Small Beginnings: Where Do I Start?

On each Monday over the next few weeks, Real Food in Little Rock will bring you a list of starting points written by individuals who have volunteered their expertise. Last week's Small Beginnings was written by Lisa Lipe, Little Rock's current Chapter Leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation.


This week's article is written by Rita O'Kelley, former Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader in Little Rock.

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Grocery Shopping
I thought I knew how to grocery shop until I began my new quest for healthy living and eating in 2000. If you don’t feel you have the time to read books right away, here are a few tips and rules of thumb when shopping:

• Eat fresh real food rather than processed. Organic, biodynamically grown, chemical and pesticide-free are your best options.

• Stay on outer aisles, which is the perimeter of the store.

1. Fruits and vegetables
2. Dairy (raw, whole, unpasteurized milk, cheese, eggs)
3. Meats, poultry, fish (grass-fed, no growth hormones, no chemicals)

• Steer clear of inside aisles for food items.

Food in boxes, packages, and jars are highly processed, lacking much nutritional value and loaded with sugar and chemicals to lengthen shelf life. If it says “use by ____ date" and that date is anything longer than weeks or a few months at most, that is a clue as to the amount of chemicals and additives.


If a food is in a cute shape, it is processed to the point of removing anything digestable/healthy and replaced with synthetic “nutrients” that our bodies cannot assimilate and will not recognize. Examples are cereals, crackers, sugars, sauces, pre-packaged entrees.

• Read labels

If ingredient list is long or unpronounceable, chances are good it doesn’t belong in your body.

• Buy local

Food grown and shipped within 50 mile radius of where you live will be fresher and not picked or harvested too soon.


A word about fruits and vegetables:
Best: Fresh
Good: Frozen
Least: Canned
Grains: Fresher if packaged in cellophane or plastic rather than open bins. Bins are subject to constant opening, subjecting them to temperature changes, oxygen, people’s hands and germs.