In my opinion some of the least healthy food at grocery stores is label certified organic or otherwise healthy. The problem with labels is that if something is healthy, you don’t really need a label to advertise such a fact. All the label is doing is lying and projecting wokeness on you. Walmart, especially the store-branded and unlabeled stuff is just food. Not wokeness.
A lot of grocery stores prominently feature woke labels – as people think wokeness is a good way to eat healthy. After all, there are smiling faces and colorful labels that char up just as good in fire or look beautiful buried in the landfill. The truth is the usually generic, store or no labels foods are as healthy if not healthier then those that are actively lying to you.
After two years of getting into healthy one of the basics of learned is that don’t buy into the wokeness. Buy into the macro-nutrients, the boring things like eat lots of fruits, vegetables, beans – the things experts have been saying for decades now. Avoid saturated fats, especially omega-6 fats like animal meats except as a treat. Eats lots of vegetables and fruit. Don’t buy packaged things or things with multiple ingredients. Cook your own foods, but keep them simple.
I have a strong aversion to this day to sugar. Maybe it’s because my dad is dying from diabetes. I do use sugar-free maple syrup and Splenda when cooking, but I don’t buy pre-cooked foods with those ingredients. I use them in my own cooking. I don’t do restaurant meals regularly, I don’t buy prepared foods. Instead, I make basic meals that are dominated by vegetables.
I don’t obsess over protein, though I don’t think it’s a bad thing. More important in my mind is fiber – not only does it keep the plumming work internally, it fills you up with few calories. And most high-fiber foods have a variety of nutrients in them – be it whole wheat flour, broccoli, edamane, spinach, onions, etc. Not to mention flavor. I do douse things in a lot of turmeric as I like the bright yellow color and tangy flavor.
Full-fat dairy is all the rage today, but I’m actually not convinced on the benefits over low-fat dairy. They say full-fat dairy is more filling, but I don’t like the idea of all those bad saturated fats and extra calories. With processed foods like flavored yougurt, I get that they replace fat with sugar, but I actually enjoy the tartness of plain, not-fat Greek yogurt and the natural sweetness of frozen or fresh fruit like strawberries or blueberries added. No additional sugar needed.
Onions are such a stable of my diet these days. I eat 5 to 6 lb each week and are used for many meals. In the summer months, I use tons of summer squash and zucchuni fried with onions. Otherwise I look towards frozen vegetables or sweet potatoes. Sometimes I’ll mix on cornmeal and often I use a lot of turmeric and some salt.
And I can’t forget apple cider vinegar. Some people like it as a health booster but I like it because it adds a lot of flavor to water, without any calories. It makes water taste so better, especially the very alkaline water that is common in this part of Upstate NY. It’s a calorie free drink, or close to calorie free without any chemicals. It’s important to remain well hydrated.
I used to fret about eating poorly when visiting with friends and family. Or the rare communial meals at a restaurant with such people. But now I realize such times are a small part of my diet it’s okay. I don’t have that crap at home, and it’s not bad to eat “normal” American food from time to time. It’s actually strange to taste the fats and sugars on one’s tongue when you go out. It’s good but almost so fatty, salty and over sugary that it’s not real delicious. It’s actually funny how werid American Food tastes when you don’t eat that typical crap all of the time.