Last week I made my feelings clear about “health food” stores and all of the organic junk food that they sell. I do love that these stores usually offer a wide variety (and high quality) selection of organic produce as well as a nice assortment of whole-grain products. But you still have to have your guard up when you are shopping because, as I mentioned, everything that health food stores offer is by no means “real food” approved. So what better thing to do than share a “cheat sheet” to help you navigate through all of that junk to find the good, wholesome, real food?
I spent a great deal of time walking through our local Earth Fare store (the South Charlotte location) looking at every single product that they sell. I know not everyone lives in Charlotte (or shops at Earth Fare for that matter!), but a lot of the products that they carry are sold nationwide. So what I came up with was an eleven-page bullet point list of every single item that you could buy and eat/drink from Earth Fare if you were following our real food rules. This document is the perfect “cheat sheet” for those taking the 10 Days of Real Food pledge. Oh how I wish I had this handed over to me when we started our 100 Days of Real Food pledge last year!
The document is being housed on my Facebook fan page and can be downloaded for free. Here are the instructions to get your copy…
- Go to the “100 Days of Real Food” Facebook fan page (sign into your FB account if necessary)
- If you don’t already “like” the page you need to do so in order to access the document
- Make sure you are on the “Free Guide!” page (link is on the left-hand side)
- Click on the “Cheat Sheet” document icon to download the PDF file to your computer
[Entered into Food Renegade Fight Back Friday]
I love the Earth Fare cheat sheet butI do have one question. I’ll admit that I do not know much about meat or buying meat. Are any of the Plainville Farms pckaged meats (Chicken, ground turkey, etc) okay? The package states “vegetarian fed, no growth hormones, etc) but I am not sure it meets your “local” criteria.
Hi Tricia. I am not familiar with the Plainville Farms meats…and, not knowing where you are located, it’s hard to say if that would be considered local for you. Sorry I can’t be of further assistance. Jill
I noticed Hershey’s Cocoa is on your Real Food Cheat Sheet. I was recently researching cocoas, and they are now also being contaminated with GMO’s, so it’s best to write to the chocolate company you most frequently buy from and ask them directly.
Also, the more I research canola oil, soy, tofu etc., the more I have come to understand that soy-based products touted as health food is one of the biggest scams in the food industry, including organic soy products. The difficult thing is canola oil is in SO much of our food now and very hard to avoid. We are trying to eliminate it as much as possible. Canola oil seems to be in all salad dressings, but it is quite easy to make your own vinaigrettes without it that taste just fine.
Hi I just found your website last night while searching for ways to begin getting my family into a clean eating lifestyle. I really am interested by all of the receipes that I have found and am looking forward to introducing healthy living to my girls. Thanks!
Hello Julie. No, we do not use agave. This might help explain why: http://www.foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/. We stick with honey, maple syrup, and maybe 100% fruit juice concentrate. ~Amy
Are legumes, canned or dried, a whole food? I didn’t see it on any of your lists.
Hi Yvette. Yes, we enjoy lots of legumes. :) ~Amy
I was wondering what you think is more healthy, store bought wheat bread or homemade bread made with all purpose four?
Hi Heidi. That’s a tough call because we avoid refined white flour as well as all the chemical ingredients in store bought “Franken-bread” though you can find high quality, low ingredient bread such as Ezekial. :) Personally, however, I’d choose a piece of homemade white bread over most store-bought breads.