Fall is a great time to purge the products you’ve let sneak into your pantry over the summer. You know the snacks you hold onto “just in case” someone comes over. Well, it’s finally time to toss that lingering bag of chips and restock with healthy, whole food items.
Rather than focusing on calories and fat counts, look at the ingredients first. Michael Pollan says in his book, “Food Rules”, if you can’t pronounce the ingredient, don’t eat it. Another good rule of thumb is to buy products with no more than five ingredients.
Here’s my quick and easy guide to a pantry makeover.
Suggestions on what to Keep
Whole Grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, oats
Beans: lentils, pinto, black, chick pea, aduki
Snacks: Kind Bars, Annie’s Seaweed snacks, Mary’s Gone Crackers Flax Crackers, dried goji berries, trailmix, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Chips, spelt rice cakes, dark chocolate
Soups: Any of the Imagine or Pacific brand organic and dairy free soups
Condiments: Wheat-free Tamari, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, dried spices, coconut oil, Amy’s Green Garlic dressing, Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinaigrette
What to Toss
Toss anything that has partially hydrogenated oil (be sure to read labels!), high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, white flour, or an ingredient list a mile long. Not sure if a food falls into this category? Here’s a simple test if the food in question is heavily advertised, it’s probably in the toss pile. You don’t see a lot of advertising dollars spent on broccoli and quinoa…
If you are still unsure about what should be in your cabinet, you may want to consider my new ‘Healthy Kitchen Makeover’ service where I’ll makeover your pantry, take you on a private health food tour to learn about whole foods, reading labels, and what to buy to have a healthy kitchen. http://elementsoffit.com/services/.
