If you’re like more and more Americans, you’re trying your hardest to enhance your quality of life and wellness. That’s a good step in the right direction. A lot of people believe that by shopping at their local health food store they can make grand strides. But could it be all it’s cracked up to be? Is the excess cost worthwhile and is everything in a health food store more expensive? Also, is everything truly healthy?
I really do think it’s fantastic and helpful to spend more of one’s time and food budget at a health food store. I believe that you could have increased use of local, gluten free hong kong organic produce; clean meats and fish; and the ability to buy items in bulk, a good money-saver! I lead Walking Nutrition Tours within my area to teach people relating to this exactly!
But you’re correct in noting that simply because it’s a health food store, it does not mean everything is a perfect food or worth the excess cost.
As together with your traditional supermarket, I’d still encourage you to to begin with, shop the periphery. The exterior chapters of the stores generally are where you’ll get the produce, meats, and milk products, those items I encourage you may spend your money on. It’s in the guts aisles that you’ll more often get the packaged foods, replete with added sweeteners, rancid oils, and genetically modified ingredients.
That means my second recommendation is to learn labels. Consider granola. Once considered to the be the food of the hippie generation of the 1960s and 70s, it’s now a ubiquitous item, containing added sugar and refined oils. This stands true wherever you buy it. I encourage you to scan the label of the granola you might get in the food store the next time you shop, or those organic cookies you might love. I will almost guarantee they’ll have added sugar. Essentially, a packaged product is a processed food, no matter what name you call it or where you get it. Buying cookies or potato chips at a health food store doesn’t cause them to become much healthier than buying them elsewhere.
A way to cut costs is to, again, read labels: price labels. A package of regular pasta is a box of pasta, purchasing it at a health food store doesn’t ensure it is healthier in just about any way. Or, in regards to produce, you do have increased use of organic and local items. But, if you choose to get conventional produce or frozen produce, there’s no difference in quality between a traditional supermarket and your quality of life food store, so go with the cheaper item.