If you’re like more and more Americans, you’re trying your hardest to improve your wellbeing and wellness. That’s a good part of the right direction. A lot of people believe by shopping at their local health grocery they can make grand strides. But can it be all it’s cracked up to be? Is the extra cost worth it and is everything in a health grocery more expensive? Also, is everything truly healthy?
I do think it’s fantastic and helpful to invest more of one’s time and food budget at a health food store. I think that you could have increased access to local, gluten free online organic produce; clean meats and fish; and the ability to buy items in bulk, a good money-saver! I lead Walking Nutrition Tours in my area to instruct people about any of it exactly!
But you’re correct in noting that just because it’s a health grocery, it generally does not mean everything is an ideal food or worth the extra cost.
As with your traditional supermarket, I’d still encourage one to first of all, shop the periphery. The outside sections of the stores generally are where you’ll find the produce, meats, and dairy products, the things I encourage you may spend your hard earned money on. It’s in the guts aisles that you’ll more frequently find 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 one to scan the label of the granola you may grab in the grocery next time you shop, or those organic cookies you may love. I could almost guarantee they’ll have added sugar. Essentially, a packaged product is really a processed food, no matter what name you call it or where you purchase it. Buying cookies or potato chips at a health grocery doesn’t make them much healthier than buying them elsewhere.
Ways to save money is always to, again, read labels: price labels. A field of regular pasta is really a box of pasta, purchasing it at a health grocery doesn’t make it healthier in virtually any way. Or, as it pertains to produce, you do have increased access to organic and local items. But, if you select to buy conventional produce or frozen produce, there’s no difference in quality between a traditional supermarket and your wellbeing grocery, so opt for the cheaper item.
