7 Foods to avoid at the grocery store
Normalizing gut function is the most important protocol in taking back your health. And the number one way to normalize gut function you may ask? Avoid foods that feed the bad gut bacteria.
The emergence of research on the human microbiome and how it fosters health or disease, shows us 3 significant things. The microbial life in our gut is the conductor of physical and mental digestion, metabolism, and immune function.
For example, good bacteria can reduce inflammation, beat depression, contribute to weight loss and a healthy metabolism. Bad bacteria however can promote allergies, increase skin breakouts, reduce metabolic function, lead to weight gain and impair cognitive function.
Healthy gut's begin with what we put in our grocery cart. This I believe is the foremost root cause solution to the many chronic diseases that we see today. If the following don't make it in your grocery cart, then they won't make it in your gut either. And that my friends is the pivotal factor in reclaiming your health!
Top 7 Things to Avoid when Grocery Shopping
Avoid Alcohol
Excessive alcohol (or even a small amount) feeds the bad bacterial overgrowth in the gut. Research shows that alcohol consumption increases gut permeability, which allows toxins to leak into the blood stream causing inflammation in the body and reduction of essential vitamins and minerals. Alcohol also impairs the livers detox pathways contributing to hormone imbalance, stress, fatigue and metabolic dysfunction.
2. Avoid Overly Processed Foods
If the label has a paragraph of ingredients that you have never heard of or can barely pronounce, these have come straight from a lab and not from nature. Processed foods also contain high amounts of added sugar, sodium and fat.
Long term studies have linked processed foods to the destruction of brain cells, increased risk of heart attack, diabetes, renal failure, depression and all cause mortality. Meaning, if you eat processed foods, your health will suffer. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but down the line processed foods wreak havoc on the body. If we think of food as vibrational medicine, alive foods raise our vibration, and dead foods (processed foods) lower our vibration.
Processed foods include cereals, fast foods, hotdogs, chips, microwave ready meals, instant noodles, cereal bars, granola bars, deli meats, juice drinks, chicken tenders, American cheese, canned and bottled sauces, bacon, boxed snacks and cereals. Basically all processed foods are located at the center aisles in grocery stores. Shop the perimeter for whole, fresh foods and limit your items from the center aisles.
3. Avoid Added Sugars
Sugar has many names. High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, stevia, and malt syrup are all forms of sugar that have been linked to fatty liver, metabolic syndrome, endocrine disruption, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Added sugars are everywhere including salad dressings, cereals, sauces, marinades, fruit snacks, yogurts, pasta sauces, canned soups, bottled teas, soda’s and lemonades. Studies show that sugar consumption contributes to memory and cognitive dysfunction including dementia. Sugar promotes addictive behaviors, encourages overeating, depression and psychiatric illness. Whoa, yea.
Instead look for local honey, monk fruit or take your sweets from the source. Fruits are loaded with antioxidants and vitamins, making them the best option for satisfying a sweet tooth.
4. Avoid Fruit Juice
Shelf juices and individual drink products like orange juice, lemonade and grape juices are all swimming in hidden sugars. Bottled smoothies drinks contain synthetic ingredients and are under a law suit for misleading marketing with labeling that claims all natural. Take time to look at the label and you will find artificial sweeteners even when the label reads sugar free.
Juices contain artificial colorings and added flavors which are synthetic ingredients banned in other countries. Not all fruit juice is created equal! Look for brands that have 100% fruit juice like POM Pomegranate Juice, R.W. Knudsen Tart Cherry Juice and Bolthouse Farms Organic Juices. For a more in depth look at juices, click here. Bottom line, boxed and bottled juices are junk food.
5. Avoid Low Fat Foods
Low fat diets and products are a marketing scheme that has been debunked over and over yet the amount of people I see with fat free items in their cart is alarming. Low fat foods contain artificial flavoring agents and excessive sugar. For an interesting New York Times read on how the sugar industry paid scientists to blame heart disease on fat, click here. P.S. it's the sugar's fault. Sugar is bad, fat is good.
Be aware of teas and sports drinks claiming sugar free and fat free. These items contain artificial sugars and sweeteners, which in accordance with food regulations can be labeled marketed as sugar free. Labels suggesting fat free are replaced with larger amounts of refined carbohydrates, which increase the risk of weight gain and metabolic diseases.
6. Avoid Vegetable Oils
Corn oil, soy oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil and canola oil are all polyunsaturated oils. Polyunsaturated oils or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can lead to oxidative stress within the body that have a damaging effect on membrane structure and integrity. These oils are commonly found in salad dressings, marinades, ketchup and BBQ sauce and are even found in plant based milks.
Instead, look for animal-based sources of oils like ghee, grass fed butter or an organic olive or avocado oil. Make your own salad dressings with simple ingredients: lemon, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and kitchen spices.
7. Avoid Corn Meal and Grain Cereals
Cereals spike blood glucose levels and contain the highest concentrations of glyphosate, the chemical in roundup that is responsible for a wide range of diseases in America.
SOY, CORN, WHEAT, OATS; look for the organic label. If there isn’t an organic label then rest assured you are getting heavy doses of chemical fertilizers that are sprayed on the grains just days before harvest. Recent glyphosate studies, as reviewed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, has sufficient data to establish a link between glyphosateand all cause mortality.
What the heck can I eat?
Now I know what you're thinking, "What the heck can I eat?" Rest assured that prior to the industrialization of our food system, our ancestors ate foods that were not packaged and processed, and so can we. For more information on cleaning up the gut, and why it is essential for metabolic health, check out my previous post on dysbiosis.
My favorite go to resource on eating whole and understanding food is Functional Medicine physician, Dr. Mark Hyman. Check out his book Food; What the Heck Should I Eat or his podcast, Nature's Farmacy.
Remember, shop the perimeter of grocery stores for whole, fresh foods and limit your items from the center aisles.
And stay tuned for a complete list of items to include in your grocery shopping cart for a healthy gut!
Resources:
Fuhrman J. (2018). The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 12(5), 375–381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827618766483
Pagliai, G., Dinu, M., Madarena, M. P., Bonaccio, M., Iacoviello, L., & Sofi, F. (2021). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The British journal of nutrition, 125(3), 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114520002688
Freeman, C. R., Zehra, A., Ramirez, V., Wiers, C. E., Volkow, N. D., & Wang, G. J. (2018). Impact of sugar on the body, brain, and behavior. Frontiers in bioscience (Landmark edition), 23(12), 2255–2266. https://doi.org/10.2741/4704
Knüppel, A., Shipley, M. J., Llewellyn, C. H., & Brunner, E. J. (2017). Sugar intake from sweet food and beverages, common mental disorder and depression: prospective findings from the Whitehall II study. Scientific reports, 7(1), 6287. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05649-7
