Tag Archives: Farmer’s market

Questions & Answers

A Gut-Healthy Approach to Shopping

I’ve come up with ten tips that will help make sure you’re grocery shopping is gut-healthy.

1. Shop the perimeter: If you must use a supermarket for your groceries, try to limit your purchase to items found at the edges of the store. Traditionally, that is where you will find fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, eggs, dairy, and the bakery for bread and the like.

2. Try and shop at farmer’s markets: Farmer’s markets offer more personalized service. Over time you can get to know the vendors and understand how they grow their products and whether they use pesticides. Organic farmer’s markets are one of the best options when it comes to grocery shopping.

3. Make your own yogurt and grow your own sprouts: It’s easy to group sprouts. Sprouts are very high in chlorophyll, folic acid, and vitamin C.

4. Eat smaller meals: Most people eat too much food. For a healthy gut, you don’t want to overeat. Don’t treat your stomach like it’s a cement mixer. When it comes to buying groceries, don’t over shop. Buy enough so that you can eat moderately rather than eating large portions all the time.

5. Buy your fresh foods frequently: Instead of loading up on fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs for weeks at a time, buy them every few days. The nutrient content of food diminishes over time, so you want to fill your fridge with fresh foods, not store broccoli that was picked a month ago.

Further readings:

6. Avoid the most heavily sprayed foods in your region. Google should able to help you identify the foods with the highest levels of pesticide residue. You might be surprised to discover that celery is very heavily sprayed. Imported berries are often far more heavily sprayed than domestic ones.

7. Buy lean cuts of meat. When you get poultry, get it skinless. You can coat the meat with a rub instead or marinate it before cooking. I make a nice mix with olive oil, fresh herbs, garlic, smoked paprika, and some curry powder.

8. Always check the best before or expiry dates on your groceries. You want to buy the freshest item available. Sometimes that means using your arm to reach the back of the shelf, but it’s worth it.

9. Don’t go shopping without a list. Impulse shopping is a quick way to come home with the junk foods you don’t need in the house.

10. Eat before you shop: If you go shopping on an empty stomach, the chocolate bar and bags of chips are going to be particularly hard to resist. Have a good breakfast before you go shopping in the morning. Having some protein before you go to the grocery store is always a good idea because it helps maintain a stable blood sugar level.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Organic Meat: Is It Better For The Gut?

What’s the best type of meat to eat?

Is it be organic meat? Would it be non-organic meat? I think you know the answer. Anything that you put in your mouth that’s clean is going to be better than something that’s not clean.

If you’re eating non-organic meat, there are chances that it contains chemicals. How do we know that the same chemicals aren’t in organic meat? Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous people in the organic market so make sure you buy meat that’s certified organic.

In my opinion, organically produced meats are a better grade of meat. They tend to have a different fat composition with healthier fats than found in conventionally raised livestock.

If you’ve opted for non-organic meat, buy lean cuts. Fat is where chemicals such as pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics are often stored. Adipose tissue in the animal holds more toxins than the muscle.

Further readings:

If organic meat is hard to afford, you could opt for the cheaper cuts such as skirt steak, which is less expensive than sirloin or prime roast.

In terms of health, it pays to shop around to get the best quality of meat. Farmer’s markets are a good starting point. An online search should help you find suppliers of certified organic meat.

I believe organic meat is the way to go to avoid chemicals that can be harmful to your gut and overall health. They use lots of different chemicals on animals these days. If you can minimize the chemical intake in your body through the food chain, it’s going to be a lot better for the gut.

I caution you to be particularly careful with chicken. Here, in New Zealand, they can use up to a dozen different types of antibiotics in the poultry trade. For that reason, I generally only buy free-range chickens. We know the people who run the farm and what they feed the chickens.

My take-home message is to avoid eating too much conventionally raised meat because of the chemical content.

Sources: