Ever find yourself wandering the aisles of your grocery store feeling slightly overwhelmed at the number of options available to you? Especially when you are trying to lose weight and change your eating habits?

It’s a nightmare!  Every product says it’s better for you than the last one. How do you choose between them and how do you KNOW you’re making the right choice??

I’m not going to endeavor to teach you the name of every bad item that food processors put in their products. That wouldn’t be very effective, since food manufacturers are always inventing new additives, preservatives, flavor enhancers, and chemical oddities to put into their food products.

Instead, let’s keep an eye out for what is good (just like when we’re working out at boot camp, we stay focused on what we want instead of what we don’t) and be aware of the biggest Red Flags.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to avoid food products containing ingredients that are:

1. Unfamiliar

2. Unpronounceable

3. More than 5 in number

4. Contain High Fructose Corn Syrup

Below are three Rules of Decision to help you purchase the best, most nutritionally dense food no matter where you are shopping.

1. Don’t Buy Anything That Tarzan Wouldn’t Recognize As Food

It might sound a bit tongue-in-cheek, but imagine that you were a human raised by apes, never having known “civilized” food. All you know as food is what you picked, caught, and plucked from the jungle. Now plop yourself down in a modern day supermarket. The only place with anything remotely familiar would be the produce section!

Smart or....duped?

Now, obviously this is one of those cases where living by the spirit of the law will be more beneficial than the letter. That means it’s OK to buy steaks that are pre-cut, provided they’re 100% Grass Fed. It’s OK to purchase Organic Quinoa even though it comes in a package. But if you find yourself staring at the Smart Squeeze™ Nonfat Margarine Spread, take a moment to put yourself in Tarzan (or Jane’s) shoes. If it doesn’t look like what you would recognize as food if you were raised in the jungle, leave it on the shelf.

2. Check The The Ingredients List FIRST

It doesn’t matter HOW appealing or altruistic a food’s packaging might appear. If it is your first time buying a given food product, ALWAYS flip it over and go straight to the ingredients list. This is even a good idea for products that you have already checked and purchase on a regular basis (food processors do change their formulas).

If you forget the Tarzan test for the  Smart Squeeze™ Nonfat Margarine you’ll still be protected as long as you instinctively turn to the ingredients list. Upon doing so you’ll read something like this.

Toxic or toxic?

How many of the red flag criteria from the previous section does this label meet?

Certainly the first one – it definitely has ingredients that are unfamiliar.

Any unpronounceable ingredients? Maybe you can pronounce them, but don’t forget those two acronyms at the bottom; EDTA and TBHQ, standing for ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and tert-butylhydroquinone respectively. Say that five times fast.

Are there more than 5 ingredients? Yes.

Contains high fructose corn syrup? No, but it does contain modified corn starch, along with a couple other well known Red Flags from the Innate Body Nutrition Guide: natural flavor (MSG in disguise), artificial color, Vitamin A Palmitate (synthetic vitamins), potassium sorbate (preservative) and a new one in Glucono-delta-lactone (any idea at all what that is?).

Doesn’t matter who or what organization says it’s good for you. YOU check the label yourself because YOU are the decision maker.

3. Keep It 80/20

When you’re grocery shopping keep things 80% raw, fresh and Tarzan/Jane approved and 20% packaged but Innate-approved. Basically, try to keep the stuff with packaging to a maximum of 20% of what you buy. For every one packaged items you purchase four fresh, natural and unprocessed items.

Maintain this ratio and your fridge will be stocked with plenty of the body building and fat burning materials you will need to maximize your weight loss and experience real health and well being.

Check the video below to see what a well stocked 80/20 fridge and kitchen looks like.

Let me know what you think – share your comments below!

- Casey

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