Shop Smart & Healthy
Making smarter food choices at the grocery store helps the planet and it animals and is important for a healthier diet. Avoiding processed foods and factory farmed products dramatically reduces your contribution to environmental destruction and animal exploitation, while improving your health.
Follow these tips to make smart and healthy food choices:
Shopping for Fruits & Vegetables:
- Choose a variety of fruits and veggies for a colorful plate!
- Buy fresh, organic fruits and veggies.
- Can’t buy fresh? Try frozen! Frozen vegetables are picked at the height of freshness, and the freezing process locks in their nutrients.
- Buying canned? Go for organic fruit in 100% fruit juice, and low sodium, organic veggies.
Try This: Check out your local farmer’s market for fresh, seasonal produce.
Shopping for Grains:
- When shopping for breads, cereals, and pastas, choose options that list one of the following as the first ingredient: brown rice, whole oats, whole rye, or whole wheat.
- Limit or eliminate refined grains like white bread, white rice, and “plain” pasta.
- Buy organic whenever possible.
- Try to get all the grains in your shopping cart to be whole grains.
Try This: Try a whole grain you’ve never tried before—like brown rice or quinoa. Then mix it up by tossing in some fresh, colorful veggies and herbs.
Shopping for Non-Dairy:
- Choose soy, rice, almond, coconut or hemp milk.
- Buy vegan cheese or go without. Most recipes that call for cheese can be made without it or the cheese can be substituted.
- When buying “no fat” products, watch out for added sugars, which might mean more calories, and worse calories, than you think.
- Flavored non-dairy milk and beverages may also contain added sugars, which may mean more calories, and worse calories, than you think.