On your next grocery shopping trip, you'll begin replacing the fake foods you used to eat with more body friendly options. As you shop, you should base your choices on the real food pyramid, so it helps to actually go through the store in the order of priority. I prefer to not shop at large grocery stores unless I have to. I have the good fortune of having a "shouk" (market) in my town that is open every day except Saturday and holidays. So I can make two or three trips in a month and still save loads of money. I save the supermarket for small incidental purchases when the trip to the shouk wouldn't save money.
Look in the local papers in your town, and find out where there are butchers, vegetable markets, and local farm supplied dairy stores. Some companies, especially natural style bakeries that have national distribution also run a shop in their home town. You may be surprised what you'll find out there if you break away from big supermarkets.
Now, here are items that are going to replace what you'd normally get with healthier products:
| If you would normally buy... |
Instead buy... |
Why? |
| white sugar, brown sugar, or corn syrup |
honey, palm syrup (silan), palm sugar (jaggery), date paste, mixed fruit paste, rapadura |
Anything white sugar can do, palm sugar can do better. Brown sugar is just white sugar with more molasses, so a fruit paste will do it better. The only real brown sugar is rapadura, a product of South America, that is made from boiling off and then reducing actual sugar cane juice from the plant. White sugar is like a cheap substitute compared to the real thing. |
| aspartame, saccharine, and other low calorie sweeteners |
stevia |
Non caloric, non carbohydrate sweeteners mess with your body's natural calorie meter to limit carbohydrate overdose. Stevia herb has a failsafe for this (a bitter aftertaste) that tells you when enough is enough. Stevia is also an excellent sugar booster, and as an herb, compliments natural sugars extremely well. Learn to use it. |
| corn oil, canola oil, or other hydrogenated vegetable oils |
cold pressed or mildly heat rendered vegetable oils such as palm oil, palm kernel oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or specifically labelled nut oils, butter, ghee, lard, or schmaltz |
The human body was never meant to handle large amounts of vegetable oil. We are made to handle animal fats though. So vegetable oils should be used very mindfully, and hydrogenated oils should not be used at all. |
| corn or potato starch |
oat flour |
Oats are an extremely starchy grain, and provide much better stickiness with warm or hot water than corn or potato starches. It's better than them also because it has between 11-17% protein. So there's no real reason not to use it. |
| frozen or canned peas |
dry peas or split peas |
Peas are a kind of a bean, and need to be soaked and rinsed before cooking. Frozen and canned peas haven't been through the necessary steps before packing. |
| frozen corn or cornmeal |
dried cracked corn, hominy, or hominy grits |
Corn should generally be converted to hominy before it is eaten. It won't kill you if it's not, so enjoy your popcorn, but just be mindful that it is missing many of the nutrients including digestible protein and niacin, that it would have if it was hominy. You can make your own hominy at home with cracked corn. |
| low fat or skim milk |
whole milk or raw milk |
Milk should be as close to its nature as possible. The fat and protein in milk balance with the sugars in it, and shouldn't be removed. |
| any prepared meats |
meat |
Buy the real thing, and if you need to for convenience, have the butcher do what needs to be done. If you like breaded chicken breasts, have the butcher butterfly and tenderize them, and do your breading at home. Definitely avoid any meat in a can. |
| American/processed cheese |
real cheese |
Processed cheeses are often full of hydrogenated fats, sugar, and all sorts of things that should not be in cheese. Real cheddar may be more expensive than American cheese, but you get more flavor in a thinner slice. So it balances. |
There are more, but these are the basics. As you go along and learn more, you'll figure things out partly because your tastes will change in time.
A word about pasta...some think it's an absolute no-no, but I think it should just be taken in moderation. If it's in its proper place, it's not the worst thing, especially on those days when you crave carbohydrates. Those days will come. They just don't have to turn into week long binges because there's no guilt in this diet. Your body doesn't lie to you, and once you're getting everything you really need, whatever cravings you have become specific to what you really need more of at the time.
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