How To Live Well With No Money...Part 1

To take my mind off the impending doom of an even more disgustingly powerful and corrupt FDA, I'm going to post an awesomely happy and helpful blog. See link below for icky details.

Kiss your organics goodbye.

How To Live Well With No Money

It seems difficult to do, doesn't it? It can be. Buying things is fun, and it's lame to go shopping with an empty wallet. But when I say living well I mean living well in the NOW. Yep. In this little moment right here, where you and I are sharing a few words online together. So, the best way to live well in the now is to feel well, look well, and truly be vibrant now. The past doesn't exist, and the future isn't any more tangible than a dream.

If you're one of those people who wonder why I don't gorge myself on burgers and milkshakes because no matter what I do, I'm just gonna die anyway...holy crap, you annoy me. Pay attention. You and I, we're all going to die. But I'm not dead now, and whether I die tomorrow or in 80 years doesn't matter, because I'm alive and feeling amazing. Right now, I'm alive. Right now, I'm breathing clearly, my back doesn't hurt, I'm not groggy, I'm not dying without coffee, I can stand my family without a drink and my body feels happy. Even though all these things are physical, they have a huge impact on my emotional, mental, and spiritual health. I'm feeling good, and I can afford it because it's CHEAPER than living a sedentary, junk food filled and ultimately self deprecating lifestyle. You might think it's cost effective to buy flats of sodium filled ramen and ass end meat to feed your family, but there's a way out and I know it, cause I found it myself a few years back.

So, you want to take simple steps to eliminate costs and live a vibrant, healthy life at the same time? I say, done and done. Here's a few things to get you started.

This isn't something you can add or calculate, but it's at the top of the list for a reason: STOP THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU CAN'T AFFORD THINGS! You can afford things. If you truly need them, you'll find a way. Thinking about way to afford things is a positive motion. Yes, thoughts are things, and thoughts about not being able to pay for things will create lots of ways for you to be miserable and in debt. Focus all your financial mental power on solutions, and they come.

Somehow, even though I absolutely CANNOT afford them brand new, I own 2 Harajuku Lovers bags. One was a gift, and one was a super rare find at an outlet store. I can afford presents and things that are 75% off. Think before buying, shop smart, and NEVER pay full price for anything. Creativity will serve you well here.

$$$ saved: Peace of mind!

Can't find the time to exercise? Cancel your cable. Face it, it's probably one of the biggest bills you face each month, and it doesn't contribute anything positive to your life. It's actually one of your biggest sources of excuses. And if you just said you need it for The History Channel, you are lying, and I don't care how much you think you need to watch The Biggest Loser, loser.You've got internet, so if you love your favorite show that much, watch it streaming on the channel's website.

Speaking from experience, once you discover how much there is to do when you're not watching TV, all those favorite shows become a distant memory. Go back to school online. Look at your children in the face. Go to the library. My top suggestion? Invest in a Netflix account. For less than $20 a month, you can rent an unlimited amount of three DVDs at a time: a learning program for you children, a waste of time action flick for your significant other, and a documentary for you. You can rent BluRay, too, and you also get unlimited online movies streaming right on your computer. It's actually better than having Comcast OnDemand.

Now that you have no cable, you are ready for the fitness to commence. Now we're going to save even more money by spending absolutely nothing on fitness classes, space eating treadmills, or gym memberships. If you went ahead with the Netflix, you are in luck. Now you have hundreds of workouts streaming to your computer whenever you're ready, like soothing yoga and tai chi, hardcore Jillian weight routines, cardio dance parties, Pilates, and pretty much anything else you can think of. You can also rent even more exercise DVDs and try them out to see if you'd like to buy them. Having a wide variety of workouts that are constantly changing is the key to getting thin and staying fit. You won't get bored and your muscles won't have a chance to memorize your routines, so you'll never plateau.

$$$ saved: $40-100 a month on cable, and who knows how many hundreds on a gym membership.

Maybe you're trying to figure out how to drink more water, or worse, how to get your kids to drink more water. You might even be dumping a ton of cash on bottles of water. Let's fix both of these problems now: get a filter, and stop buying drinkable crap. Water is free, but of course, free is never truly free, and the high cost of tap water is ingesting chlorine, arsenic and fluoride. A good solution is picking up one of the many filters out there that you can use to “make” water at home, without dropping money on plastic bottles that suck. Replacing a filter every few months is cheaper in the long run, and if you've got the chance, go and get a pH water filter and alkalize your body! Kangen water (alkaline water) is the best water I know of for your body, and definitely worth looking into.

Once you get that filter going, you can quit buying all that other stuff that isn't water. There is, and I'm not lying, nothing in the world that you need to drink besides water. Even fresh squeezed juice, the only sort of juice you should ever drink, isn't necessary. If your kids like soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, or other “healthy” drinks, don't forget that it is a luxury, not a necessity, and limit their intake. Cut it off entirely if you buy the sugar filled crap, and switch to something plain and without additives. Like WATER. Lose the juice, don't even look at the soda, the energy drinks, and whatever else they have out there nowadays because I don't even pay attention anymore. I dare anyone to come up with something besides water that they can truly justify drinking as a necessity.

$ saved: Some people spend $40 or more a month on alcohol, soda, and bottled juice. $40 worth of pain and devastation to your body. Come on.

Everyone's life is different. Right now I'm sure you could name 5 things you put in or on your body every month that costs you money and worse, costs you wellness. This is just a couple of things off the top of my head that I've had success with, both financially and physically. Let go, have fun, and embrace a new reality, one in which you accept only the best for yourself, on all levels.

Chronic Disease...

Chronic disease is just about the last thing you want to see a doctor for, outside of a diagnosis, because after the diagnosis, the doctor becomes nothing more than a drug pusher. “Hey, we haven't come up with a cure for your problem, let alone an explanation for what it even is, so until we do, shut up and get high.” Having a chronic disease is doubly awful on top of that, because each person's symptoms are different. What constitutes Chronic Fatigue or Crohn's Disease for one means Fibromyalgia for another.

What it usually boils down to is toxins, food allergies, auto-intoxication, vaccines, parasites, Candida...again, for everyone it's different, but it's out there. There IS a reason this is happening, and it may not even be physical. Disease can be and is born from emotional and spiritual suffering or dysfunction. Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors firmly believe that disease begins in the soul or spiritual body, and by the time it manifests in the physical body as illness, you have already been sick for quite some time. An illness in the body is the last stage of illness in the whole person; body, mind, and spirit.

I have a very intimate relationship with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in particular. How is that? I married it. Well, I married a person, but somehow...a lot of the time it seemed as though I had married the conditions themselves. If left unhealed, chronic conditions can steal your personality, your passions, your lust for life, and leave you a hollow version of yourself. Much of this is due to the despair felt when a medical doctor, praised here in America for their “knowledge” of disease, tells the sufferer that nothing can be done, or worse, that it's psychosomatic. They load you up with narcotics and send you to a specialist, who specializes in letting you know that there is no “cure”, that they cannot “treat” your condition, and you have to learn to deal with it.

Why, then, do people all over the world who once suffered from chronic disease suddenly find themselves “cured”? It's because they chose to HEAL. Healing is the opposite of curing and the only thing that truly exists. Drugs, the FDA claims, are the only things in the world that can cure a disease. But how many pharmaceutical drugs really cure anything? Or a better question to ask is, how many pharmaceutical drugs simply cover up symptoms of conditions that doctors proclaim to be incurable? Conditions that people heal themselves from each and every day?

Drugs, whether sold out of a stranger's pocket or your local pharmacy, are never the final answer, because you should never look for a “cure”. That would imply that the power to heal is without, when really, it is WITHIN YOU. You, as you are now, are perfectly capable of healing yourself. Your body was designed to heal itself, and if you allow it to by providing it the right conditions, you will witness a miracle. The fact that you have a chronic condition is a blessing, because it is simply your body telling you that something is very wrong, and you need to alter certain aspects of your life. It's okay if you don't know which ones yet. The important thing now is to take back your power. As a human, you have the gift of healing yourself. It lies waiting within you. It's not inside any doctor's office, any pharmacy, and it's not within any of your friends, your family, or your religion. It's not without. It's within. Honor your body, and choose to listen to what it's saying.

This is an obstacle, like any other in your life, and the moment you choose disease over health, you are giving your power to someone or something else. This is the age of information. It's available to all who look for it. And when you're on the other side and all of this is just a dark memory, you'll only have yourself to thank. Oh, well, and me, too. I like presents?

Vitacost and it's awesomeness...

I look forward to my Vitacost supplement catalog in the mail like any random guy aged 18-24 anticipates his Maxim. It's just part of being so wrapped up in health and nutrition; you forget that there are magazines with more pictures of naked chicks and less pictures of liquefied grass.

To be honest, I'm already filling my cart back up with things I need for my upcoming parasite cleanse, which of course I'll be blogging about, but right now I want to share with you the joys of buying bulk supplements online.

I like to go to my local health food store to grab a bottle of kombucha, some locally baked vegan cookies, raw foods like dehydrated brownies and flax breads, and other good local or perishable items. The supplements, however, are on such a high markup that I wouldn't be able to afford them if I bought them there. Lame. Vitacost is a great alternative for those things that are on the markup list, like pills, powders, and non perishables.

I buy things like powdered vitamins, my kids' supplements, and bulk chia seeds, milled hemp, flaxseeds, ect. Here's my last order

You're looking at a two month supply of whole food powder vitamins, children's green food supplements, a pound of chia seeds and a pound of organic milled hemp. They have this cool shipping thing where it's only $4.99 to ship no matter how much it weighs (effectively getting me to buy more), so all this only set me back $50. It might seem like a lot, but when you don't spend all your money on crap at the grocery store, you can just take the leftover money and drop it on good stuff like this. Even my family, living below the poverty line, can afford optimal health ordering like this in bulk.

And Vitacost always has some special going on. Every time I order I use a code I've gotten through a catalog, an email, or a coupon site. This time I got a free mouse pad and a free 2 week supply of this awesome new children's supplement. It's not powder or a chewable, it's little candy rocks, like Pop Rocks without the popping. Free, baby! I also got 10 issues of Health magazine for free, whatever that is. I'm sure it will inspire many angry blogs in the future, as do most health magazines I see on the stands today.

Does 50 bucks still seem like a lot? It is. But at my local health food store, a pound of chia seeds is $23, a pound of milled hemp is $14, ONE can of whole food powder is $25, and children's green supplements are $18. That brings my total for this order to a cool $105 dollars, and I didn't get a mouse pad, a magazine subscription, or a free children's vitamin sample. I lose the game.

So there. Bulk health. And they ship really quickly, too. I usually wait 2-3 days to get my order. Right now I'm shopping for a good parasite combo pill and I've already found a great colon cleansing supplement. It's cascara sagrada based, NOT senna, haha, because I want to have a life. Senna is only for extreme cases, like people who have been eating fast food their whole life and never done a cleanse. Are you excited? I am. If I find any parasites in the toilet, though, I'm going to flip. 85% of Americans have at least one parasite leeching off of them, so my odds aren't great that I'll come out clean. Wish me luck!

Oh, and remember the Hummus blog? Here's a pic of some Raw Sunflower Seed Hummus I made later that day.



CREAMY GOODNESS!

TEA!

Blah. I hate the Internet. Or rather, I hate my service provider. Sorry, it's been so long since I've updated but I've actually been sans teh intrawebs all this time. I know, I nearly lost my mind.

I am preparing for my final exam so I'm devoting a lot of time to my own personal cram school, but that can't stop me from SHOPPING! I got this amazingly cool teapot over at Ross. Check the pic!

It's ideal for what I need it for- loose herbal infusions. You just put your loose tea leaves, herbs, roots, or whatever else into the basket and pour hot water over them. Steep all the live long day, like I do, and enjoy! Right now I'm doing my detox blend. Mine. The one I put together. It's got Dandelion, Burdock, Licorice, Pau d'Arco, Milk Thistle...all that good stuff. I also use it with tea bags, too. If I'm confusing anyone, all you need to know is tea=tea leaves. Herbs in water are not tea. That is an herbal blend or infusion, tisane, etc. Tea is either black, white or green.

I just found this thing in the underbelly of my local Ross, which is the crappy one at Country Club Mall. It's within walking distance to my house, though, and I haven't had internet for 7 days. I've had to text people with lives to find out what the weather was like. We don't have TV or newspapers, so I was sort of left to my own devices, and those devices drove me nuts. So I went shopping a lot. This is the 6 cup version, and there was also one half the size, but I do a lot of steeping.

Speaking of infusions, I've been rooting around my neighborhood and the internet, trying to dig up some interesting herbal blends. I found this blend over at Trader Joe's called Ruby Red Chai. I notoriously HATE Chai, but this was the only Rooibos they had and I love Rooibos, so I decided to give it a try. It's unbelievably good.

I'm also excited to try out some of Sarah's blends from Homegrown Herb and Tea. She has so many original flavors and ideas and the shop is beautiful. I rarely come across herbal blends made just for children, and she has quite a few, plus teas for pregnant women and a wide array of healing blends. I'm about to order me some Muddy Mate. Raw cacao in an herbal infusion? Yes, please! You must come and see these, they are very tempting, and the site itself is gorgeous. I love people who understand the delicate nature of balancing an herbal blend :)

Mmm...Hummus...

Hummus is awesome. I love it. So I eat it almost every day. It can get pricey and it's impossible to buy raw hummus anywhere near me so I like to make it. WITH MY MAGIC BULLET WHICH IS AWESOME! I love my Magic Bullet.

Have these things:

Raw Sunflower Seeds or Sesame Seeds (I prefer Sunflower)
Cold Pressed Olive Oil
Raw Garlic
Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt (you seriously weren't going to use table salt, right? Throw it out!)
Sprouted Chickpeas/Garbanzos
Lemon Juice

And whatever else you feel like. It's that simple. Here's my favorite way to make it with my Magic Bullet, but you can use a regular food processor just fine.

Soak sunflower seeds in purified water for 2 hours, or overnight if you have that kind of presence of mind. How much depends on you. I usually soak about a half a cup because this hummus needs to be used within 5 days. Grind those suckers up in your processor with a little olive oil, garlic and salt, lemon juice, and any other spices you like. If you need to add water, go ahead. I always do.

Process until it's creamy, and voila! It's tahini (sort of). Now we can start throwing stuff in like crazy. I like to add my garbanzos in at this point, maybe a little more oil, and sometimes I'll throw in one hot pepper, onions, parsley, cayenne, coriander...whatever sounds good. You can even add things like tomatoes or leeks. Get uber creative. It's your hummus.

I actually don't usually add salt. The amount of sodium I obtain from eating vegetable is plenty for my body. Using quality salts like Himalayan Pink Salt can provide useful amounts of minerals for your body but overall I avoid it. There is so much salt in the world that you can't avoid that it seems silly (and dangerous) to add more. What I do like, though, is dehydrated celery flakes. Celery has such a salty flavor that when dehydrated and sprinkled on food, it tastes just like salt. Give that a shot next time you dig your dehydrator out of the garage and dust it off.

Happy Hummus Time!

Omega Oils, Hype, and Supplements...

When the hype hits you, you'll know it. It starts with a news headline, usually reading something like, "New Study Proves Old Study False!" Which, in a nutshell, is the nature of virtually all studies you'll hear about on the news from now until the end of time (or the reign of medical licensing). Some things they report on are blatant lies, made true by inadequately performed "studies" where they test the biological responses of rats or the elderly and then pretend it has some sort of bearing on the general public.

But every now and then, the truth peeks it's head out and insists on being seen, even by the controlled media. The importance of essential fatty acids in the diet is one of those things, but unfortunately, it too has suffered much of the hype that tend to make the public wary of natural and effective nutritional supplements. Manufacturers make elaborate claims and the media make sensational headlines that made people wonder just how effective and necessary these things could be if they've lived this long without them.

After careful study, I am of the opinion that daily consumption of essential fatty acids is not only a good idea, it is a good prevention. EFAs, commonly known as omega fats, LA and ALA, and other terms that denote what I'll refer to as omega 3 and omega 6, are two fatty acids that are called essential because your body cannot make them within itself.

I know that there's been a lot of talk about needing omega 3, even though there are a couple of these (omega 3, 6, and 9) and the first two are essential. Even in the Standard American Diet, which we'll refer to as the SAD diet (haha), omega 6 and 9 are really easy to get. In fact, you probably get too much, just like you get far too much protein, fat, and other things in the SAD diet. We'll stick to the omegas right now and assure you that there is not nearly as much need to supplement 6 and 9 as there is 3. Omega 3 is also easy to obtain, but not in the SAD diet. And that's the crucial factor behind everyone freaking the hell out over omega 3. You actually need more omega 3, much more than 6 or 9, and getting too little can offset your body and allow for inflammation to occur. Supplementing omega 3 in much higher amounts than 6 and 9, at least in a ration of 4 to 1 or higher, is not only ideal, it's essential to achieving optimal health. Isn't that our goal?

A few of the nice things omega 3 can help you with:

Anti-Inflammatory
Maintain triglycerides and HDL cholesterol
Cell membrane structure
Hormone production
Depression
Cardiovascular disease
Weight loss
Fertility and menstrual problems

It is essential. You can try to run your body without it, but eventually crap is going to start to fall apart, and it won't be pretty. You might as well give in to nature and give it what it wants.

Fortunately, omega 3 is really simple to get into your system. You can eat foods that are rich in omegas, or you can take supplements, or you can do both and be super cool (and broke). Don't go for cheap when taking supplements, and I suggest staying away from fish. We'll steer clear of the facts about the effects of animal fat and animal protein on your body and look at the dangers of consuming fish and fish supplements.

Dude, fish is dyed. Pink salmon = pink food coloring. You want organic, wild salmon? You'll be paying for it, and paying dearly. Safety concerns about fish and fish oils include bacterial and viral contamination, parasites, and the most hyped of them all, toxins. Wild organic pacific salmon contains the lowest levels of toxins, but it still contains toxins. Any other fish or fish oil contains more. What toxins? I'm referring to mercury, methyl mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and other environmental pollutants. And in order to get a good amount of omega 3 from fish alone, you'll either have to supplement fish oil every single day and receive a nice daily dose of toxins, or you'll have to eat fish a few times a week. And unless eating raw fish that often is an option for you, consider other, safer and non heated sources of omega 3. Fats can't take much heat, and the higher the temperature the oil is exposed to, the less chance you have of it being at all useful to your body.

There are plenty of organic, non toxic, unheated and fresh sources of omega 3 that you can take every day without worry about consuming enough chemicals to develop an annoying superpower. For everyone reading this that offends the public while wearing spandex, I give you the baddest list ever of omega rich foods that are good for you. Period.

Algae
Chia seeds
Hemp
Flaxseed
Walnuts
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Soy oil
Canola oil
Wheat germ
Leafy vegetables

If you use an oil, such as hemp oil, use it cold and buy it cold pressed. Algae supplements are a snap to find in any health food store or online vitamin shop. Chia seeds are amazing, and don't need to be ground. Hemp is a nutritional powerhouse, combining an amazing omega 3-6-9 balance and loads of amino acids. Later on, I'll take you through some other "superfoods" one by one and slay the hype monster once and for all. For now, go sprinkle some fresh ground flaxseeds into your cereal, pour some hemp oil into your smoothie and have an omega day. Oh, wait, that would be like, your last day ever.

(Some more awesome info like this can be found in "The New Optimum Nutrition Bible" by Patrick Holford, and "Fish Oil, Omega 3, and Essential Fatty Acids" by Barbara Wexler, MPH. Reading is nice for your head. It kills the dumb.)

Kombucha Heaven...Part 1

By now, if you've been following anything I do, you've most likely heard me use the word Kombucha quite often. I am referring to an ancient Chinese beverage that has an amazing capacity for healing. It is a fermented food, much like yogurt, miso, or sauerkraut, and yet even though these things enjoy much popularity here in America, the idea of Kombucha is thought to be weird or gross, simply because it isn't as widely known. It can also be a little difficult to come by, although I can literally walk to two different stores from my apartment right now and buy myself a bottle of Kombucha within 30 minutes, so unless you live in one of those highway ghost towns, you're standing pretty close to some Kombucha as you read this. Well, you're probably sitting. And if you do happen to live in a highway ghost town, I recommend standing and possibly running away, because there's most likely a guy wanting to wear your face who can walk to your house within 30 minutes.

One of my favorite brands of Kombucha is GT, and they have a wide assortment of Kombucha bottled with raw fruit juices, herbal extracts, and superfoods called Synergy. The great thing about Kombucha is that it's very bubbly, just like soda is, but it isn't carbonated. It's naturally effervescent, so if you've got a soda addiction or a craving for carbonated beverages, Kombucha is your ticket out. Just like eating yogurt or taking probiotic capsules, Kombucha will naturally restore your intestinal microflora with literally a billion organisms per serving. It hosts an awesome array of vitamins and has high amounts of many B complex vitamins. Kombucha is, in a phrase, freaking hot!

The process for making it at home is similar to sprouting. You begin with a Mother culture, or SCOBY (I'm not yelling for emphasis, the letters mean stuff) and you allow it to ferment in a dark place in your kitchen for about a week. Since I don't like being bathed in unstable electromagnetic death rays, and because I am not a comic book villain, I have no use for my microwave and it has become my sprouting/Kombucha brewing sunlight shielder. Money well spent.

Whenever you brew a new batch, the Mother makes a Baby, which can be used to make another batch, or can be given away since the Mother can be used time and time again. In this way, you can give Kombucha to all your friends. Or you can be super selfish and just keep them and make double batches. This is my dark master plan.

The problem begins when you don't know anyone who makes this awesome drink and need a Mother to start a batch. Can't have a Baby without a Mother, right? So, you can order one online, or ask around at your local health food store. But this blog is about FREE stuff, and ordering a Mother online is easy but can cost you about 25$ or more. I know it's not a whole lot of money, but when you're scraping together your last bit of cash to buy your family a bag of organic sweet potatos, dropping 25 bucks on a bag of slime seems a bit steep. I get that. So, I present to you this video made by really cool guys that I don't know but wish that I did.



Using this process, I've started my first homemade Kombucha Mother, who is almost two weeks old (aww!). She will be finished around July 25th, and I will keep you posted on the continuing process.

Here is a picture after a few days of fermentation. You can see that there are just bubbles forming.



And here we are a little after the end of week 1. You can already see the Mother beginning to form on top of the liquid.



My Kombucha journey is really exciting, because I have a pretty pricey Kombucha habit and spending money gives me a pain in my kidneys. If you add up all the money you spend on beverages other than water, it's usually more than you can afford. Try it! And if you want a Kombucha baby, drop me a line. You know where to reach me. In the meantime, I am going to be drinking GT Synergy's "Trilogy" flavor, brushing up on the California legal system, and checking out the website of a Maine based Ayurvedic tea shop that looks interesting. Later!

Grocery Store Cheat Codes...

If your grocery store was a sweet Sega CD emulator, this whole eating right thing would be a whole lot easier, cause you'd just enter in the cheat information and boom, you'd be playing "Healthy Eating Fantasy Part XIV A" at level 99 with infinite health and mana. But real life isn't quite as simple as lining up the codes right. Infinite health is possible, but the equation is different for everyone. However, there are a few simple rules that anyone can implement to make the grocery store grind a little less confusing, especially if you think buying the diet version of everything does anything other than make your butt wider.

So here I'm going to share with you a client handout that I, in my infinite awesomeness, formulated to give you a fighting chance at walking out of Super Shopping Save Max Mart with a cart full of goodies that will do a little less to kill you and a lot more to heal you. Wow, you say. Say it. Because this is free for you, blog readers. It goes with a packet for clients who have a LOT of diet changes to implement, and is just one of the many educational handouts I'm currently working in anticipation of beginning a nutritional consultation business.

~*~*~*~*~*~

What CAN I Eat?

Changing one's diet can feel overwhelming at first, especially when it seems that all your favorite foods are now “off limits”. Here are some tips that can help you to make these new changes into old habits with ease. Take this handout with you on your next grocery trip.

• Carbohydrates are not evil. Focus on complex carbohydrates, not refined ones. If you like bread and pasta, enjoy it! Buy organic sprouted grain breads, and try flaxseed pasta. Flourless varieties are best. Organic brown rice bread and pastas are gluten-free and a great choice. You can even buy sprouted grain tortillas!

• Organic is key. When given the choice, always choose organic. You cannot tell the difference between real food and genetically modified food by looking at it, and you cannot wash away the chemicals it absorbed.

• Read ingredient lists, even on “healthy” foods. Don't assume something is healthy just because the package tells you it is. Many alternatives to dairy products have carrageenan and added oils. If it's processed in any way, skip it! For instance, a carton of soy milk should contain nothing but organic soybeans and water (and added vitamins if the product is fortified). Many “sugar free” foods contain artificial sweeteners that are detrimental to your health.

• Cooked food is dead food! The farther your food is removed from it's natural state, the less it will nourish your body. Focus on fresh food. Choose frozen over canned, and fresh over frozen. Raw nuts and seeds will provide much more nutrition than roasted.

• Bottled juice is not juice. It's been boiled, pasteurized, and doesn't even closely resemble real fruit juice. It has more in common with soda than it does fruit, and should be avoided. Fruit is best eaten whole, or juiced fresh at home and consumed immediately.

• Which lettuce is best? Buy spinach or romaine instead of iceberg for a salad, or pick up a package of organic mixed greens for a quick nutritious main dish or side. Wash them well, even if they are pre-washed.

• Dried or canned? When shopping for beans, dried is superior. If you buy them, remember to soak them overnight before cooking them. The exception for soaking is lentils, and they should be on your shopping list. Try sprouting them for salads or sandwiches.

• High fiber cereal? Check the sugar content. Just because it isn't marketed to children doesn't mean it isn't covered with flavoring, additives, and dyes. Try hot, whole grain cereals, and avoid ones that are instant or flavored. Many grocery stores have bulk bins where you can buy 8 grain cereals by the pound and save lots of money on your families' breakfast.

• The dangers of “diet”. Never buy the diet version of anything. It will not help you to lose weight and in many cases contains chemicals that will make you hungrier (and fatter). Buy the real thing or something better.

And most importantly,

• If in doubt, throw it out (of the shopping cart). If you've read the label and can't understand what the food is made of, it isn't food at all. Put it back and find something you feel more confident putting in your body. In today's supermarkets it's easy to find wholesome food, and the best place to do that is by sticking to the outer aisles of the store.