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Healthy Grocery Shopping: Watch out for the Tricks! I was at the grocery store (super-market) yesterday trying to do some healthy grocery shopping and just couldn’t believe all of the clever deceptive food labeling that's everywhere. Even if you went to a “healthy grocery store” you would see these very same products in everybody’s carts. In every aisle, I saw tons of products claiming all sorts of things that are supposedly "healthy", but are not in reality. This is food marketing deception at its worst. One of the things I noticed that really disturbed me was that I saw multiple examples of healthy foods in their natural state, while also noticing counterfeit overly processed versions of these original foods claiming that they were healthier than the natural version. However, in reality, all of these fake versions were actually MUCH worse for you than the original... and they still claim that their overly processed "junkified" versions are better. The sad thing is that millions of people fall for this deceptive food marketing every day. So if you are trying to do some healthy grocery shopping, be aware of some of the examples I noticed: 
Healthy Grocery Shopping Example #1: Product claiming to be "Better than peanut butter"This product is insane! I can't believe anyone would ever believe that this processed junk is better for them than natural minimally processed peanut butter. When trying to do some healthy grocery shopping you should use some common sense. The less ingredients the better. First of all, if you buy a good natural organic peanut butter, it is usually very simply only two ingredients... peanuts and salt. And they do not add much salt so it is not a high sodium product. However, this counterfeit peanut butter which claimed it was "better than peanut butter" (trying to seem healthier than natural peanut butter based on its label claims) had a list of processed junk in it you wouldn't believe. First of all, they strip all of the natural healthy fats out of the peanuts so that it is a "low fat" product. Alright, now you have just taken away one of the healthiest parts of the peanut butter... the appetite satisfying healthy fats that you need to control cravings and manage more stable blood sugar levels in your body. To make things worse, the healthy fats were replaced with 2 different types of sugar-based syrups as well as additional dehydrated cane juice (aka SUGAR), in addition to added refined starches (in case you didn't get enough blood-sugar spiking refined carbs yet). This product has taken something as simple and natural as peanut butter, and turned it into what should really be called some sort of processed junk candy. Yet, they claim that it is healthier for you than peanut butter. And somehow they get away with deceiving the masses like this on their label. Do not be their fool! Make sure you stick to the natural products and do healthy grocery shopping.Healthy Grocery Shopping Example #2: Product claiming to be "better than eggs".Basically, this product is just egg whites with a bunch of added chemical colorings, flavorings, and other nonsense, including artificially added vitamins. Not on the healthy grocery shopping list at all! Again, this product has essentially ruined a good thing by removing the healthiest part... the YOLKS! And yes, the yolks ARE the healthiest part of the egg. Anybody that tells you different does not understand much about real nutrition. The important thing to look for in quality whole eggs are cage-free and organic. Most people don't realize that almost all of the quality nutrition of an egg is found in the yolks. The majority of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and trace nutrients are found in the yolks, not the whites. Even the protein in the whites isn't as high quality in terms of bioavailability without the amino acid profile of the yolk that complements the amino acid profile of the whites. And no, the cholesterol in eggs is not bad for you... it actually raises your good cholesterol more than bad cholesterol improving your overall profile. And the fats in whole eggs are balanced and healthy for you as well. Bottom line... whole eggs are healthier than egg whites. It's not even a close comparison. The label claims are just another example of food marketing deception. Healthy Grocery Shopping Example #3: A product claiming to be "better than butter".This was essentially margarine which is loaded with highly processed and deadly trans fats, yet it had the nerve to claim it was "better than butter". Even low quality butter is better for you than any margarine on the market. One problem with butter is the pesticides and hormones frequently found within from improperly raised cows. For this reason, it's always a good choice to go with organic butter, and if you can find grass-fed butter, then I would even say it can be healthy for you and a better addition to your healthy grocery shopping list. Grass-fed butter is higher in the natural form of beneficial conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). In fact, adding a little butter to your steamed vegetables helps your body to absorb more of the vitamins and minerals in the veggies. Also, due to the content of stable saturated fats in butter, this makes butter one of the best oils to cook with. Oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats such as soy, corn, safflower (and even flax) are the worst to cook with due to the highly unstable nature of their chemistry. Another point... the saturated fat in butter is NOT bad for you. It is the trans fat that you want to remove from your healthy grocery shopping list.
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