Your Healthy Grocery Cart

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The other day, a thought crossed my mind. Maybe we’re focused on the wrong part of the equation: Maybe the time for constructive decision-making about what we eat is not when it’s time to prepare the food, but when it’s time to purchase the food. Waiting until you’re hungry for dinner is like chasing a horse after it’s left the barn. That’s why I want to start this conversation by examining the standard shopping cart.

There are many different kinds of influences on consumers’ purchasing patterns. Coffee whiteners, for example, do not require refrigeration. Yet they are placed in the dairy section, to make them seem more like cream. Big Food manufacturers spend enormous resources to come up with names like breakfast sandwiches, lunchables, and TV dinners so that consumers know when these newly developed products are meant to be used. The supermarket layout itself has a marked influence on how you shop. And the grocery cart also influences what you buy at the supermarket. 

Notice that the standard grocery cart is designed to be filled not with fresh produce, but with boxes, bags, and cans. We tend to put most, if not all, our produce in the little baby seat section up front. In part, this happens because placing fresh fruits and vegetables deep into the back of a grocery cart increases the likelihood that your carefully selected fruits and vegetables will be crushed under the weight of the other items yet to come. When the baby section is full, therefore, we decide—whether consciously or unconsciously—that we have enough. We push on, and enter the rest of the supermarket.

Recent dietary guidelines stipulate that half your plate should be filled with produce. Using this as a guide, I should also be filling my grocery cart at least halfway with produce. And more, to account for apple cores, carrot peels, corn cobs, and pineapple skins. What I am saying is that your grocery cart should be brimming with fruits and vegetables. Standard grocery carts, however, are designed preferentially to store bags, boxes, cans, and other packages containing products with exceedingly long shelf lives. 

If you want to arrive at the checkout counter with plenty of intact, unbruised fruits and vegetables, grocery carts need a design overhaul.  And this is actually happening. The good news is that things are changing. In the past year or two, first at the nearby health food store, and more recently at the local community supermarket, I’ve seen new carts with broad, shallow, rectangular baskets. The baskets are at approximately waist height, much higher than in standard grocery carts, so the shopper does not need to reach deep into their cart to place or retrieve purchases. The total volume of the shallow basket is somewhat smaller, so people might comment about having to shop more often. But maybe not. Maybe they aren’t buying as many boxes. Maybe less produce is being wasted. 

I think more can be done. In my mind, best-case-scenario grocery carts consist of a broad shallow shelf above, a one-foot deep basket at mid-level, and a shelf below, similar to the one in standard grocery carts. Fresh produce goes on top, bags of potatoes and onions in the mid-level basket, along with packages of fresh fish or meat, a dozen eggs, beets and squash, packages of tofu, a quart of milk, and perhaps a bottle of wine. Large items (a jug of vinegar, pet food, toilet paper) can be shelved below, along with a small case of, let’s say, avocados, on special this week in the produce section.

As the years go by, I find that I am making more soups, especially in cold weather but even in warmer weather, depending on the day. I buy and consume more beans than I used to. There is always a variety of nuts in the pantry and refrigerator. We buy plenty of dried fruit, and we even dehydrate some ourselves when we find ourselves with an overabundance of apples, tomatoes, strawberries, and the like. All of these last a long while, and you don’t end up having to race back to the supermarket the day after tomorrow.

This year, my daughter-in-law taught me to make a green sauce from whatever leaves remain after prepping carrots, radishes, herbs, and so on. I put them into the high-speed blender along with a clove of garlic, a couple teaspoons of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of salt. It adds a bright note and looks beautiful on grains, eggs, and fish, or as a garnish on a bowl of soup,

My own grocery cart is at least half full, if not more, with produce. The rest of the cart is divided evenly among high-quality protein like nuts, tofu, chicken, beef, eggs, and fish; and then beans, whole grains, and dairy, like yogurt and cheese. I can hear the voices of adherents to the Paleo Diet rising up against the voices of those who adhere to Caldwell Esselstyn’s mostly fat-free, 100% plant-based diet. There is more than enough room for individual preferences in my grocery cart. But there is little or no room for ultraprocessed, food-like, manufactured calories.

Big Food: The Industrialization of What You Eat

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What does it mean to be nourished? The word nutrition, related to “nourish,” comes from nutrire (Latin), meaning to feed, support, nurture, and also nurse. “Food,” from foda (Old English), is related to “fodder” and “feed,” and means nourishment or fuel. The purpose of food is to nourish. There is controversy about what constitutes good nutrition, but most successful strategies recommend increasing high-fiber foods like produce, legumes, and whole grains, while simultaneously decreasing ultraprocessed items like chips, commercially baked items, and “fast” food. 

The emergence of ultra processed items as a major component of the American diet derives from several developments. The supply, distribution, preparation, and eating patterns of food have changed markedly in the past century. The drive to decrease consumer costs while maximizing profits has markedly decreased the nutritional quality of the food supply. The majority of items eaten in the United States today — eaten in the home or out — are prepared, processed, or manufactured by individuals unknown to the purchaser. Food preparation has become largely an anonymous enterprise: the consumer does not know the cook, and the cook does not know the consumer. Before the 20th century, virtually everyone ate meals prepared at home by family members, and those meals were composed of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, fish, eggs, meats, poultry, dairy (milk, cream, yogurt, butter, cheeses), and whole grains. 

Partially hydrogenated fats, developed for the soap and candle industries, entered the commercial baking enterprise in 1911. High-fructose corn syrup erupted as a major ingredient in the early 1970s. Maltodextrin, modified food starch, vegetable shortening, and synthetic coloring agents simply did not exist in food, if at all.

The evolution of ultraprocessing to create the majority of items in the standard American diet is also attributable to changes in advertising and merchandising. Re-appropriating words that once described traditional foodstuffs to describe new inventions is a common theme. Consider the word “wheat.” Whereas “wheat” once meant the entire grain, including bran, endosperm, and germ, revised usage refers only to the white endosperm. The original product is now “whole-grain wheat.” When words are appropriated to describe ultraprocessed versions of foods, traditional staples require new descriptors. Terms like “organic,” “pesticide-free,” “wild,” “free-range,” “whole,” “old-fashioned,” “pastured,” and “hormone-free,” are necessary only because their historic names have evolved to mean something entirely, industrially, different. 

Consider, too, non-dairy creamers, neither of whose first two ingredients, high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, requires refrigeration. Nevertheless, supermarkets display these items in coolers, adjacent to the dairy products whose use they are meant to replace. The low cost of raw materials for “coffee whiteners,” lowered further by government subsidies, makes them exceedingly profitable, particularly in comparison to milk and cream. Where the system incentivizes profits over nutrition, the public’s health suffers the consequences.

How does one know whether an item is nourishing? “Eat the rainbow, “Eat close to the garden,” and “Eat nothing your ancestors would not have recognized as food” are various ways of saying the same thing: Eat real food.  

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Lentil Soup with a Splash

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I’ve come across a really good and relatively simple recipe for lentil soup, and thought I’d share it right away before I misplace it! I wish I knew where I got it from, but that information will sadly have to wait until I figure it out and can add it to this post. I made this recipe for the first time on a rainy day in early spring a few weeks back, and was so pleased with the results that I decided to write a post about it. Lentils are a special food, a special type of legume, with all kinds of important benefits for your health. And they taste good. Continue reading →

The Trouble With Angel Food Cake

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Have you ever worked with someone whose actions made you hear your mom’s voice inside your head saying things like “Everyone gets a turn,” or even “Let’s be nice”? When my friend Dee’s kids complained about the seemingly unjust behavior of certain teachers or neighbors, she would suggest they consider them “negative role models.” Just as it’s important to have good examples in your life, it’s also valuable to have examples of behaviors you would rather avoid.

Year in and year out, I post recipes that have a lot going for them. I am always on the lookout for good examples of nourishing recipes made from whole foodstuffs, with plenty of produce, legumes, nourishing fats, and high-quality protein. Today I am trying a different approach: I am dissecting a recipe that has nothing going for it. This angel food cake mix is a negative role model. Its best use is as an example of what not to eat. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grains and Greens

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This is a recipe that features the grain you feel like eating today*, the greens that are in season, and whatever vegetables you are in the mood to sautè. For this particular version, I chose quinoa, red peppers, and spinach, but you can saunter through your kitchen, gather up your choices, and start chopping. If you get your veggies organized, and do your chopping early in the day, you’ll be able to throw this meal together quickly. And if you make the grains the evening or weekend before, you’ll feel like a pro when everything comes together in just a few minutes. Continue reading →

Stripped Carbs and White Powder

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Have you ever thought about the fact that white flour, potato starch, confectioner’s sugar, and corn starch look remarkably similar, essentially identical? They have all been converted to a pile of white powder. What these examples have in common is that they have been ultraprocessed in such a way as to change their unique individual identities until all that remains, in each case, is a pile of stripped carbohydrate.  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

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This recipe made its way into my house in a booklet provided by Vitamix with the purchase of our high-speed blender many years ago. It is really delicious whether all by itself, sprinkled over a circle of warm brie, or tossed onto a tomato salad. Pumpkin seeds are a great substitute for nuts when you are feeding people with nut allergies, but they are also extremely nourishing in and of themselves, and worth the time you spend making them. 

Over the years I have collected plenty of recipes for sweet spiced nuts and seeds, but this is the only recipe I have for a savory version.  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grain Bowls, Your Way

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I figured I would share some strategies for grain bowls.

Start by choosing a grain. It could be something as simple as rolled oats, but it might also be something slightly more adventurous—like steel-cut oats or millet or even the brown rice left over from last night’s dinner. I happen to be a fan of kasha, a nutty tasting grain also known as buckwheat groats, and which my family ate often when I was growing up.  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Marinated Eggs

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This recipe is in honor of our seven lovely hens, who are now 1 1/2 years old and laying on the order of 3-5 beautiful eggs every day. Yesterday afternoon my 3-year-old grandson and I stopped at the coop to collect the day’s gifts, but two of the girls were in the middle of laying and so we left them to their business and turned around to instead go climbing on a big pile of logs. This morning my husband needed some eggs to bake oatmeal cookies, so he ran out to the coop and discovered 7 eggs!  Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes

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Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Although my father was the main cook in our family, my mother took over the kitchen on the holidays, and dad’s primary responsibility was to make the brisket.

Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, my mother made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring, for Passover. She never used recipes, preferring instead to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did. Truthfully, though, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway. Continue reading →