Shopping Review: Whole Foods Market

I have always enjoyed going to Whole Foods Market; it's a shopping experience. I've been to the one in Ann Arbor and the one in Farmington Hills. Probably my favorite one (which is likely by virtue of being the one I know the best) is the Farmington Hills location.

Cheese lovers and wine lovers alike can go wild there. Foodies everywhere drool over the prepared foods, including all-American favorites such as a luscious macaroni and cheese dish as well as Kosher foods, vegan choices, vegetarian fare and a terrific salad bar. I love the place.

That said, I frequently hear (or read) complaints that the chain is pricey. In some instances, that is true, but the biggest downside for me is that it's a megastore; with my penchant for label reading, a small shopping trip will take me at least an hour (usually closer to one-and-a-half hours). So I'd advise getting your perishables last. 

As is the case with many other chains, there are some great loss-leader sales available. If you stick to bulk food section and specials, you can get some bargains, especially in terms of healthier snacks.

I strongly suggest reading the flyer before you start shopping and limiting your purchases of the fabulous premade foods (particularly baked goods) to healthier choices so you too can have a shopping experience that's great for both your waistline and your wallet.

Magazine Review: Clean Eating

Clean Eating is a fantastic magazine; it's full of tips about how to eat healthier foods. In fact, it's the first place where first I read about the list of fruits and veggies you should eat as organic produce. Of course, it was the top 10 instead of the Dirty Dozen I addressed in a prior post, but it's the same concept.

The general concept involves eating more whole (unprocessed) foods, such as fruits and veggies and whole grains. "Acceptable" sweeteners include agave nectar, honey, stevia and evaporated cane juice rather than processed sugar. See sample Clean Eating menu (and actual recipes for a week) on the website.

For those who like shopping lists, everything you need to feed a single person from these menus  is available (I assume that the four serving menu items could, theoretically, be frozen if you don't use all the leftovers). You can also print a clean copy from the website rather than tear it out of the magazine or photocopy it.

The recipes included in the two-week plan have nutritional information and there is a daily nutritional calculation. If you wish to deviate from the daily choices, you'll have to look up on the labels of what you're eating for the individual meals.

Tosca Reno (who is credited for the popularity of the eating clean movement) has written a couple of books that explain the concept in greater detail. One of them is The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean.