made of soy and corn.
  5. Steer Clear of… Of course, if you want to experience Health As It Ought To Be, it also means you should think about which products to avoid. Here’s my list of foods never to buy. Of course,  there are exceptions to every rule. I’ll even give you links to articles I’ve written as well as other links that back up why I feel you should avoid these foods:

The Bottom Line on Grocery Stores

Treat the grocery store like a loaded gun. Handle it with care.

The power of supreme health is located inside of a grocery store. Just because you live in America doesn’t mean you need to use your precious freedom to hurt your body.

Seems pretty simple, right?

Tell you what, try out a little experiment.

Follow the advice in this article for 1 month, and see if it helps you feel healthier, more energized, and happier.

Again, I won’t promise that it will, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it can.

 

Talk soon,

 

 

Dr. Wiggy
www.HealthAsItOughtToBe.com