<p>I will start: I attempt to buy mostly local produce and I shop daily for it (if needed). I go to a local produce stand that is now open even on Sundays, in the summer I go to a farmer’s market, although ours is not the greatest.
I buy natural/artisan breads. The only time I will get a bread from a supermarket is when I want to make french toast. I bet I can improve even here
Only unbleached flour, natural penut butter.</p>
<p>Please share your thought, your ideas, the most common offenders - foods to be avoided or how you substitute.</p>
<p>i have been using Stevia as a sweetener rather than anything artificial.</p>
<p>i’ve gone decaf…but am concerned about the process of decaffination and so i recently purchased some coffee beans at the health food store that were decaffinated with the swiss water process rather than the standard chemical process. i’m interested in hearing what brand coffee beans (decaffinated) others here may be buying and where.</p>
<p>i encourage my children not to drink diet drinks. i’m concerned about the artificial sweetners. </p>
<p>sometimes we purchase locally produced milk…it’s hormone free.</p>
<p>have also been purchasing 100 percent maple syrup.</p>
<p>Cooking from scratch is the best way I’ve found to reduced chemicals/preservatives.</p>
<p>BJ’s used to sell a 10 lb bag of bread flour (the only way to make bread, naturally, and have it be affordable, I think!). I haven’t seen it lately. They do sell yeast in 1 lb containers (immensely cheaper than the little packets).</p>
<p>condor30, I need to cut down on my artificial sweetener consumption, too. What form of Stevia do you use? I had a shaker (of powder), but it got really messy…</p>
<p>Instead of sugar we use honey (local) for hot tea. I do not have a need for it though unless I am sick.
What is BJ ? I have never made own bread, it runs quite expensive though if you want to purchase natural. I know that costco sells both flour and yeast in large quantities.
I am trying to switch from coffee to yerba mate. I have never been a huge coffee drinker - one cup in am- so it is not a huge issue. I am instant coffee offender though :)</p>
<p>Stevia - my brother uses a liquid form .</p>
<p>Bread that I buy at Whole Foods - dark, produced by French Meadow Bakery. It is in their frozen section. Many different varieties: Rye with Sunflower Seeds, Rye with Flax Seeds, Rye Sourdough. I store it in the freezer , take it out in the vening and is ready for A.M.</p>
<p>School lunches are big offenders. My DD brings lunch from home, but S refuses - loves anything that reminds him of eating out (???)</p>
<p>I’ve seen some BJ’s in Boston. It is a Costco-like store, I think. Our local Costco has a lot of organic fruit and other foods, and I buy those. PCC market is just a short walk from my bus stop, so I go there and shop for local in-season produce (it is really local, I’ve seen the van from a local farm unloading produce there). I love their big bunches of dill for just two bucks. It is the chanterelle mushroom season, and I’ve been making a lot of dishes with them lately. And I second honey instead of sugar! So much better for you than sugar!</p>
<p>I loved the quote from the book-- forget the name-- about buying from the outer aisles only as a good general rule (the processed stuff is in the middle).</p>
<p>We get organic peanut butter at same price as regular now, and tastes much better.</p>
<p>Freeze the gzillions of blackberries we get from our property. One thing I like to do with them is add a bit of sweetner, and is great on toast in place of jam or jelly.</p>
<p>I substitute organic apple sauce in place of oil when I bake cakes etc. It works beautifully and makes things moist in a perfect way.</p>
<p>If you worry about the toxicity of food, might also consider the potential toxicity of personal products we slather on our bodies and put in our mouths. This is a great website for helping you choose the most healthy makeup, deodorant, toothpaste, soap: </p>
<p>If you want to get the benefit from the honey, you can’t put it right into the hot liquid. Wait a while and sweeten with honey just before consumption.</p>
<p>Ditto on the hormone free milk! I am slowly but surely getting more healthy - one of my D’s teammates got us hooked on quinoa, it has become a staple in the house, usually with beans or dried fruit, hot or cold it’s great!</p>
<p>How does quinoa taste? What can you compare it to? Can you make it a a breakfast cereal early in tha morning, meaning can it be done quickly ?
I usually do cream of wheat or oatmeal in the winter, on the base of milk, if I want my kids to eat cereal before heading to school. But I am interested in that quinoa. Please share more.</p>
<p>Kelowna–BJ’s is almost exactly like Costco. Good to know Costco sells yeast/flour in big quantities. I heard that the best way to store a big container of flour like that is in a brand-new plastic trash can (if you have a big freezer you can put it in separate containers in there, too).</p>
<p>condor30–those spoonable packets of stevia sound good–I thought a big jar of powder was more affordable but it also was difficult to measure (I’d end up pouring a big amount in a cup of coffee).</p>
<p>hate whole foods- ok I don’t hate it- but too big- too big, too shiny.</p>
<p>Ive been going to this grocery store-
[PCC</a> | GM Food Crops: Consumer Health](<a href=“http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/issues/gmconcerns/]PCC”>http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/issues/gmconcerns/)
since it was down the street from our apt when I was 20 ( that is to say * mumble, mumble* decades ago).
It is unfortunately going shiny too. Especially the closest one to my current neighborhood- in Fremont, by Google and Adobe. I blame them. ;)</p>
<p>I get stevia at Trader Joes. ( and in 09 Ballard is getting a Trader Joes!)</p>
<p>I especially am paying attention to ingredients in HABA products ( health and beauty Aids)
no parabens, no mineral oils or petroleum.</p>
<p>this is my favorite grocery store & it is even closer</p>
<p>I have been eating minimal packaged food for so long, I think I would have a seizure if I ate white bread ( that wasn’t made at a local artisanal bakery- lol) or was offered a chocolate bar that wasn’t organic/fair trade.</p>
<p>The latest thing is not just organic/fair trade coffee but that which is also shade grown.
;)</p>
<p>I am on the other spectrum Emeraldkity4 - I really enjoy shopping at Whole Foods
My town does not feature one but I take one of my kids to the “far away” activity twice a week, to the city that has them. Even though it is pricey, it is less expensive that my “local” health food store. Other than that there is not much here to choose from, sadly. My closest grocer is Neighborhood Walmart, wich I can tolerate much better that the big one , and where I spent bunch of my grocery money.
No TJ here either…</p>
<p>Where do you buy your HABA products e-kity ?</p>
<p>And as far as organic goes - I am not a strict follower, I know however that there are certain foods that are “much better for you” if they are organic, and others in which this is not so important. I did see a list of some basic food products broken down like that a while ago. Does anyone know what I am talking about?</p>
<p>I feel between you two. Part of me loves Whole Foods, the sheer variety, and I wish one was closer to our house. The other part of me doesn’t like the hype and marketing around organic and healthy- and I’m not a fan of chains to begin with and I prefer smaller mom&pop operations.</p>
<p>Kelowna - quinoa cooked for breakfast is like the Wheatena we had as kids, but a little crunchier. You cook it with water 2 to 1 (1 cup quinoa with 2 cups of water), and cook it down like you would oatmeal, you could add apples, raisins, my daughter loves it with craisins, then add milk and honey to sweeten it a little more if you want. Tastes great!
If you are short on time you can keep the cooked quinoa in the fridge, then just warm it up and add the other stuff in the morning…</p>
<p>I grow amaranth but don’t really know how to cook it. I’ve read it’s very good food for you. The flowers are pretty, but I just cut and dumped a lot in my compost bin.</p>
<p>Cultivated amaranth can be found in asian grocery stores. Can be green leaf or red colored leaf (cooks to green), or green topside and redish bottomside. </p>
<p>We use the leaves as a spinach. Quick stirfry. Cooks down to virtually nothing.</p>
<p>We do many of the things mentioned above - shop at whole foods for most of our groceries, fill in at Trader Joes (prices are usually less than Whole Foods - but make sure it is the same thing), shop the farmers markets (we live near the lettuce capital of the world Salinas), and grow some of our own food. We also trade / give away to friends out of the garden - did you know a paper bag of tomato equals a paper bag of basil - and now we both have sauce… </p>
<p>Freeze stuff from the summer to the winter. Great desert frozen berries thawed out and made into both cobblers and crisps. </p>
<p>We have gotten rid of the BBQ - too many carcenogens (Sp?) from the cooking process - instead we have gone to a grill pan that sits on the stove - accomplishes the same thing without the lighter fluid.</p>
<p>Eat lots of blueberries, broccoli and the other “super foods”. (from a book by that title).</p>
<p>Drink red wine with dinner - it is suppose to be good for you and is a nice way to unwind - we have cut out all other alcohol other than wine… </p>
<p>Reduce or cut out red meat - we did it 20 years ago and have never regretted it. My kids have never tasted a hamburger - nor eaten at a MacDonalds. </p>
<p>Eat sustainable seafoods… the Monterey Bay Aquarium provides a list…</p>
<p>On the organic foods - if you peel it to eat it, it is generally less important to be organic… the worst offender is strawberries - we ALWAYS buy organic strawberries from the USA.</p>
