Grocery stores are designed to encourage maximum sales, not maximum health. In fact, grocery store layouts discourage healthy food choices – the kinds of choices required by a detox diet. The aisles in the center are full of processed foods; you often have to walk past a bakery to get to the produce; and the last items you see as you’re waiting in line to check out are candy bars and sodas.
To make the healthiest, least toxic food choices when you’re shopping for food, keep these tips in mind:
Stick to the perimeter of the store. Even though you have to pass the bakery on this route, you also find the produce, meat, and dairy sections there. The less time you spend in the aisles full of canned and boxed foods, the better.
Read all food labels, and don’t buy foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
Whenever possible, buy foods that are 100 percent organic.
Don’t buy any item that contains high fructose corn syrup.
Buy fish with the lowest mercury content. Avoid any farm-raised fish, and opt for wild Alaskan salmon whenever possible.
Pick out plenty of spices to liven up your dishes and increase the amount of antioxidants you include in your diet.
If you’re going to eat beef, make sure it’s grass-fed and 100 percent organic.
Don’t buy or eat any white foods except cauliflower and mushrooms.
