The new icon is to serve as a reminder to make healthier food choices. The plate is a quick, simple visual to be mindful of the foods we are eating. I believe this is a more user-friendly image than the 20-year-old MyPryamid image it replaces.

Logan doesn’t know why there’s so much fuss about the new food icon. He just likes to eat.

User-Friendly Reminder
First Lady Michelle Obama said regarding the new image, “When mom or dad comes home from a long day of work, we’re already asked to be a chef, a referee, a cleaning crew. So it’s tough to be a nutritionist, too. But we do have time to take a look at our kids’ plates. As long as they’re half full of fruits and vegetables, and paired with lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy, we’re golden. That’s how easy it is.”

These are the recommendations for MyPlate at ChooseMyPlate.gov:

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid over-sized portions.

Foods to Increase

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Make at least half your grains whole grains.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Nutrition Department
Americans are being urged to eat more plant-based foods with the new icon. This is great! Although MyPlate is an improvement over the old food pyramid, I have some concerns about the government site. As easy to understand as the plate icon is, people could use additional information, especially for those who regularly consume processed foods. In my estimation, ChooseMyPlate.com comes up short in the nutrition department.

Problem #1 — Point of Purchase
Michelle Obama says it’s difficult to determine the best foods to put on our kids’ plates. I really don’t believe it’s so difficult. What’s the real challenge for most families is the food they purchase. Families are starting out with a deficit. Ninety percent of the food purchased in grocery stores is highly processed. In addition, families eat out at fast food restaurants 2 or 3 times a week. If you’re eating out, the plate icon is useless and you can forget trying to figure out what’s in the food.  A Whole Foods Grocery List would be helpful, don’t you think?

Problem #2 — Processed Food Nutrition Label
The second problem is related to the first. It takes a rocket scientist to figure out what’s in the processed food purchased at the grocers. The labels are really an oxymoron. Processed foods take out nutrition and then add back in synthetic vitamins. You have to read and then decipher the labels. Sodium and sugars are high in processed foods. Ingredients like MSG can be impossible to find, as it’s not required to be listed as MSG. For more about MSG Click Here.

It’s much easier to know what’s in the food when you actually cook whole foods from scratch yourself. I think the new guidelines should encourage cooking at home, not “choose frozen meals with lower numbers.” Cooking at home with whole foods is the only way to know your family is getting the nutrition they need.

Problem #3 – Fuzzy Government Recommendations
The recommendations on the government site aren’t always the most beneficial. Why do they suggest half of the carbs consumed should come from whole grains? Why only half? Isn’t the preferred goal to consume ALL whole grains. It make mores sense to make simple carbs the exception, not half of consumed grains! The assumption is that people will not really change their eating patterns.

The recommendation to switch to 1 percent or low fat milk is predicable, but not backed by science. What’s that? We’ve been told for so long that low-fat milk is healthier. We don’t even stop to consider that information may be incorrect. Whole milk doesn’t make kids fat. Sugar, simple carbs and altered fats do. For more information on whole milk Click Here.

Speaking of altered fats, where the info on trans fat? I had a hard time locating the teeny bit information offered. Then they lump naturally saturated fats with man-made trans fat. Information on Interesterified fat is is absent! For more about altered fats Click Here.

All-in-all, I think the new logo is an improvement, but am very disappointed in the nutritional information the government provides parents.

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First thing to do is to convince your husband that negative remarks cement the idea that some food tastes bad. That includes any negative remarks from him as well as the kids. Auditory learning is vital for children. Make a family rule that negative remarks about the food are banned from the kitchen. Discuss how wonderful the food looks. How scrumptious it smells. How it will make them strong and healthy. Is it crunchy or not? How yummy it is.

It’s common today for kids to refuse to eat vegetables. Nearly 50 percent of moms say they have a picky eater. Yet, veggies are vital for health. So, which vegetables should be introduced first into a picky eaters diet?

A quick rule of thumb for the most beneficial vegetable is to choose the deeper colors. Forget about light-colored iceberg lettuce, go for lettuce with deep green colors. Dark green broccoli and spinach should be on the top of your veggie list.

Nicole says beets are yummy.

Phytonutrients are contained the plant’s pigment. They are the vitamins, minerals, careotenoids, flavonoids, isoflovenes, phytoestrogens and polyphenols. Phytonutrients protect the body and fight disease, thus promoting health.

Each calorie in nutrient-dense food is packed with vitamins, minerals, and essential amino and fatty acids. For the overweight child, whole foods take longer to digest, warding off food cravings between meals. For the underweight child, each mouthful is providing vital phytonutrients. In contrast, simple carbohydrates (white flour and sugar) quickly fill up a tiny tummy with little or no nutrients.

Nutrient-dense foods pack a lot of nutrition into a few bites: avocados, blueberries, beans broccoli, brown rice, eggs, flax seeds, lentils, peanut and other nut butters, sweet potatoes, salmon, spinach tofu tomatoes, chopped walnuts, whole grains and yogurt (without added sugars).

Try Rannosaurus is right when he says, “Green food is yummy!” Try loves to eat vegetables, although he doesn’t realize they’re imperative for good health. Try and Betty Baby Bites eat their way through a prehistoric forest, enjoying every bite of green food in the storybook The Forest Feast.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

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So, why was I reading a book about how the brain works, in the first place? My book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater is about teaching children to love whole foods. Sensory integration is one of the rules Medina listed on the back cover of Brain Rules. It got my attention, because multi-sensory learning is a vital part of the Baby Bite steps. I was curious to see what a molecular biologist had to say on the subject.

I found that Brain Rules has more to do with picky eaters than I expected. Before I got to the chapter on sensory integration, which was Rule #9, I had to read about stressed brains and how they don’t learn effectively, which is Rule #8.

It seems that Jeansok Kim and David Diamond, came up with a three-part definition of what constitutes stress. They say if all three parts are happening simultaneously, a person is by definition stressed. Interestingly, these three parts are usually happening at the table of a picky eater.

Don’t stress out your picky eater!

Medina strengthens this definition with a personal story about his toddler son, who had a dramatic response to a cooked veggie. Let me read his amplification of the three-parts of stress to you: “Part one: There must be an aroused physiological response to the stress, and it must be measurable by an outside party.”

He relates, “I saw this in obvious fashion the first time my 18-month-old son encountered a carrot on his plate at diner. He promptly went ballistic:

He screamed and cried and peed in his diaper. His aroused physiological state was immediately a measurable by his dad, and probably by anyone else within a half mile of our kitchen table.

Part two: The stressor must be perceived as aversive. This can be assessed by a simple question: ‘If you had the ability to turn down the severity of this experience, or avoid it altogether, would you?’ It was obvious where my son stood on the matter.

“Within seconds, he took the carrot off his plate and threw it on the floor. Then he deftly got down off his chair and tried to stomp on the predatory vegetable.”

Part three: “The person must not feel in control of the stressor. Like a volume knob on some emotional radio, the more the loss of control, the more severe the stress is perceived to be… My son reacted as strongly as he did in part because he knew I wanted him to eat the carrot, and he was used to doing what I told him to do. Control was the issue. Despite my picking up the carrot, washing it, then rubbing my tummy while enthusiastically saying ‘Yum. Yum’ he was having none of it.”

We’ve all done the same thing when trying to convince a picky eater to eat a refused food. He then relates the reason behind a typical battle between parent and child, “Or, more important, he was wanting to have none of it, and he thought I was going to make him have all of it. Out-of-control carrot equaled out-of-controlled behavior.”

Medina wasn’t focused on picky eating or he would have written Baby Bites instead of Brain Rules. I’ll just assume his young son’s aversion to carrots was soon conquered. But, Medina aptly illustrates what many families endure on a nightly basis when their child is a picky eater.

The Baby Bite steps transform a picky eater into healthy eater because these three aspects of stress are addressed. Each individual component is important, but when applied in tandem the Baby Bite steps create a force catapulting your child toward healthy eating.

First, the physiological response measurable by an outside party is avoided or at least diverted when eating isn’t the main objective, but learning about food is. Medina said, he “was going to make him have all of it. Out-of-control carrot equaled out-of-controlled behavior.” When force isn’t part of the equation, then the child’s behavior is reasonable.

Secondly, a new food isn’t a stressor as it isn’t seen as aversive. Food is expected to be explored, not eaten the first time it’s introduced.

When the objective is about learning, the child sees food as an adventure, not a stressor. The attributes of a food: color, texture, and smell, are all explored before a child is asked to take a taste.

Lastly, the child doesn’t feel he has no control, because the threat has been eliminated. The objective is learning, not eating. At least at first. In the case of the predatory carrot, eating is a natural step after learning all about it. The child has had time to explore it’s attributes, you’ve talked about the color, texture, and it’s taste.

Exploration is natural and even Medina ends his book by stating, “Babies are the model of how we learn-not by passive reaction to the environment, but by active testing through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion.” …Come to think of it, he could have written Baby Bites!

All this before I got to the chapter on sensory integration. We’ll have to talk about that another time.

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This is a growing concern. Experts tell us this generation is the first not expected to live as long as their parents.

Children, today, grow up eating highly process foods loaded with chemicals. Often the first finger food for baby is a fast food French fry cooked in trans fat and flavored with MSG! The average number of vegetables kids eat a day is one…and that’s when French fries and ketchup are counted as vegetables!

Eating black olives from the tips of your fingers is fun!
Leah has no idea that learning to love whole foods involves all the senses. 

5 Simple Strategies:

1. Involve Your Picky Eater
The pickier the eater, the more engaged they need to be in the process of preparing food. Involve your child at every stage of food prep. Begin with grocery shopping. Have your toddler hold an item from the produce department, while you’re shopping in the store. Give older children a job to do, such as reading the nutrition facts on labels. Then get your kids involved not only in setting the table, but in meal preparation and serving. Kids love to cook. Appoint your picky eater as your under-chef. Adjust the task to your child’s age. Even toddlers can help wash vegetables, assemble sandwiches, spread nut butters and cream cheese with plastic-ware, place veggies on top of pizza, and help stir ingredients. Older kids can peel and then mash cooked potatoes, prepare salads and simple recipes.

2. Replace Junk Foods
To be successful in transforming a picky eater, fast food and junk food must replace whole food. If stopping for chicken nuggets and French fries is no longer part of your routine, then your picky eater will no longer eat them. Your food budget will benefit by eating at home and your family will be healthier for it.

Read labels and clean out junk foods from your kitchen cupboards! You’ll be fighting an uphill battle if cookies, crackers, chips, and sugar-filled drinks are found in your pantry. Replace processed snack items with nuts, fruit, and veggies slices.

3. Engage the Senses
Kids discover that veggies are yummy when you engage all their senses with multi-sensory learning during mealtimes. Have your vegetable-resistant child explore all the attributes of the refused veggie. A common misconception is that a veggie is rejected because of its taste. But according to current research, dislike of various foods most often results from the texture, smell, or even the color of what is to be eaten. Discuss the attributes of various foods with your child. Pick up and feel its texture. What color is it? What does it smell like? How does it feel in your mouth? Make it fun and your child will soon be a healthy eater.

4. Camouflage Veggies
Okay, this is NOT my favorite strategy, but disguising veggies is helpful in the short-run for the vegetable-challenged child. Getting kids to love whole foods is your long-term goal. Sneaking healthful ingredients into food has been around since moms first made pureed vegetable soup. Stealth health is especially valuable in the initial stages of transforming your picky eater. Making stews and casseroles often changes the texture and melds the flavor of vegetables with other ingredients. Smoothies (both fruit and veggie) are another easy tactic to add more whole foods in a picky eater’s diet. The texture of smoothies easily disguises veggies, so much so they can be impossible to detect. High performance blenders make fresh veggie drinks far superior nutritionally to the high salt content of canned vegetable drinks. V8 Juice® is often recommended as a healthy veggie drink for kids. One serving (5½ ounces) of V8 Juice® contains one-third of a 3 year-old’s and one-fourth of a 4 to 8 year-old’s sodium requirement for an entire day! It’s not the best nutritional choice.

5. Don’t Give Up
Kids are experts at parent manipulation and parents often give up way too soon. Don’t expect your child will love a new food the first time it’s offered. It can take a dozen times or more of offering a new food, before acceptance. Speed up the process by having them taste and experience a veggie at each meal. When you involve your picky eater in food preparation it pays off. Kids have a vested interest in something they helped to cook. And they get the added benefit of experiencing healthy foods with all their senses, before it ever appears on their plate.

Do your best to hide your astonishment the first time your picky eater tastes a previously refused food and likes it. This is what you’ve been working toward, so expect it! After all “Green food is yummy!”

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Contrary to popular belief, picky eaters are not born, they’re made. While we may have a natural preference for certain foods, children eat what their parents purchase and eat.

Growing healthy kids isn’t as difficult as it may seem. What’s hard is for parents to change.

With just two teeth James takes his first tiny bite of a yummy peach!

It’s easy to feed a baby whole foods. The challenge begins with toddlers. Toddlers have minds of their own and they’re happy to express it. Their growth slows and so does their appetites. If you’re feeding your toddler chips, cookies, French fries, and crackers, don’t expect they will ask for veggies.

When dad and mom stuff themselves with junk foods, their kids will emulate what they see. They will certainly follow your lead. Fast food chains know that capturing the youth market is a sure way to get a customer for life and they market to pre-schoolers Click Here for Nonna’s Happy Meal blog.

If you want healthy kids, who love to eat fruit and veggies, then you need to stock your kitchen with fruit and veggies. There’s 3,000 chemicals added to our food supply. Leave processed food on the grocery shelves. If it’s not in your kitchen, then your kids (and you) can’t eat it. When they ask for processed junk food, just open the cupboard and tell them that we no longer have it. Then encourage them to “ Eat Your Colors.”

The hardest part is for you. Your picky eater will not starve. Can you manage without purchasing chips, candy, boxed cookies, fast foods, and pop? Certainly. With the tight economy, think of all the money you’ll save! Processed foods are expensive and have no nutritional value. To help you plan whole food shopping at the grocers, Click Here for a helpful grocery list. That’s where it all begins.

After you have your kitchen stocked with whole foods, then what? Keep the mood at the table happy and express your joy when eating whole foods. Click Here for ideas on how to include your kids in food preparations.

Mangiare Bene (Eat well)!

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Cabbage & Apples

You’ll Need:
1 medium cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 tart apples, cored, diced
2 medium onions, quartered and sliced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
½ cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons spicy mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 Apple slices for a garnish

Method:
1) Sauté the onions, chopped cabbage, and apples in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.
2) Toss with the salt and pepper.
3) In a cup, combine the apple juice concentrate, chicken broth, and mustard and pour over the cabbage mixture.
4) Cover and cook on low for another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

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You can change dinner conflict with your picky eater to fun, multi-sensory, memory-making mealtimes. Play is the way children learn and directed-play allows you to incorporate foods your picky eater has previously refused to eat. Once your child’s imagination is engaged, food, especially veggies, takes on a new perspective.

Try Rannosuarus^TM is a green T-Rex. He’s named “Try,” because he’ll try any food and he especially loves veggies. He has an enormous appetite and eats everything in his path.

Ridge can’t wait. His mom just told him that he has a lunch date at Try Rannosaurus’ Edible Swamp!

Try Rannosaurus’ Edible Swamp
Try’s^TM Edible Prehistoric Swamp is an interactive meal. It makes a great lunch or snack when dinner is going to be later than usual. If you have a toddler picky eater, you’ll want to assemble the ingredients yourself. If your picky eater is a bit older, then have him/her assist in the prep work. The description and set-up of the swamp set the stage for learning.

WooHoo! Playing with Try^TM in his food-swamp is lots of fun. Kids don’t know it’s a learning experience as well. Picky eaters, who are usually put off by the textures of vegetables, will be engrossed with the story and the multi-sensory aspect of the swamp. Make sure your child’s hands are thoroughly washed before you begin.

Prepare a guacamole dip and hummus. Wash and cut veggie strips into three-inch julienne pieces. 

In addition, you’ll need:
One small plastic green T-Rex (for Try Rannosuarus^TM) wash Try^TM  in the sink before you begin
Several whole black olives for volcanic rock
Whole button mushrooms for vegetation placed on one edge of the swamp
Celery, carrot, and cucumbers in julienne slices for fallen trees, logs, etc.
Small zucchini cut into discs are lily pads or a path
Broccoli and cauliflower pulled or cut into small pieces; they are prehistoric bushes

Have your child help with the set-up of the swamp. Choose a flat medium-sized dish. Plop a big dollop of guacamole in the center of the plate and flatten it out. That’s the floor of the swamp. Spread hummus around the swamp, it’s the earth and will serve as “glue” to hold the veggie bushes. Place the black olives as rocks on top of a dollop of hummus. Do the same with button mushrooms in another spot. Let your child’s creativity take over. A larger mound of hummus can become a volcano. Dribble a spoonful of salsa on top and down the sides for lava. You get the idea and I’m sure you’ll come up with more on your own! Don’t give in to the temptation to add chips or other processed snack foods. This activity is about learning to appreciate whole foods. (Picky eaters willingly eat chips and other junk foods!)

While you’re setting the stage for Try’s^TM Swamp, discuss the various veggies. Talk about their colors, textures, scents, and tastes. Who likes to eat these? Of course, Try^TM does! In fact, he’s always on the hunt for something yummy to eat, especially green veggies! Try^TM says wonderful things as he’s chomping away at the vegetation. He often bellows, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a tree” and “Green food is yummy”!

Encourage your picky eater to take bites of everything, just like Try^TM. If fussy child refuses to eat something or has difficulty touching gooey food, such as guacamole dip or hummus, you may take this activity one step further. Think of it as food therapy! You washed Try in the sink before you began, right? Give the toy to your fussy child and instruct him/her to march Try^TM through the swamp. Of course Try^TM will devour everything in his path. Be sure Try^TMgets another bath after he romps through  the Edible Swamp.

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Farmers’ markets are not only fun for the entire family, but they can be a wonderful source for multi-sensory learning. One of the most effective methods for developing healthy eating habits in your kids, especially picky eaters, is to involve them in the entire food process, beginning with your purchase of the week’s groceries.

Farmers’ markets are more intimate than a large chain grocers or big box store. These food producers are directly connected with families who consume their goods. They may bring locally grown, organic, fresh food products to families in a cost-effective, resource-efficient way. Most farmers’ markets start up in the spring and close down in the fall, although a few operate all year.

Organic-food sales currently account for about 2.5 percent of U.S. food purchases, while only .2 percent of U.S. farmland is certified organic. Sales of organic products have been increasing at annual rates of 16 to 20 percent!

While this is encouraging, the U.S. is behind the ball with organic farming. Italy, which is smaller than New Mexico, has more organically farmed acreage than the entire U.S.

Katy is proud of her farmer’s market find…a GI-NORMOUS artichoke!

I regularly shop at the farmers’ market a few miles from my home in Colorado. Fresh, organic locally-grown food is my goal. On Sundays, the Crossroads parking lot is a bustle of activity. The buzz of people make it a shopping experience. Wide-eyed children cling to their moms, hoping for a treat before they head home.

Because the event is held outdoors, many people bring their dogs. Vendors place bowls of water in front of their booths, to keep man’s best friend hydrated.

You can see moms and dads eagerly placing colorful produce into their reusable canvas bags. The produce is gorgeous and it’s tempting to purchase more than we can eat.

The tables, set in the middle of the parking lot, contain a variety of wares and homespun items. You can find locally grown honey, organic beef, and of course produce. There’s a vendor displaying locally made pasta. In the mix are hot dog stands, cotton candy, and donuts. So, just as in the grocery store, not everything found in a farmer’s market is nutritious.

Farmers’ markets, of course, usually don’t sell exclusively organic food; but the emphasis should be on local above all else. In most farmers’ markets, you can find produce grown only miles from your home, which will be the freshest and tastiest produce. Flavor is only one of the perks from locally grown produce. Fruits and vegetables contain their highest levels of nutrients, when harvested fully ripe and eaten soon afterwards.

Locally grown foods are often a better choice
Then again, it can be trucked from thousands of miles way. Be sure to ask the vendor where the food is grown. If it’s not grown in your state, move along to the next vendor.

The farmers’ market in Parker has several produce vendors, one trucks it’s produce in from California. Another is the Palizzi Farm from Brighton, Colorado. A new addition to the Parker market is Monroe Organic Farms from Kersey, Colorado. They’re the oldest organic farm in Colorado. The Monroe Organic Farms it’s still family owned and operated. You can contact Jacquie and Jerry Monroe from their website, http://www.monroefarm.com/. Their table is a bit smaller, because they offer only locally grown organic produce. As summer veggies are harvested, they’ll have more to offer.

If I want to purchase produce shipped 1,000 miles, I’ll shop at a grocery chain or a big box store and it’ll be cheaper. A concern with produce is that much of it comes from Mexico, where regulations don’t always apply. When you purchase produce grown in the U.S., you know that it’s been properly inspected, as well as safe to eat.

I always make a beeline to the Monroe Organic Farm’s and the Palizzi Farm’s tables. Jose is in charge of the Palizzi Farm’s tables and he’s always cheerful. Although, this produce isn’t certified organic, it’s grown with minimal us of pesticides. It’s freshly picked and quickly transported to the farmers’ market.

The Palizzi Farm has been family-owned for four generations. I spoke with Debora Palizzi, who along with her mother Gloria, owns and operates their 145-acre farm today. She said the maximum time the produce is picked before it makes it way to a Colorado farmer’s market is 12 to 24 hours.

Other Costs for Food
Approximately 80 percent of every food dollar you spend pays for advertising, trucking, processing, packaging, and marketing. Purchasing locally grown food supports local farmers and keeps the revenue in your community. This eliminates several steps between the farm and your plate. As the price of gas continues it’s upward climb, local produce will become even a greater bargain.

Farming economists predict there will be less than 400 farmers within the next 20 to 30 years. These farmers will work on mega farms of 30,000 acres or more. Purchasing produce from local farmers, directly supports small farms and increases the likelihood they will survive.

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The mighty cruciferous may have lost a battle, but ultimately won the veggie war. In the last 25 years, people are eating 900 times more broccoli. Today, broccoli is one of the best selling vegetables in the U.S.

Broccoli is one of the healthiest foods you can buy. Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family and it has more than twice as much vitamin C as oranges. Broccoli will boost your immune system and helps to prevent cancer. It also contains folate, vitamin A, potassium, and calcium. In fact, broccoli is loaded with calcium. It strengthens bones, especially important for children whose bones are growing. It is good for your eyes, heart, and colon, too. It’s especially healthful for people with stomach problems and helps prevent indigestion.

Baby broccoli sprouts have super powers. Researchers estimate broccoli sprouts provide ten to 100 times the power of mature broccoli to neutralize carcinogens.

Karlee sees through broccoli’s mild-mannered appearance to its hidden super powers.

When buying broccoli look for a head with a dark green color; sometimes with a purple tinge. The purple means that it has more beta-carotene. If it’s a bit yellow, pass on it. Yellowish color means that it’s old and some of the nutrients are lacking. As with most vegetables, it’s best when eaten within four days of purchase. For even cooking, cut off the woody part of the stalk and discard. Cut the broccoli into little spears.

To make the most of the nutrients STEAM broccoli. The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture reports that boiling broccoli will destroy its nutrients. A study found microwaving the broccoli in water for five minutes at full power produced the greatest nutrient loss and microwaved broccoli lost 74 percent to 97 percent of three key antioxidants. Boiling also led to a significant loss of these antioxidants. In contrast, steaming broccoli over water for three and a half minutes caused only minimal loss of the three antioxidants (0 percent to 11 percent).

Ways to make broccoli interesting for a picky eater:

1) Make a funny-face sandwich with broccoli flowers for hair.

2) Make a dip and serve with broccoli and other sliced veggies.

3) Have your child help clean, cook, and serve it.

4) Buy broccoli sprouts and serve in an omelet or on a sandwich.

5) Make broccoli the Italian way.

6) Have Try Rannosaurus and Betty Baby Bites join you for dinner. They LOVE broccoli.

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#1. Buy produce in season. Not only is “fresh better than frozen; frozen better than canned,” but fresh is usually cheaper, too. For long-lasting produce, store your fruit and veggies in separate bins in your refrigerator. Fruit (produce with seeds) manufacture ethylene gas as they ripen. When fruit are stored with vegetables (produce without seeds), the vegetables loose their green color and spoil more rapidly. You’ll save not only dollars when your veggies and fruit are stored in separate bins, but also flavor, as vegetables stored with fruit will develop a bitter taste.

Even if you love pickles, like Madison,
you don’t have to be in a pickle over grocery shopping.

You can save when you purchase large bags of produce. Bags of bell peppers can be hard to use up before they go bad. I clean, then seed and slice each pepper, place each one in its own baggie in the freezer. That way there’s no waste, just take out a baggie, remove the pepper, and pop it into recipes frozen. It’ll defrost as it cooks. The same can be done with onions. Also, fresh herbs can be frozen.

#2. Purchase frozen orange and apple juice with no added sugars. It’s cheaper than juice from the dairy case or purchased in large containers. Juices found in the dairy case have been pasteurized, destroying nutrients. Also, you are paying more for juice in glass or plastic containers, because you’re paying for the weight of the product.

#3. Never purchase soft, squishy loaves of bread, even though they’re really cheap. These are filled with dough conditioners and chemicals. This is one area where spending more will save in health costs over time. Make sure “whole grain” is the first ingredient and purchase with as few ingredients as possible.

#4. Buy foods with LESS than 5 ingredients. Avoid processed foods which are expensive and contain preservatives, artificial ingredients, altered fats (especially trans fat and interesterified fat), white flour, and sugar. You’ll avoid most processed and junk foods when you shop the outer aisles of the supermarket. Never purchase a food item with a cartoon character. This is almost always a sign of added artificial colors and sugars. Steer clear of the pop, candy, and cereal aisles, which are located in the center of the store. Money spent here is money down the nutritional drain.

#5. Ocean-caught fish is better than farm-raised. Farm-raised fish have more contaminates. The rule of thumb is smaller the fish, the lower the mercury level. Don’t eat the fat. Fat is where fish store contaminates.

#6. Use lean meats, sparingly. This will cut your grocery and doctor bill at the same time. Use recipes that make a little meat go a long way: Casseroles, salads, stews, and stir fries.

#7. Buy in bulk. Big box store prices are hard to beat for purchasing bulk items. Build a pantry of regularly used nutritious staples. Big box stores now carry organic items including raisins, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, applesauce, and canned tuna and chicken. Some produce, like onions, garlic, and potatoes, can be stored for weeks in a cool dark place, like a basement. Warehouse stores also offer frozen organic foods: fruit and vegetables and large packages of organic beef and chicken which can be divided and frozen. If you don’t already have one, purchase a freezer. I have a half-size ice chest in my garage. It holds over 100 pounds of food. It’s not expensive either. You can find them for under $175. (I just saw one yesterday at a garage sale for $75.)

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