HUMMUS! What are YOUR thoughts? Originally published by Michele the…
5 Ways to Identify a Healthy Hoax
5 Ways to Identify a Healthy Hoax
There is a lot of fake healthy around. Here are some ways to identify help from hoax. We want to avoid you spending your WHOLE PAYCHECK on good food. You can do this affordably. Reminder, that I only recommend real organic (when we can find and afford) plant foods.
1.Don’t believe the Hoax Healthy Store or Product Name.
The name of the store doesn’t matter. The name of the store or restaurant might be Organic or Natural but the contents might be conventional. Don’t get sucked into thinking that a store named Farm really has anything from a local farm. A store named Farm might be 99% packaged foods, with very little actual produce. Processed and packaged is not our goal. The fruits and veggies might all be from another country where they don’t have humane labor laws, not to mention produce usually has to be frozen to arrive here from another country.
I was in an “organic” place the other day to check them out, and watching them put all sorts of huge spoonfuls of un-organic fatty crap into my smoothie. The bubbly yet clueless teenage girl said “Oh it’s healthy fat”, like a parent from the 1950’s might say when offering you a cigarette.
2. Is what you’re paying for organic?
You shouldn’t pay more for conventional produce. You can get conventional produce anywhere dirt cheap. Conventional produce is watered with toxins (see the movie Food, Inc.). Don’t pay organic prices for conventional produce. Really watch your dollars here. You can be in the Healthy Green Natural Organic store paying $10 a pound for conventional bell peppers that are full of carcinogens. Please pay attention!
3. Are the prepared foods organic?
Oh that deli and bakery always look so inviting! What about that salad bar? A lot of crap can be hidden inside pre-made and prepared foods. That 3 bean salad on the salad bar and the kale salad on the menu or in the deli window might be made with conventional kale, gmo canola oil and salt that contains aluminum. The bakery, even gluten free goods might be full of high fructose corn syrup. The word Vegan or Vegetarian doesn’t help here either because those words don’t have anything to do with QUALITY of the ingredients. There are very few organic no GMO restaurants and even less salad dressings.
What about boxes, jars and cans in the grocery section? Here is a good example to stay away from processed foods…look at how confusing and money driven this is (and it changes quickly too!):
http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/03/17/big-businesses-behind-organic-brands?cmpid=foodinc-fb
What about the juice bar? Please do not spend $20 on a conventional juice when you can either make your own or find an organic juice for less money.
Today olive oil and honey might not even really BE olive oil or honey, (I address this in my books) so those words don’t help us much either:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/24/opinion/food-chains-extra-virgin-suicide.html?_r=0
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-schiffman/most-store-bought-honey-i_b_1118564.html
and that’s not all:
Fruits and Vegetables are different from LABELED organic products–here are the facts on LABELED organic food products:
The USDA has identified for three categories of labeling organic products:
100% Organic: Made with 100% organic ingredients
Organic: Made with at least 95% organic ingredients
Made With Organic Ingredients: Made with a minimum of 70% organic ingredients with strict restrictions on the remaining 30% including no GMOs (genetically modified organisms)
Products with less than 70% organic ingredients may list organically produced ingredients on the side panel of the package, but may not make any organic claims on the front of the package.
4. Read Before you Buy
Caveat Emptor – Let the buyer beware. Read read read labels and if you can’t pronounce it, your body probably won’t digest it. Not digesting food can cause all sorts of unsexy IBS type symptoms. If a packaged food company cares and they are NOT GMO, they have probably labeled themselves as NON GMO.
5. Ask Questions from Qualified help at the location (if you can find anyone with a clue) or before you go
Ask what’s in something. Ask what oil is used. Ask what oil is used in that salad dressing. Ask if that oil is organic. Ask if the restaurant uses canola oil. Ask to see the salt label and make sure it doesn’t contain aluminum. Ask the restaurant for the ingredient list. If they don’t know what you’re talking about, that’s never a good sign.
A restaurant that cares will say No Lard, No MSG and there will be other conscious verbiage on the menu.
Restaurants and markets and their employees might just not know. This is an education and they really might just not “get it” yet.
The big franchises that have the $$$$$ and ability to filter what they offer just don’t. Wouldn’t it be great if that big lit up store HEALTHY EVERYTHING was really full of healthy everything? It’s not. The bullshit is the prices they are charging. If the store was called Random Crap, which is what they offer, they wouldn’t get away with that high pricing.
There are few awesome restaurants around, when you find one, treasure it and vote with your dollars there!
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Confused? You can call me. I work with a lot of folks. You are not alone. We have so many choices now it’s crazy out there.
Don’t give up. Identifying good food is FUN!
Maybe we don’t know how to shop because they never thought about it or learned it. (It is a learned art and really makes a difference to your household finances)
Maybe we don’t know how to make beans on the stove. (Have you been driving through to get beans your entire life?)
Maybe we don’t know how to make a salad (That’s why I wrote my book Sexy Salads). http://www.amazon.com/Michele-the-Trainer/e/B0075W9PJI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
I can teach you all these little tricks. I also know where to shop and where to eat in your area.
If you want to learn to buy food, grow food, cook, prep or shop I’m here for you. We can do a store or market tour. I can even help you over the phone no matter where you are.
Remember, we want to avoid you spending your WHOLE PAYCHECK on healthy delicious food. You can do this affordably!
Want to Know More?
michele@michelethetrainer.com
www.michelethetrainer.com
www.michelethespeaker.com
877-409-1758
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