January is all about new beginnings. Start the year by making a small, sustainable change—like cleaning out your pantry—and impart a significant impact on your overall well-being.
A pantry purge is a great way to support daily healthy food choices and improve meal planning. If you have never done a pantry purge, it can certainly be an eye opening experience. After all, ultra-processed foods, food chemicals and sugar easily sneak their way into our pantry and these things cause us to lose our focus, eat more foods, and gain weight.
Dedicate some time this January to go through your pantry (and refrigerator and freezer) to take stock of what you have been eating. Read the ingredient labels and replace foods with these ingredients:
Top foods to remove:
- Sugar. Sugar goes by more than 50 different names. Sugar causes weight gain. When eaten with fat, sugar tells the body to store more fat. Look for these names: agave, corn syrup, sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, fructose, glucose, maltose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, caramel, syrup, brown rice syrup, or barley malt. Sugar can be found in protein bars, breakfast cereals, sports drinks and even pasta sauces.
- Artificial sweeteners. These are found in “sugar-free” foods. Sugar-free foods are simply manmade chemical sweeteners. They can go by the names of aspartame, sucralose, neotame, saccharine, or Splenda. Studies focusing on artificial sweeteners show they cause sugar cravings, alter your gut microbiome (leading to digestive issues and negatively impacting your metabolism), and can increase your risk of developing metabolic disorders, tumors and obesity. Artificial sweeteners are also devoid of nutrients. Remove these chemicals from your foods and swap for healthier items. Artificial sweeteners are often found in cereals, instant oatmeals, sports drinks, energy drinks, breakfast bars, dairy products, candies, frozen desserts, jello, puddings, and gum.
- Seed oils. Seed oils are soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, and safflower oil. These oils are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, which promote inflammation in the body and increase LDL (bad) cholesterol while lowering good cholesterol (HDL). Seed oils have also been found to decrease insulin sensitivity, leading to metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
- Hydrogenated oils. These oils start their life as unsaturated fats. Hydrogen is added to the oil through food manufacturing, making these oils solid at room temperature. These oils are trans-fats; fats that drive cardiovascular disease and inflammation. They go by the names of: hydrogenated vegetable oil, shortening, hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil and margarine.
- Refined grains. Refined grains include white flour, white rice, and products made from refined grains. Read the ingredient label on pastas, cereals, snack bars, crackers and breads. An easy substitution is made from whole grains. These offer more nutrients and fiber. Fiber from whole grains
- Food dyes. Just like sugar, food dyes can have multiple names. Some examples are Red 40, Yellow 6, Indigo Carmine, or Sunset Yellow. Food dyes have been shown to trigger asthma and cause allergies, ADHD, behavior issues and impaired memory. Some food dyes banned in other countries, but used in America have even been shown to cause cancer. Food dyes are most commonly found in/on snack chips, beverages, jello, cereals, frostings, cookies, cake mixes, medications, sauces, dressings and dips.
- Chemical Additives. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a synthetic food preservative derived from petroleum. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is another food preservative that is an endocrine disruptor. This preservative changes how the endocrine system works. It has been shown to cause liver, thyroid and kidney diseases in mice, as well as negatively affecting lung health and the body’s ability to create blood clots. Sodium benzoate has been linked to DNA damage, hormone disruption, reduced fertility, allergies, ADHD and cancer. It can be found in fruit flavored sodas, salad dressings, pickles and other sauces.
Read Food Labels Carefully
Make this a regular habit every time you shop. Look for added sugars, unhealthy fats, unnecessary additives, and unfamiliar ingredients. If a food has a long list of hard-to-pronounce ingredients, it’s best to discard it. A good rule of thumb: Nutrition Facts and ingredient lists that are high in nutrients and low in additives are your best bet. And if you can’t pronounce it, toss it!
Restock with Better Choices
After identifying the unhealthy foods in your pantry, it’s time to swap them for healthier and cleaner food choices. LUNA whole nutrition snack bars come in a variety of flavors, are gluten-free, non-GMO and can be made with organic oats. Thunderbird Real Food Bars are gluten-free, paleo and vegan. They come in fun flavors like Texas Maple Pecan, Hazelnut Coffee Maca and Peanut Butter and Jelly. Both of these snack bars are based on raw dates which are a good source of fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium and Vitamin B6. Most importantly, neither company uses chemical preservatives or added sugars of any kind!
If you are a soda drinker and have found sodium benzoate in your favorite beverage you may want to swap out your sugary and chemical laden soda for Zevia. Zevia has been on the market since 2007 and offers honest, flavor forward sugar-free and dye free sodas with no preservatives! It is flavored with stevia, an herb 200-400 times sweeter than sugar, without the calories. With flavorings like Cola, Vanilla Cola, Ginger Ale, Cherry Cola, Creamy Root Beer, Mountain Zevia, Grapefruit Citrus and Salted Caramel there is a flavor for everyone! I am a big fan of the grapefruit!
And for those of you who just found food dyes and other weird ingredients in your energy drinks, don’t feel left out. There are natural alternatives that can offer the same energy boost without all the extra chemicals! Ardor Energy comes in a variety of flavors from Grapefruit, Mexican Lime and even Blueberry Pomegranate. These drinks have 0 grams of sugar, are USDA organic, and offer natural caffeine from green tea. They also contain organic L-theanine to help with mental focus, increased cognitive performance and aid in relaxation. They are without food dyes and extra preservatives.
Did you just realize your favorite breakfast pastries are loaded with food dyes and sugar? When I was a kid, I swear toaster tarts came in two flavors. These days, I walk right by them and all their pretty packaging in the grocery store aisles…but I admit the flavors sound fun: Frosted Strawberry Milkshake, Frosted Banana Bread, Chocolatey Chip Pancake, Confetti, Cookies & Creme and Hot Fudge Sundae…sure do put cherry and blueberry to shame! But with ingredients like carnauba wax, high fructose corn syrup, red 40, blue 1, yellow 5 and blue 2 it is best to walk by. Be strong and don’t let sugar cravings or your kids make you buy them.
There are better options for a quick breakfast, and while toaster pastries should be considered a dessert instead of a breakfast (sugar is in the first three ingredients), weaning your way to a better breakfast can be done with the help of Nature’s Path Organic. They offer natural flavors, real ingredients you can understand, and are organic. What they don’t offer: food dyes, corn syrup, and carnauba wax.
After your pantry purge, you may have learned sugar has made its way into virtually every food including sauces and condiments. Here are a few choices to get you back on track and away from excess sugar:
Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauces are made from all real food like tomatoes, garlic and salt. They have no added sugars and no food dyes.
Primal Kitchen Unsweetened Ketchup tastes great without the added sugar. A real plus, it is organic (more nutrients than conventionally grown tomatoes) and corn free!
Yo Mama’s Pizza Sauce contains all natural ingredients, just like the pizza sauce your mom would have made!
I have provided these affiliate links for ease of ordering and to get your taste buds tingling with new healthy food choices, but shop local first. Check out your grocery store website before shopping to ensure availability. Search for organic choices, stevia or monk fruit to find healthier pantry items easily available in your area.