Supermarket Smarts: Some Things Never Change
By Gary Rock :: More posts in Food and Nutrition
In this oldie-but-goodie video, American icon Jack Lalanne proves that good advice is timeless; his words are just as relevant today as they were when this was filmed.
For those of you who may need convincing, I’ll modernize his message – in which he compares the attention to detail women have when clothes shopping to their complete disregard of nutritional information when they are food shopping – with my own analogy, for both men and women.
Today many people spend more time researching what type of television they should buy then they do researching what type of food they should buy. Consumers labor over the decisions: What brand should they choose? Plasma or LCD? Will high-definition really change their viewing experience?
Now compare this to people’s choices about their diets, an area in which they are either completely irresponsible or, in a dead-end strategy, they listen to the first person that promises them fast results with little to no effort.
Our priorities are completely messed up – we will have many televisions in our lifetime no matter how much time we spend researching which brand to go with, but we will be left with the same body forever and for that reason we must take the time to learn how to take care of and nourish it.
Now compare this to people’s choices about their diets, an area in which they are either completely irresponsible or, in a dead-end strategy, they listen to the first person that promises them fast results with little to no effort.
Our priorities are completely messed up – we will have many televisions in our lifetime no matter how much time we spend researching which brand to go with, but we will be left with the same body forever and for that reason we must take the time to learn how to take care of and nourish it.
In his message, Mr. Lalanne offers some valuable and ageless suggestions regarding supermarket shopping and the items we should choose to consume. He recommends using honey in place of sugar and I agree, but would like to add that even honey should be kept to a minimum and that raw honey is almost definitely what he was talking about – not the processed transparent golden honey that comes in those bear-shaped bottles. He also urges against all white flours, advice that rings true now than ever, as white flour has infiltrated almost everything we eat today (just ask someone with celiac disease). Two other way-too-present food items that should be avoided are high fructose corn syrup (HFCS, crystalline fructose, glucose-fructose syrup), and trans-fatty acids. Thankfully the latter is finally being recognized for what it is and is being removed from a lot of our food items… but be warned: it is being replaced by interesterified fats which, over time, will surely prove to be equally or even more destructive than its predecessor.
The truth is that the saturated fats that these oils replaced are not the villains we have made them out to be and we would all be much healthier today if we just kept them in our diets instead of replacing them with what are essentially man-made versions of them. So when you’re in the supermarket remember: nature always wins, especially over processed foods that have been stripped of most of their nutritional value.
The last piece of wisdom Mr. Lalanne leaves us with is eating a high protein breakfast, a salad for lunch, and plenty of fresh fruits throughout the day. Add to that a moderate dinner of a lean protein and vegetables, and drinking ½ oz. of water for each pound of bodyweight every day, and you have a really simple outline to start your way to a healthy diet.
My closing advice regarding supermarket shopping and an easy tip to make your shopping experience better is to shop the perimeter! Everything you need can be found in the perimeter, from fresh produce to eggs and whole grains. Stay on the perimeter and start showing off your supermarket smarts today!
