foods to buy or avoid

[NuclearFlea]

I'll be moving to England from America in the next year....can anyone tell me what the whole foods situation is like over there, is it easier/cheaper to eat organic there than it is here? I'm a bit of a noob, but I would like to start taking care of my body and making up for the damage I did in college.

[RunnerGrad]

We buy all our meat (chicken, beef) from local famers and butchers, where we know the animals are well-treated (we've seen the farms) and aren't bed hormones or antibiotics.  The chicken is flash-frozen, so isn't injected with saline solution.

 

We also buy fruits and vegetables from the local farmer's market whenever possible (so when things are in season) but do end up purchasing from the grocery store for fruits and vegetables when they are out of season here (pretty much all winter).  Frozen vegetables and fruits are perfectly fine, and retain many of the nutrients that are lost when canned.

 

As a dietetic intern, the foods I would encourage people to enjoy include fruits and vegetables, of as many different colours are you can incorporate into a day; lean meats from animals that weren't fed hormones or antibiotics; some source of omega-3 fatty acids in your weekly diet, so wild salmon, ground flax seed, hemp seed.

 

Avoid any grain products that are "white" - so avoid white bread, white pasta, white flour.

 

Enjoy whole grains (not multigrain, which is often white flour with a few grains added in so they can call it multigrain) - so 100% whole grain or whole wheat bread (if you can buy it from a local bakery that doesn't use preservatives, that will be better for you than grocery store bread), whole wheat pasta, quinoa, oatmeal (plain oats, not the processed Quaker junk with added sugar and salt).

 

Avoid foods with too much added sugar - strive for <5g of sugar per serving.  Natural sugars, found in fruits and vegetables are fine.

 

Avoid foods with too much sodium.  You should only be consuming about 1500mg of sodium a day.  Most Canadians (I don't know about Americans) consume twice that amount.  The safe upper limit for sodium is 2300mg a day, and health problems can start to occur when you regularly exceed that level.

 

Enjoy legumes (beans, lentils).  Even canned beans are fine (just rinse them well), but cooking them from dry will be cheaper.

 

Avoid energy drinks.

 

For keeping up energy levels and maintaing stable blood glucose levels and blood insulin levels, combine a carbohydrate-containing food with a protein-containing for at each meal and snack.  So a whole grain cereal (with less than 5g sugar per serving) with skim milk or milk alternative.  An apple or banana with natural peanut butter (with no added sugar).  A sandwich made with 100% whole wheat bread and lean meat and/or cheese.  100% whole wheat pita with hummus.  A smoothie made with fruit, plain yogourt (no added sugar), skim milk, or whey protein (again, check the label for no added sugar).  Natural nut butter and celery.

 

Drink plenty of water.  Enjoy diet soda in moderation (one a day won't harm your health).  If you like fruit juice, cut it with water - so make a mix of half fruit juice, half water.  If you don't like water, you can flavour it with just a bit of fruit juice, or even better, infuse it by sticking a couple of pieces of peeled fruit in the water, and let the water absorb some of the flavours.

 

Use olive oil for cooking when you need oil.  When baking, canola oil can be used, but try using alternatives to oils in baking (such as applesauce, ground flaxseed, mashed beans, etc.)

 

Enjoy coffee and caffeinated tea in moderation.

 

Enjoy alcohol in moderation.  Red wine may have some additional heart health benefits due to the resveratrol present in red wines, but there is a small heart protective effect just from alcohol.  The trade off is an increased risk of some forms of cancer in those with a family history of cancer.  But with no family history of cancer, one glass (6 oz) of red wine a day may be healthy, and have heart protective effects.  Research is still being done on this topic.

 

Avoid deep fried foods.

 

Avoid processed deli meats.  Use roasted meats or leftovers in making sandwiches.

 

Use a meat thermometer to ensure foods are cooked to a safe temperature.

[GreenePony]

As a dietetic intern, the foods I would encourage people to enjoy include fruits and vegetables, of as many different colours are you can incorporate into a day; lean meats from animals that weren't fed hormones or antibiotics; some source of omega-3 fatty acids in your weekly diet, so wild salmon, ground flax seed, hemp seed.

...

 

Enjoy legumes (beans, lentils).  Even canned beans are fine (just rinse them well), but cooking them from dry will be cheaper.

I love the color advice. My PCP really emphasized that when we put me on a restricted diet- and it helped. Instead of falling into the trap of going all pasta and sandwiches, thinking in colors helped add a wider variety of veggies.

I think non-canned legumes taste better too, they get that weird texture in a can that sometimes washing just doesn't get rid of.

[stella_ella]

Buy: sugar or cane sugar (even better!)

Avoid: Splenda and aspartame - supposedly toxic

 

Buy: sweetened greek yoghurt

Avoid: unsweetened greek yoghurt - just tastes plain nasty, unless you like cottage cheese

 

Buy: frozen fruits and veggies

Avoid: canned fruits and veggies (excess sugar/ sodium/ preservatives)

 

Buy: Safeway sandwiches

Avoid: Subway (stretchy plastic additive to dough, and > 2,000 calories in some sandwiches)