Happy New Year!!!!  Last year totally rocked – Thank you for letting me be part of your lives!  I love you all very much and wish you a year filled with lots of adventure, happiness and ultimate wellness!

I hope you are already following Habit #1, Habit #2, Habit #3, and Habit #4 - I am!

I woke up and had hot water with lemon and cayenne this morning, fasted for 12 hours, and fueled up after with a green smoothie… It’s been a great day following habits that are simple to take forth year after year…not just part of one year’s resolution.

I have one more habit left to share… And it’s another easy one.

Habit #5 – Change your Grocery Store 

If I could give one piece of health advice to everyone I love I’d ask them to shop in a place where they can get the best quality groceries and produce available. Changing my grocery store has been fundamental in changing my health for the better. Typical huge whole sale box stores and conventional supermarkets are stocked with so many bad chemicals and ingredients it makes my head spin. The top BIG FOOD companies have created so many foods that are full of anything but whole ingredients – It’s cheaper for them to make these chemically made up fake foods than to use real whole and nutritious ingredients.

Alternative health stores have been around forever, but in the recent past they have become more mainstream allowing someone to make a easy transition to healthier organic whole, packaged and convenience foods.

I understand that some big name conventional grocery stores are making an effort to include more organic produce and organic convenience foods – but, they still carry all the chemical laden foods too. This makes shopping there 10 times harder because unless you know the brand and trust it – it means reading lots of labels and deciphering chemical names of ingredients. People are busy and what looks like good wholesome food can turn out to be a mistake – This has happened to me! It’s easier for everyone and safer to go to a store or market that has guaranteed quality ingredients.

This is probably one of the worst aisles in a typical grocery store…

There are stores that make a commitment to ban certain ingredients from ever hitting their shelves – Really serious ingredients like growth hormone they put in dairy products that is known to cause cancer, partially hydrogenated fats that cause heart disease and high fructose corn syrup that is linked to diabetes and obesity.

Earth Fare has a list of all banned ingredients and why they ban them in their Food Philosophy. For instance, they don’t allow growth hormone, trans fats, or high fructose corn syrup in any of the products they have on their shelves.  Whole Foods does the same thing and Trader Joe’s too. You won’t find Coca Cola or Doritos there. One of my favorite stores (Healthy Home Market) doesn’t have a list sadly, but still does a good job at keeping a lot of bad chemicals out of their store. It’s definitely a better alternative to the chemical filled aisles of a conventional supermarket.

You don’t even need to go into a grocery store at all on a regular basis – you can go to the farmer’s market to get local and organic produce (Atherton Market and 7th Street Public Market are my favorite) or grow your own food… like my Mom does right in her back yard…

And sometimes, you don’t even need to leave your house.  Buying organic staples on the internet is a terrific way to save money and time!  I can buy organic coconut palm sugar for about half the price I can get it in most natural food stores.  This can add up to big savings overtime and worth the click, don’t you think? I also buy coconut oil, Ezekiel pasta, nuts, dried fruit and snacks on the internet too. Have you been to the Food Babe Shop yet?

Remember always…. “The greatest wealth is health.” Support establishments that want you to be well!  Vote with your dollars. And shop smart.

Hope you enjoyed this healthy habit series and found some valuable insights to take with you into the new year and beyond!…

I’d love to hear from you either here or on my Facebook Fan Page.

Reader Questions: Where do you shop for groceries? Do you see an opportunity for change? Did you come up with any new year’s resolutions of your own?

Happy Shopping!

Food Babe