I recently picked up a copy of Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide by David Zinczenko. It is one among many Zinczenko has written. I was interested to see what insight he could offer to the weekly grocery shopping I do. There are a number of interesting tidbits.
For instance, did you know that the healthiest food in the supermarket is found along the walls? This includes the dairy case, produce, meats and seafood. The nutritional "dead zone" is in the middle where all the highly processed foods can be found.
If you find yourself in the "dead zone" isles looking for the healthiest options, Zinczenko points out that they tend to be on the top and bottom shelves. The reason for that being that the big companies like Kraft and Kellogg pay the "slotting fees" to be placed in the middle shelves that are easy to reach and see.
Another helpful tip is that the more packaging a product has, the more likely it is to be less nutritious. Check it out...Also, did you know that "multi-grain" is VERY different from "whole grain"? "Multi-grain" sounds healthy but all it means is that more than one kind of grain is used in making the product. It DOES NOT mean that it is healthier. In fact, it can be easily as processed as a product made with only bleached flour!
An eye opener for me was that products promoting "reduced fat" may, in fact, be worse for us! Often when fat is reduced the sugar and salt is increased! It is important to ALWAYS read the label to see what each product contains and in what percentages.
Should you buy this book? This book is a great educator. For some it might act as a reference prior to going to the grocery store. For others, it may make sense to get it from the library, brush up on the "does and don'ts" of grocery shopping and then drop it back by the library for someone else to read. It is worth the review, regardless.
No comments