Pragmatic guide to choosing nutritious foods at the grocery store
February 17, 2010 9:45 PM Subscribe
Pragmatic guide to choosing nutritious foods at the grocery store
What's a good way for a busy person to choose the most healthful foods when shopping for groceries? I have a basic knowledge of nutrition, but on a number of occasions I have found out either (a) that a food I thought was good for me is bad (e.g. has a very high glycemic index), or (b) that a food I thought would be be bad for me (e.g. because it's from a mainstream brand that I don't associate with healthy food) is actually nutritious.
I'm looking for advice or a method that is easy to learn and stick to. It doesn't have to yield the perfect diet, but just help me eat well and avoid the really bad foods. (I am also aware that one needs to balance the whole diet, and not just eat certain specific foods.)
What's a good way for a busy person to choose the most healthful foods when shopping for groceries? I have a basic knowledge of nutrition, but on a number of occasions I have found out either (a) that a food I thought was good for me is bad (e.g. has a very high glycemic index), or (b) that a food I thought would be be bad for me (e.g. because it's from a mainstream brand that I don't associate with healthy food) is actually nutritious.
I'm looking for advice or a method that is easy to learn and stick to. It doesn't have to yield the perfect diet, but just help me eat well and avoid the really bad foods. (I am also aware that one needs to balance the whole diet, and not just eat certain specific foods.)
Often length of ingredient list is inversely proportional to healthiness of food. Best is the kind that needs no ingredients label at all.
posted by idiopath at 9:54 PM on February 17, 2010
posted by idiopath at 9:54 PM on February 17, 2010
I was going to say what dfriedman said, but he said it better than I.
Nothing you get in a box is going to be any good for you.
More details.
posted by ged at 9:54 PM on February 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Nothing you get in a box is going to be any good for you.
More details.
posted by ged at 9:54 PM on February 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
To paraphrase Michael Pollan, eat mostly plants.
Avoid sugar (added) and flour.
Cut yourself a little slack. Eating should be fun as well as fuel.
posted by sallybrown at 9:56 PM on February 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Avoid sugar (added) and flour.
Cut yourself a little slack. Eating should be fun as well as fuel.
posted by sallybrown at 9:56 PM on February 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
In the way of full disclosure I should admit that my penchant for having a bagel with cream cheese every morning violates utterly my statement above.
Alas.
I do penance by working out an hour every day.
posted by dfriedman at 9:58 PM on February 17, 2010
Alas.
I do penance by working out an hour every day.
posted by dfriedman at 9:58 PM on February 17, 2010
Another Pollanism: "shop the perimeter", i.e. spend more time in the produce, meat, deli and dairy sections over the stuff-in-boxes aisles.
posted by holgate at 10:04 PM on February 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by holgate at 10:04 PM on February 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
I got beaten to "walk around the outside" of the grocery store. Pretty much everything you need is there: dairy, produce, meat and bread-type-stuff.
Make it yourself at home, and you will know what went into it.
Eat your colours: lots of coloured fruits and vegetables.
Avoid single-serving, instameal, crap-in-a-box.
posted by Savannah at 10:45 PM on February 17, 2010
Make it yourself at home, and you will know what went into it.
Eat your colours: lots of coloured fruits and vegetables.
Avoid single-serving, instameal, crap-in-a-box.
posted by Savannah at 10:45 PM on February 17, 2010
This thread will fill up with good suggestions after not too long, but one way to make eating healthy food much less of a drain on your time is to find meals that you can cook in bulk, refrigerate/freeze, and eat over the course of a week or two. This really limits the amount of the time you spend cooking, and you can make a few meals at a time and switch them out as your taste for variety dictates. It's also cheap as hell.
posted by invitapriore at 10:47 PM on February 17, 2010
posted by invitapriore at 10:47 PM on February 17, 2010
The best thing you can do in terms of nutrition is avoid reading Michael Pollan and others of that ilk. Seriously. Human bodies are not machines, with identical parts. Some foods that are good for, or neutral, for some people are not so good for other people. There are no "bad" foods. Things that are unequivocally bad for you are things like pesticides and lighter fluid and pieces of plastic. There are a lot of things -- like alcohol, and sugar, and butter -- that may be easier or harder for your body to deal with, but which have many other good qualities that make them perfectly fine for moderate use. (When the Dalai Lama's kidneys started to fail, his doctor told him to start eating a modest amount of meat. Which he did, explaining that it was necessary to this body, and he would have to deal with the karma in the future. No Unbreakable Rules for him.)
You want an easy way to tell what to eat? Busy or not, give yourself enough time to shop. Make sure you aren't tired or hungry or thirsty. And then listen to your body. Those oranges look good? Buy a sackful. Ditto a box of shredded wheat or a hunk of cheese or a can of spaghetti-o's. Sometimes you're going to be tired/hungry/thirsty and the signals won't be so clear, but a once-a-week shopping trip can make a lot of difference. Once you're home and eating something, pay attention to how you feel afterward. Good? Put the food on your next shopping list. Look for recipes using that ingredient, put the other ingredients on your shopping list.
I realize this sounds simplistic and more than a bit patronizing, but it's the god's truth. You already know that Fruit Loops and Onion Flavored Potato Chips are not something to eat large amounts of. You already know some things make you feel good when you eat them and afterwards, too. One person's high glycemic index is another person's balanced diet. The Food Gurus are no different from the Food Industrial Complex in their desire to make you feel helpless and in need of their directions about eating. But you're the only one you knows you.
Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mame says "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Eat, enjoy, be grateful you have such a problem as having to choose what food to eat instead of wondering if there will be food to eat.
And hey, dfriedman, what's with the "penance"? Have your bagel, with the cream cheese -- enjoy! -- nobody gets out of here alive, you know.
posted by kestralwing at 10:53 PM on February 17, 2010 [17 favorites]
You want an easy way to tell what to eat? Busy or not, give yourself enough time to shop. Make sure you aren't tired or hungry or thirsty. And then listen to your body. Those oranges look good? Buy a sackful. Ditto a box of shredded wheat or a hunk of cheese or a can of spaghetti-o's. Sometimes you're going to be tired/hungry/thirsty and the signals won't be so clear, but a once-a-week shopping trip can make a lot of difference. Once you're home and eating something, pay attention to how you feel afterward. Good? Put the food on your next shopping list. Look for recipes using that ingredient, put the other ingredients on your shopping list.
I realize this sounds simplistic and more than a bit patronizing, but it's the god's truth. You already know that Fruit Loops and Onion Flavored Potato Chips are not something to eat large amounts of. You already know some things make you feel good when you eat them and afterwards, too. One person's high glycemic index is another person's balanced diet. The Food Gurus are no different from the Food Industrial Complex in their desire to make you feel helpless and in need of their directions about eating. But you're the only one you knows you.
Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mame says "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Eat, enjoy, be grateful you have such a problem as having to choose what food to eat instead of wondering if there will be food to eat.
And hey, dfriedman, what's with the "penance"? Have your bagel, with the cream cheese -- enjoy! -- nobody gets out of here alive, you know.
posted by kestralwing at 10:53 PM on February 17, 2010 [17 favorites]
My grocery store has these little NuVal hexagonal tags on the shelves that give some kind of overall nutritional value estimate. Sliced mushrooms score a 96.
Also, I think it's OK for it to be a learning process -- I admit I felt cheated/betrayed when I learned that those tiny lemon shortbread cookies were actually WORSE for me than a gigantic peanutbutter chocolate chip cookie -- HMMMFF!! -- but I've remembered that fact over time. You'll build up a small mental database of comparisons. And when you're buying food for yourself it isn't really necessary to feel pressure for, say, maximum nutritional optimization. Making healthier choices is the best process.
posted by oldtimey at 11:08 PM on February 17, 2010
Also, I think it's OK for it to be a learning process -- I admit I felt cheated/betrayed when I learned that those tiny lemon shortbread cookies were actually WORSE for me than a gigantic peanutbutter chocolate chip cookie -- HMMMFF!! -- but I've remembered that fact over time. You'll build up a small mental database of comparisons. And when you're buying food for yourself it isn't really necessary to feel pressure for, say, maximum nutritional optimization. Making healthier choices is the best process.
posted by oldtimey at 11:08 PM on February 17, 2010
You already know that Fruit Loops and Onion Flavored Potato Chips are not something to eat large amounts of.
Which is why the people selling them hire extremely good psychologists and marketers to come up with ways of making you buy them all the same. So yeah, equating someone telling you to kick a habit with someone encouraging you to perpetuate one is simplistic and more than a bit patronizing. So Pollan's basic argument is that, yeah, actually, people do need to re-learn how to listen to their own appetites after a half-century of ever-greater abundance and variety.
Anyway, another suggestion: possibly take a break from "the grocery store". If you live in a place with ethnic markets, maybe go to one of those instead of the standard supermarket. The more limited selection and unfamiliar ingredients will get you out of any ruts that get established by knowing where the canned soup and frozen entrees are shelved. When I got bored with eating meat, I found that the best way to add variety to what I ate was to dive into the foods of cultures where meat isn't quite as big a deal, and the internets make that kind of experimentation a lot easier today.
posted by holgate at 11:13 PM on February 17, 2010 [3 favorites]
Which is why the people selling them hire extremely good psychologists and marketers to come up with ways of making you buy them all the same. So yeah, equating someone telling you to kick a habit with someone encouraging you to perpetuate one is simplistic and more than a bit patronizing. So Pollan's basic argument is that, yeah, actually, people do need to re-learn how to listen to their own appetites after a half-century of ever-greater abundance and variety.
Anyway, another suggestion: possibly take a break from "the grocery store". If you live in a place with ethnic markets, maybe go to one of those instead of the standard supermarket. The more limited selection and unfamiliar ingredients will get you out of any ruts that get established by knowing where the canned soup and frozen entrees are shelved. When I got bored with eating meat, I found that the best way to add variety to what I ate was to dive into the foods of cultures where meat isn't quite as big a deal, and the internets make that kind of experimentation a lot easier today.
posted by holgate at 11:13 PM on February 17, 2010 [3 favorites]
I'm with dfriedman. I would only add one word: organic.
Prefer fresh, in-season, locally grown organic produce over everything else.
If you can't get fresh, get frozen.
Canned products are the worst choice -- they're usually full of salt and other additives.
Other food items I insist on getting organic are meat, dairy and bread.
Here's a very basic explanation of how food quality affects you.
Of course there are no "unbreakable rules." But the "eat, enjoy, nobody gets out alive" attitude is a very narrow view of the world. What you choose to eat doesn't only affect you.
posted by Paris Elk at 11:31 PM on February 17, 2010
Prefer fresh, in-season, locally grown organic produce over everything else.
If you can't get fresh, get frozen.
Canned products are the worst choice -- they're usually full of salt and other additives.
Other food items I insist on getting organic are meat, dairy and bread.
Here's a very basic explanation of how food quality affects you.
Of course there are no "unbreakable rules." But the "eat, enjoy, nobody gets out alive" attitude is a very narrow view of the world. What you choose to eat doesn't only affect you.
posted by Paris Elk at 11:31 PM on February 17, 2010
Best answer: Okay, here goes:
First, don't eat white bread, soda (no more than once a week), white rice, or peeled potatoes. All super-high GI, no nutrition.
Second, the two most important principles are: moderation, and variety. Don't get too much of your calories from any one thing, and eat a good variety of foods.
1. Good vegetables: Make it simple: focus on getting lots of cruciferous veggies into your diet (broccoli, cabbages of all kinds, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale. They all cook real quick [steam them to retain the most nutrients, or consume the liquid you cooked them in] and taste good with a bit of olive oil or butter). They're some of the most nutritious ones out there, so if you can't make a big fancy salad every night, have some broccoli or brussels every day you can manage it. Also great are carrots, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Various leafy greens are also great, have them as often as you can.
2. Good fruits: Fruits are great! Berries tend to have high concentrations of beneficial compounds: blueberries, strawberries, whatever berry you can find, make sure you've always got a carton in your fridge. Have about a handful of berries every day or every other day, eat avocado a few times a week, and aim for a banana or even two bananas and an apple/orange every day. Also good: pomegranates and peaches/apricots.
3. Good proteins: Buy fresh meat that is not too fatty. Eat eggs maybe twice a week or less if high cholesterol runs in your family -- they're extremely nutritious sources of complete protein. Eat one to three servings of healthy protein sources a day, depending on your activity level. Fish is wonderful for you as well, but mercury is a real concern even with salmon now, so go for mackerel or sardines; if you can't stomach those, try a nice mild white fish like haddock.
4. Good grains/beans/pulses (lentils and lentiloids): Eat whole grains, eat some beans, lentils are good too. Not too much, though. We humans started eating these things because they keep well and provide a lot of energy in a small packet, not because they're the most nutritious of foods. So they're fine -- just don't make them the most consumed item in your diet. And when you make them, mix in veggies or fruit, because they generally lack phytonutrients.
5. Good dairy: Dairy is too delicious to live without. Have a reasonable amount of a good cheese, drink a glass of milk if you can digest it, eat some damn ice cream and throw some dried dates in. Minimally-processed (i.e., cottage/cheeses, milk, yogurt, kefir) dairy is high in protein and calcium, and contains some other useful compounds.
6. Good nuts: Have uncooked nuts and seeds often, but not too much of them at any one time. So have a handful of almonds one day, some walnuts the next, then some sunflower seeds, and so on.
Miscellaneous: Culture foods, like yogurt or sauerkraut, are very good for you, but buy plain yogurt and mix a bit of good jam in or dump some berries in it. Mushrooms are very nutritious and taste great in savoury sauces and stir-fries.
Hope that wasn't too long, and that it helps. Just the basics.
posted by clockzero at 12:02 AM on February 18, 2010 [32 favorites]
First, don't eat white bread, soda (no more than once a week), white rice, or peeled potatoes. All super-high GI, no nutrition.
Second, the two most important principles are: moderation, and variety. Don't get too much of your calories from any one thing, and eat a good variety of foods.
1. Good vegetables: Make it simple: focus on getting lots of cruciferous veggies into your diet (broccoli, cabbages of all kinds, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale. They all cook real quick [steam them to retain the most nutrients, or consume the liquid you cooked them in] and taste good with a bit of olive oil or butter). They're some of the most nutritious ones out there, so if you can't make a big fancy salad every night, have some broccoli or brussels every day you can manage it. Also great are carrots, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Various leafy greens are also great, have them as often as you can.
2. Good fruits: Fruits are great! Berries tend to have high concentrations of beneficial compounds: blueberries, strawberries, whatever berry you can find, make sure you've always got a carton in your fridge. Have about a handful of berries every day or every other day, eat avocado a few times a week, and aim for a banana or even two bananas and an apple/orange every day. Also good: pomegranates and peaches/apricots.
3. Good proteins: Buy fresh meat that is not too fatty. Eat eggs maybe twice a week or less if high cholesterol runs in your family -- they're extremely nutritious sources of complete protein. Eat one to three servings of healthy protein sources a day, depending on your activity level. Fish is wonderful for you as well, but mercury is a real concern even with salmon now, so go for mackerel or sardines; if you can't stomach those, try a nice mild white fish like haddock.
4. Good grains/beans/pulses (lentils and lentiloids): Eat whole grains, eat some beans, lentils are good too. Not too much, though. We humans started eating these things because they keep well and provide a lot of energy in a small packet, not because they're the most nutritious of foods. So they're fine -- just don't make them the most consumed item in your diet. And when you make them, mix in veggies or fruit, because they generally lack phytonutrients.
5. Good dairy: Dairy is too delicious to live without. Have a reasonable amount of a good cheese, drink a glass of milk if you can digest it, eat some damn ice cream and throw some dried dates in. Minimally-processed (i.e., cottage/cheeses, milk, yogurt, kefir) dairy is high in protein and calcium, and contains some other useful compounds.
6. Good nuts: Have uncooked nuts and seeds often, but not too much of them at any one time. So have a handful of almonds one day, some walnuts the next, then some sunflower seeds, and so on.
Miscellaneous: Culture foods, like yogurt or sauerkraut, are very good for you, but buy plain yogurt and mix a bit of good jam in or dump some berries in it. Mushrooms are very nutritious and taste great in savoury sauces and stir-fries.
Hope that wasn't too long, and that it helps. Just the basics.
posted by clockzero at 12:02 AM on February 18, 2010 [32 favorites]
Oops, I meant to say, cultured foods under miscellaneous.
posted by clockzero at 12:05 AM on February 18, 2010
posted by clockzero at 12:05 AM on February 18, 2010
You already know that Fruit Loops and Onion Flavored Potato Chips are not something to eat large amounts of.
Do not listen to this advice. Don't think for a second that processed foods don't have ingredients in them to keep you addicted to eating that food. MSG, for example, is a neuronally active substance that is added to almost ALL processed food. Don't be fooled that it's not in there because it's not explicitly listed on a label, food manufacturers are so hell bent on holding on to this ingredient because they know it drives sales that they've come up with like 30 different ways of listing it.
Fun facts:
- No rodent would ever eat itself to obesity. Do you know how they make obese rodents in the lab? They sprinkle MSG on their food. That's pretty much it. Don't believe me? Go to pubmed and type in MSG obesity and have a scan.
- Because it is neuronally active it can literally addict your brain into eating certain types of food. Free glutamate, which is what MSG becomes in your stomach is an excitatory neurotransmitter. As in naturally in your brain, this amino acid exists to be released to and excite your neurons. There are a couple of billion neurons lining your gut.
- Research just came out in 2009 that MSG is capable of binding to and killing in human B cells, i.e., a fundamental cell type responsible for you having a working immune system.
There is very little room for debate on the fact that it's capable of addicting you to food, regardless of what you choose to believe it does for your health. So to make a statement like you know that Fruit Loops are something not to eat large amounts of, when Fruit Loops are laced with something addictive to you is very, very naive.
posted by sickinthehead at 12:06 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Do not listen to this advice. Don't think for a second that processed foods don't have ingredients in them to keep you addicted to eating that food. MSG, for example, is a neuronally active substance that is added to almost ALL processed food. Don't be fooled that it's not in there because it's not explicitly listed on a label, food manufacturers are so hell bent on holding on to this ingredient because they know it drives sales that they've come up with like 30 different ways of listing it.
Fun facts:
- No rodent would ever eat itself to obesity. Do you know how they make obese rodents in the lab? They sprinkle MSG on their food. That's pretty much it. Don't believe me? Go to pubmed and type in MSG obesity and have a scan.
- Because it is neuronally active it can literally addict your brain into eating certain types of food. Free glutamate, which is what MSG becomes in your stomach is an excitatory neurotransmitter. As in naturally in your brain, this amino acid exists to be released to and excite your neurons. There are a couple of billion neurons lining your gut.
- Research just came out in 2009 that MSG is capable of binding to and killing in human B cells, i.e., a fundamental cell type responsible for you having a working immune system.
There is very little room for debate on the fact that it's capable of addicting you to food, regardless of what you choose to believe it does for your health. So to make a statement like you know that Fruit Loops are something not to eat large amounts of, when Fruit Loops are laced with something addictive to you is very, very naive.
posted by sickinthehead at 12:06 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
A simple method that I use is to always read the ingredients list on the nutritional information label. It's usually written in descending order of volume/weight/whatever so the first few ingredients will make up the bulk of what went in what you're buying. If you have a basic understanding of what should and should not be in a particular food, this will set you up right.
For example: yogurt. When I decided to start buying yogurt for breakfast, I had no idea which brand to choose. So I went to the supermarket and looked at the labels and picked the only one that listed only milk (+milk products) and bacterial cultures. (You'd think they all have only that, but apparently loads of yogurt manufacturers add gelatin and all sorts of other stuff. Who knew?)
posted by Xany at 1:31 AM on February 18, 2010
For example: yogurt. When I decided to start buying yogurt for breakfast, I had no idea which brand to choose. So I went to the supermarket and looked at the labels and picked the only one that listed only milk (+milk products) and bacterial cultures. (You'd think they all have only that, but apparently loads of yogurt manufacturers add gelatin and all sorts of other stuff. Who knew?)
posted by Xany at 1:31 AM on February 18, 2010
Really, what you need to do is take an extra ten minutes at the store to read the labels. Don't bother yourself with serving size and fat content and yadda yadda, just concern yourself with ingredient lists.
Anything that has "fructose" or "corn syrup" or just "sugar" as one of the top four ingredients, don't get it! Anything that includes an ingredient with an overly-technical, chemical-sounding name that doesn't have a common name in parentheses afterward, don't get it! If you're buying something that should be only one or two ingredients, and it's got those ingredients, plus salt or sugar, don't get it! Aim for things that have as few listed ingredients as possible. Plan on adding your fats, sugars, and salts in the cooking process, so you have the control.
When you're buying things like prepared meals or complex foods, try to find the ones with ingredient lists that you understand in their entirety. Wholesale ignore packaging that tells you things are low fat or super nutritious. Sometimes it's true, but most of the time you're just getting a dinky portion and extra freeze-dried zucchini.
Then, when you're cooking and eating, listen to your body. Stop eating when you're not hungry. When you're tired, eat a banana. When you're thirsty, stick to water. During cooking or preparing your food, try adding far less salt, sugar, or butter than you otherwise would, and see if you like it. There's nothing wrong with some yummy treats once a day or so, but try to make sure that the contents of those treats are as simple as possible.
When you're at the store, if you keep your ingredients simple and you keep your recipes to things that utilize fresh foods and whole grains, you're going to be doing better than a lot of busy people.
posted by Mizu at 1:33 AM on February 18, 2010
Anything that has "fructose" or "corn syrup" or just "sugar" as one of the top four ingredients, don't get it! Anything that includes an ingredient with an overly-technical, chemical-sounding name that doesn't have a common name in parentheses afterward, don't get it! If you're buying something that should be only one or two ingredients, and it's got those ingredients, plus salt or sugar, don't get it! Aim for things that have as few listed ingredients as possible. Plan on adding your fats, sugars, and salts in the cooking process, so you have the control.
When you're buying things like prepared meals or complex foods, try to find the ones with ingredient lists that you understand in their entirety. Wholesale ignore packaging that tells you things are low fat or super nutritious. Sometimes it's true, but most of the time you're just getting a dinky portion and extra freeze-dried zucchini.
Then, when you're cooking and eating, listen to your body. Stop eating when you're not hungry. When you're tired, eat a banana. When you're thirsty, stick to water. During cooking or preparing your food, try adding far less salt, sugar, or butter than you otherwise would, and see if you like it. There's nothing wrong with some yummy treats once a day or so, but try to make sure that the contents of those treats are as simple as possible.
When you're at the store, if you keep your ingredients simple and you keep your recipes to things that utilize fresh foods and whole grains, you're going to be doing better than a lot of busy people.
posted by Mizu at 1:33 AM on February 18, 2010
Eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies! Its just more interesting. Plus its healthy.
posted by shinyshiny at 1:38 AM on February 18, 2010
posted by shinyshiny at 1:38 AM on February 18, 2010
Avoid synthetic trans fats. They are very nasty, and they're in almost everything. In most places they're not required to be listed on labels (or can be declared as zero even in foods which have plenty) so the only way to avoid them is to just not eat anything with any type of vegetable oil in the ingredients. This has the fortunate side effect of cutting out most processed food, which is a good thing.
kestralwing: Some foods that are good for, or neutral, for some people are not so good for other people. There are no "bad" foods.
Not true for synthetic trans fats. They are bad for everyone.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:35 AM on February 18, 2010
kestralwing: Some foods that are good for, or neutral, for some people are not so good for other people. There are no "bad" foods.
Not true for synthetic trans fats. They are bad for everyone.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:35 AM on February 18, 2010
just don't eat crap?
Cook your own meals as much as possible (from scratch) and no pop tarts / sugary cereals.
posted by mary8nne at 4:19 AM on February 18, 2010
Cook your own meals as much as possible (from scratch) and no pop tarts / sugary cereals.
posted by mary8nne at 4:19 AM on February 18, 2010
One thing that helps for me is to spend less time shopping and more time planning. Rather than read labels in the store, I'll preplan the meals I want to cook and the snacks I want to haqve around. (Daily Plate is a good place to find healthy snacks; I use Cooking Light to find reasonably healthy meals .) Then when Im shopping all I need to do is follow the list. I find that this keeps me from buying unnessecary junk.
posted by GraceCathedral at 5:21 AM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by GraceCathedral at 5:21 AM on February 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure why kestralwing says not to read Michael Pollan. I come away from reading his books with a similar framework to what kestralwing gave you.
I like GraceCathedral's response. I've found that it's hard to shop healthy when you don't know how to cook healthy. Look for recipes before you go shopping. And bulk cooking really is a wonderful thing for making sure you stick with eating your own food.
The best advice, IMO, really is just to do as much of the cooking yourself, stick to foods as whole as possible, and eat a variety of foods. Some will tell you to eat less meat. That is a personal decision. I can't afford a lot of high quality meat but I can afford more high quality fruits and veggies, so I eat those more. Traditional meals that have existed for many years probably exist because they work well, so maybe look for recipes along those lines.
posted by quirks at 6:16 AM on February 18, 2010
I like GraceCathedral's response. I've found that it's hard to shop healthy when you don't know how to cook healthy. Look for recipes before you go shopping. And bulk cooking really is a wonderful thing for making sure you stick with eating your own food.
The best advice, IMO, really is just to do as much of the cooking yourself, stick to foods as whole as possible, and eat a variety of foods. Some will tell you to eat less meat. That is a personal decision. I can't afford a lot of high quality meat but I can afford more high quality fruits and veggies, so I eat those more. Traditional meals that have existed for many years probably exist because they work well, so maybe look for recipes along those lines.
posted by quirks at 6:16 AM on February 18, 2010
Best answer: Michael Pollan has a very short book exactly on this topic called Food Rules. It costs like $11. Review here. From Jane Brody's review in the NYT that I linked, "In the more than four decades that I have been reading and writing about the findings of nutritional science, I have come across nothing more intelligent, sensible and simple to follow than the 64 principles outlined in a slender, easy-to-digest new book called “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual,” by Michael Pollan."
posted by fieldtrip at 6:32 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by fieldtrip at 6:32 AM on February 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
I'm also not sure I understand the Michael Pollan hate on Metafilter -- and I agree with quirks that a lot of what Kestralwing said could have come out of a Pollan book.
posted by fieldtrip at 6:36 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fieldtrip at 6:36 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
>No rodent would ever eat itself to obesity.
Not true at all. There is no need to add MSG to food in order to encourage a rat to eat too much of it. All you have to do is give it food that contains more fat and sugar than Purina rat chow contains. It's called the 'cafeteria diet'.
posted by Ery at 6:51 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not true at all. There is no need to add MSG to food in order to encourage a rat to eat too much of it. All you have to do is give it food that contains more fat and sugar than Purina rat chow contains. It's called the 'cafeteria diet'.
posted by Ery at 6:51 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
You say you are a busy person. I'm busy too which leads me to absolutely hate cooking, especially when I need to eat after a busy day.
I'll address dinner, because that is the most pain in the ass meal for me. I buy meats, froxen veggies, cheese, and tomato sauce that has understandable ingredients (Rinaldi brand is good. I cook an entire package of meat one day and keep it in the fridge. My dinner usually consists of some froxen veggies I quickly boil or steam and reheated meat with cheese or sauce or cheese and sauce on top. I really like beans (lentils, black and navy) so sometimes i will make beans and that will be mixed with the meat. Thats about the most complex I get for dinner.
For breakfasts and lunch just keep a bunch of healthy and a few indulgence things around. I personally like fruit, oatmeal that comes in the big cardboard tube, plain yogurt, cinnimon and sugar in a shaker to add to yougurt and oatmeal, sliced veggies like cucumbers, carrot sticks, celery sticks, peanut butter to dip in, cheese, liverwurst, nuts and chocolate.
Most importantly, pay attention when you are eating, try to eat slowly and stop when you are full. This may sound stupid, but eat as soon as you can when you get hungry. If I go hungry for a long time (like a few hours) I tend to gorge on the crappiest junk in sight when I finnaly eat.
posted by WeekendJen at 9:27 AM on February 18, 2010
I'll address dinner, because that is the most pain in the ass meal for me. I buy meats, froxen veggies, cheese, and tomato sauce that has understandable ingredients (Rinaldi brand is good. I cook an entire package of meat one day and keep it in the fridge. My dinner usually consists of some froxen veggies I quickly boil or steam and reheated meat with cheese or sauce or cheese and sauce on top. I really like beans (lentils, black and navy) so sometimes i will make beans and that will be mixed with the meat. Thats about the most complex I get for dinner.
For breakfasts and lunch just keep a bunch of healthy and a few indulgence things around. I personally like fruit, oatmeal that comes in the big cardboard tube, plain yogurt, cinnimon and sugar in a shaker to add to yougurt and oatmeal, sliced veggies like cucumbers, carrot sticks, celery sticks, peanut butter to dip in, cheese, liverwurst, nuts and chocolate.
Most importantly, pay attention when you are eating, try to eat slowly and stop when you are full. This may sound stupid, but eat as soon as you can when you get hungry. If I go hungry for a long time (like a few hours) I tend to gorge on the crappiest junk in sight when I finnaly eat.
posted by WeekendJen at 9:27 AM on February 18, 2010
A lot of bean-plating in this thread, and I also don't get the Pollan hate. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants is about the best, most succinct advice out there.
There are no "bad" foods.
Um...perhaps this was true at some obscure point in history, but that is hogwash. Tons of the things we now consider 'food,' like high fructose corn syrup and trans fats and processed white flour, are essentially poison for your body. I do agree that everyone is different, but it is certainly not as if one person's body is the healthiest when they eat broccoli and kale and whole grains and another person's body is healthiest if they only eat butter, cheese and salt.
And then listen to your body
Well, ok - but it takes some work to hone your body awareness to know what *healthy* foods your body wants. 'Listening to your body' is also the same philosophy that leads people to eat entire bags of circus peanuts or big macs every day. Start eating healthy, and you'll get tuned into what feels great in your body and what doesn't - but getting there can be a trick.
Shop the perimeter. It was said above, but I cannot second it enough. The perimeter is where the human food is. When you buy grains, buy whole grains and buy in bulk.
One of the most important things you can do is to buy organic. Now, there is contention about this and the quality and veracity of the organic label, and there is a lot to unpack there - but in general, organic foods will be free of a lot of the pesticides that will kill you. You think washing a non-organic apple under some tap water will get rip of the pesticides and wax and shit on that apple? Yeah no.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:35 AM on February 18, 2010
There are no "bad" foods.
Um...perhaps this was true at some obscure point in history, but that is hogwash. Tons of the things we now consider 'food,' like high fructose corn syrup and trans fats and processed white flour, are essentially poison for your body. I do agree that everyone is different, but it is certainly not as if one person's body is the healthiest when they eat broccoli and kale and whole grains and another person's body is healthiest if they only eat butter, cheese and salt.
And then listen to your body
Well, ok - but it takes some work to hone your body awareness to know what *healthy* foods your body wants. 'Listening to your body' is also the same philosophy that leads people to eat entire bags of circus peanuts or big macs every day. Start eating healthy, and you'll get tuned into what feels great in your body and what doesn't - but getting there can be a trick.
Shop the perimeter. It was said above, but I cannot second it enough. The perimeter is where the human food is. When you buy grains, buy whole grains and buy in bulk.
One of the most important things you can do is to buy organic. Now, there is contention about this and the quality and veracity of the organic label, and there is a lot to unpack there - but in general, organic foods will be free of a lot of the pesticides that will kill you. You think washing a non-organic apple under some tap water will get rip of the pesticides and wax and shit on that apple? Yeah no.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:35 AM on February 18, 2010
My suggested method would be "Do your choosing at home, not at the grocery store". That is, choose a few recipes beforehand and make a shopping list, don't just cruise the aisles and grab whatever, uh, grabs you.
When planning in advance you have time to think about what you're buying and eating, you're not rushed or tired or hungry, and you'll make better choices. Your basic knowledge of nutrition will guide you well when you have some peace and quiet to apply it.
At first, don't worry about taking advantage of sales or buying in bulk (assuming you're not in dire financial straits). First of all, sales and coupons usually feature highly-processed stuff that's not very good for you. Second, you're trying to establish a new habit. After a while you'll learn what foods you like to cook and then you can buy those in bulk, but don't load up on stuff until you're pretty sure you'll eat it before it spoils.
I have a personal beef with grocery shopping on the fly - my Mom used to go to the store, see what was on sale at the meat counter, and shop from there. Which meant she would only cook the dishes she had memorized the ingredients for, which meant we ate the same 5 things All. The. Time. It was boring and pleasureless and I don't even think it was the most economical way to feed a family (I think it's cheaper to eat vegetarian food most of the time, and pay a little more for meat occasionally).
For people who can't plan in advance, here's a suggestion to avoid the Same 5 Dishes Syndrome. Hubby has a few cookbooks he really loves and he takes one to the store with him. He sees what's on sale at the meat counter and looks up a recipe on the spot, then gets what he needs. (I recently saw an iPhone app that lets you look up recipes and generate a shopping list - not having an iPhone I didn't pay attention to the details but that might be a good system for people who don't want to shlep cookbooks around.)
It may seem daunting at first, but it's always hard to change your habits. Good luck!
posted by Quietgal at 10:09 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
When planning in advance you have time to think about what you're buying and eating, you're not rushed or tired or hungry, and you'll make better choices. Your basic knowledge of nutrition will guide you well when you have some peace and quiet to apply it.
At first, don't worry about taking advantage of sales or buying in bulk (assuming you're not in dire financial straits). First of all, sales and coupons usually feature highly-processed stuff that's not very good for you. Second, you're trying to establish a new habit. After a while you'll learn what foods you like to cook and then you can buy those in bulk, but don't load up on stuff until you're pretty sure you'll eat it before it spoils.
I have a personal beef with grocery shopping on the fly - my Mom used to go to the store, see what was on sale at the meat counter, and shop from there. Which meant she would only cook the dishes she had memorized the ingredients for, which meant we ate the same 5 things All. The. Time. It was boring and pleasureless and I don't even think it was the most economical way to feed a family (I think it's cheaper to eat vegetarian food most of the time, and pay a little more for meat occasionally).
For people who can't plan in advance, here's a suggestion to avoid the Same 5 Dishes Syndrome. Hubby has a few cookbooks he really loves and he takes one to the store with him. He sees what's on sale at the meat counter and looks up a recipe on the spot, then gets what he needs. (I recently saw an iPhone app that lets you look up recipes and generate a shopping list - not having an iPhone I didn't pay attention to the details but that might be a good system for people who don't want to shlep cookbooks around.)
It may seem daunting at first, but it's always hard to change your habits. Good luck!
posted by Quietgal at 10:09 AM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Agree with quirks and Lutoslawski. Michael Pollan basically promotes eating using common sense: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Good article here.
posted by cranberryskies at 10:22 AM on February 18, 2010
Good article here.
posted by cranberryskies at 10:22 AM on February 18, 2010
kestralwing is not to be listened to on most points. I suspect his hate for Pollan is a knee-jerk reaction, because he parallels Pollan on several points, but then displays a complete lack of food-knowledge on others.
posted by ged at 10:34 AM on February 18, 2010
posted by ged at 10:34 AM on February 18, 2010
My mom had a cereal rule when my brothers and I were kids: we could only get cereals in which sugar was the third or later ingredient in the list. As a kid, I thought it was the Most Oppressive Rule Ever, but as an adult, I appreciate that she stuck to her guns without fail. You'd be amazed at how much this cuts down your cereal choices. I hope you like Cheerios!
Most of the advice already given here is spot on; planning ahead, shopping once a week (with a grocery list), and then cooking your own meals all go a long way towards a healthy diet.
posted by just_ducky at 5:25 PM on February 18, 2010
Most of the advice already given here is spot on; planning ahead, shopping once a week (with a grocery list), and then cooking your own meals all go a long way towards a healthy diet.
posted by just_ducky at 5:25 PM on February 18, 2010
Everybody above basically has it. Shop the perimeter, whole fresh organic foods, cook it yourself, eat the rainbow. But from a "busy person's" perspective, I know how compelling it can be to rely on convenience foods, so I'm going to make a couple of specific suggestions.
In your produce section, you'll probably be able to find "microwave-in-the-bag" vegetables. My favorite of these, just for the name, is "Broccoli Wokly," but you can also get cauliflower, snow peas, green beans, you name it. They're more expensive than buying just a head of broccoli or whatever, probably twice the price, but being able to just stab the bag and sling it in the microwave? Genius. No finding a pot or dish, hunting around for the lid that fits, or any of that. Just stab, sling, and go.
I don't know about your grocery store, but all the ones around here have a wide selection of what I call "insta-food" available in the meat case. These are, like, chicken breasts cordon bleu, or meatloaf, or Kalbi flank steak, or something that's already been prepared and just needs you to cook it. These are typically made fresh in the store every day, and while they're not as good for you as cooking it yourself at home, they're a damn sight better for you than anything else that's as easy. I'm a stay-at-home mom who cooks all my family's meals, but when my non-mom duties mean I'm rushing to get out the door at dinner time, I resort to these with no guilt whatsoever.
Breakfast is always a hard one, because it seems like your choices are either cereal (often loaded with sugar), cooking something like eggs (who has the time?), or Pop-Tarts (ewww). My absolute favorite breakfast, though, is dark rye crispbread with cream cheese and roast beef or smoked fish, and a side of pickled vegetables. I get the big circle crispbread, which doesn't come in any flavors besides This One, and I pickle my own veggies in the summer. Yeah, it's really Scandinavian, but it's also packed with protein and micronutrients and takes no time to prepare.
Oh, yeah, and in general, don't eat fake food. Fat-free sour cream is an abomination; so is gluten-free pasta*. Eat less of the real thing instead.
*yeah celiacs &c, I know there are good reasons for such things and I'd be thrilled that they were there too if I suffered from such restrictions. But absent those reasons, there's no point to it.
posted by KathrynT at 5:54 PM on February 18, 2010
In your produce section, you'll probably be able to find "microwave-in-the-bag" vegetables. My favorite of these, just for the name, is "Broccoli Wokly," but you can also get cauliflower, snow peas, green beans, you name it. They're more expensive than buying just a head of broccoli or whatever, probably twice the price, but being able to just stab the bag and sling it in the microwave? Genius. No finding a pot or dish, hunting around for the lid that fits, or any of that. Just stab, sling, and go.
I don't know about your grocery store, but all the ones around here have a wide selection of what I call "insta-food" available in the meat case. These are, like, chicken breasts cordon bleu, or meatloaf, or Kalbi flank steak, or something that's already been prepared and just needs you to cook it. These are typically made fresh in the store every day, and while they're not as good for you as cooking it yourself at home, they're a damn sight better for you than anything else that's as easy. I'm a stay-at-home mom who cooks all my family's meals, but when my non-mom duties mean I'm rushing to get out the door at dinner time, I resort to these with no guilt whatsoever.
Breakfast is always a hard one, because it seems like your choices are either cereal (often loaded with sugar), cooking something like eggs (who has the time?), or Pop-Tarts (ewww). My absolute favorite breakfast, though, is dark rye crispbread with cream cheese and roast beef or smoked fish, and a side of pickled vegetables. I get the big circle crispbread, which doesn't come in any flavors besides This One, and I pickle my own veggies in the summer. Yeah, it's really Scandinavian, but it's also packed with protein and micronutrients and takes no time to prepare.
Oh, yeah, and in general, don't eat fake food. Fat-free sour cream is an abomination; so is gluten-free pasta*. Eat less of the real thing instead.
*yeah celiacs &c, I know there are good reasons for such things and I'd be thrilled that they were there too if I suffered from such restrictions. But absent those reasons, there's no point to it.
posted by KathrynT at 5:54 PM on February 18, 2010
I am in the Pollan camp. His latest book mentioned above is exactly what you need. Read Omnivore's Dilemma if you can't get motivated to follow the simple rules.
posted by jasondigitized at 6:12 PM on February 18, 2010
posted by jasondigitized at 6:12 PM on February 18, 2010
As far as meats go, you want to go with animals that eat what they would eat in nature. Grass, bugs, and so on. Corn-fed beef and poultry and farm-raised fish are fed diets that are optimized for getting them fat, but it alters the balance of fats in their bodies. Wild fish, grass-fed beef, and free range chicken tend to have a lot more Omega-3 fatty acids, so even their fat is somewhat healthful.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 11:49 PM on February 18, 2010
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 11:49 PM on February 18, 2010
I completely agree with dfriedman. His rules are short, sweet and easy to remember.
Further I have to speak in support of Michael Pollan's book Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I read this book in one sitting and have since reread it, it helps to train my mind to focus on healthy foods when I go shopping. The rules given in the book are simple and easy to remember hence easy to apply too.
Shopping is something I have taught myself to do on a full stomach and in the periphery of the market as that's where all the fresh foods are. This has helped me immensely by reducing impulse purchases of unhealthy foods and keeping my spending in check.
Good luck on healthy eating and shopping!
p.s. I have to admit, I have a crazy sweet tooth and I try my best to enjoy desserts in moderation and one bite at a time to derive maximum satisfaction from my treat. I have found enjoying a dessert slowly satisfies my need for it in fewer bites.
posted by VickyR at 11:20 AM on February 19, 2010
Further I have to speak in support of Michael Pollan's book Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I read this book in one sitting and have since reread it, it helps to train my mind to focus on healthy foods when I go shopping. The rules given in the book are simple and easy to remember hence easy to apply too.
Shopping is something I have taught myself to do on a full stomach and in the periphery of the market as that's where all the fresh foods are. This has helped me immensely by reducing impulse purchases of unhealthy foods and keeping my spending in check.
Good luck on healthy eating and shopping!
p.s. I have to admit, I have a crazy sweet tooth and I try my best to enjoy desserts in moderation and one bite at a time to derive maximum satisfaction from my treat. I have found enjoying a dessert slowly satisfies my need for it in fewer bites.
posted by VickyR at 11:20 AM on February 19, 2010
I have recently been inspired by The World's Healthiest Foods book. It focuses on commonly available ingredients, and it tells how to cook each one for minimal nutrient loss, which I found pretty helpful and interesting.
posted by PeriDoe at 9:29 PM on February 19, 2010
posted by PeriDoe at 9:29 PM on February 19, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Food that grows in the ground or is minimally processed is healthy.
So: fruits, vegetables, meats (if you're not a vegetarian), grains, cheeses, legumes, etc.
Pretty much all breakfast cereals and snack foods are not healthy, some more unhealthy than others.
The only exception to the "food in a box is not healthy" rule is steel-cut oats.
posted by dfriedman at 9:49 PM on February 17, 2010 [7 favorites]