Whole Food Plant-Based Shopping Guide
Let’s face it, transitioning to a whole food plant-based lifestyle can be daunting. It feels like you’re giving up so much more than what you’re receiving. But let’s keep this real, what you’re giving up is killing you, so get off your high horse and learn how you can adapt to a healthy lifestyle that will not only save your life, it will have you shedding pounds you never dreamed you’d lose, much less keep off. It will also provide you with so much energy you’ll be able to power the next outage in Texas!
Shop the Entire Grocery Store
There are aisles loaded with healthy items you may not be aware of:
Grains; whole intact grains like brown rice, quinoa, oats, amaranth, pearl barley, pasta, bread
Pulses; dry peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils
Canned Items; beans, sauces, vegetables - look for no/low sodium, no added sweeteners or oil
Nuts and Seeds; pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, raw walnuts and cashews, flax, chia, and hemp seeds, fresh ground nut butters
Frozen Foods; fruit and vegetables
Non-Dairy Milk; soy, almond, cashew, rice milk, oat, hemp
Fresh Fruit and Produce; organic if it fits into your budget
Herbs and Spices; chili powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, herb blends, nutritional yeast, etc.
Convenience Foods
You’re going to look at fast, convenient food differently. There are plenty of healthy convenient options that aren’t laden with salt, sugar and oil.
Pre-chopped fruits and vegetables; the produce aisles are exploding with sliced pineapple, apples, watermelon, zucchini noodles, broccoli and cauliflower florets, stir fry veggies, chopped onions and sliced mushrooms.
Par-boiled grains such as rice and quinoa that all you have to do is heat in the microwave, watch for added oil
Pre-made whole wheat pizza crust and pizza kits; my favorite is PlantStrong brand available at many Whole Foods stores
Cereals; GrapeNuts, Shredded Wheat, Granola - look for no added sugar, salt or oil
Frozen foods; vegetables and fruit. My favorite is frozen hash brown potatoes, riced cauliflower and broccoli florets
Jar items; spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, curry paste, tamari or coconut aminos, salsa. Again watch for no added sugar, salt, or oil.
Learn How to Read Nutrition Labels Differently
Forget about what you think you know about how to read a label, most people just don’t get it when it comes to the amount of sodium, sugar, and fat per serving. In other words, NEVER believe the claims on the outside of the box. This includes Plant-Based, Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Healthy, Wheat, Natural, etc. The food manufacturer’s goal is to lure you in, they don’t care a rat’s behind about your health, they only care about increasing profits.
I want you to read the nutrition information as well as the ingredient list.
Sodium - There are only two things I want you to look for when it comes to salt. The first thing you want to do is look at the number of calories per serving and then you want to look at the number of milligrams of sodium per serving. You want those to be in a one to one ratio or less. Let’s take for example a can of Amy's Soup. You have 200 calories per serving, you want the milligrams of sodium to be bingo, 200 or less. You're not going to believe how jacked to the gills so many of these products are when it comes to sodium. Too much sodium in the diet is associated with hypertension (high blood pressure), a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Sugar - You want to do one thing when it comes to reading a label when it comes to sugar. Just go straight to the ingredient list to make sure that there's no sugar in the first three ingredients. By law, these manufacturers have to list in descending order by weight each ingredient in that product. So, if there's no sugar in the first three ingredients, that's a great start. The next thing you want to do is make sure that there's no more than three added types of sugar below that, and then you're in good shape. The other added sugars will be listed as cane juice, cane syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, molasses, honey, barley malt, and beet sugar. Fresh fruit is your best bet when it comes to natural sweeteners.
Fat - First, find the percentage of calories from fat. Here’s the easy math…locate the number of fat grams per serving and multiply by 10. This gives you the number of calories in each serving of fat. Then, divide fat calories by the total amount of calories per serving, this will get you the percentage of fat per serving. Let’s take for example 2 percent milk. Each 1 cup serving is 122 calories and each serving contains 5 grams of fat. So 5 multiplied by 10 = 50. Then we’ll take 50 (total calories from fat) and divide that by the total calories = .409. That tells you that the 1 cup serving of 2 percent milk consists of 41% fat. So remember, 1 gram of fat contains a little more than 9 calories, so we’ll round it up to 10. Again, in order to figure out the percentage of fat per serving, take the total number of calories per serving and divide it by the calories from fat per serving. The rule is to keep the total calories from fat below 25%, and to find that we divide the calories from fat by the total number of calories per serving. Practice, you’ll get the hang of it.
Protein - As human beings, we need between five to 10% of our calories coming from protein. You cannot, you will not get below that eating a plant-based diet. And that is because almost all of your plant-based foods have between five to 50% of their calories coming from protein. Your average vegetable is 25% protein. Your average green leafy vegetable is 35% protein, on the high end spinach is 51% protein. Your average bean is 25% protein, on the high end edamame is right around 40% protein. Your average whole intact grain is 14% protein, on the high end there’s quinoa that's about 18%, on the low end we have rice, brown rice, that's right around 9% protein. Your average potato is right around 10% protein and your average fruit is 6.5% protein. So as long as you’re consuming enough calories, you’re consuming enough protein.
In a Nutshell
You want to shop for whole plant foods as close to their original state as possible. We're talking about fruits, I don't care if they're fresh or frozen. Vegetables, again, don't care if they're fresh or frozen. Whole intact grains, the myriad of them. Potatoes, I don't care what color, what size, knock yourself out. And of course, the amazing world of legumes, split peas, lentils, and beans. This means bowls of oatmeal with blueberries and sliced bananas and peaches with chia seeds for breakfast. This means two sweet potatoes with steamed chopped up kale on top and it could mean a bowl of brown rice with black beans with sliced bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions and avocado with some salsa and a low sodium tamari. The possibilities are endless, not to mention easy to prepare.
Have a shopping list to go off of based on the meals you plan on preparing in the coming days. Don’t over-purchase. You will get overwhelmed and food will go to waste. Keep it simple. Big deal, you run out of food and need to make another trip.
Most of all, enjoy your shopping experience as you walk through the aisles discovering all that is available to you so that you can eat the rainbow!
