Walk the nutrition
walk
Find hidden health
benefits
in grocery stores
By DANA
DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Did you
ever consider that a trip to the grocery store could be akin to an
educational experience? Well, it can be if you accompany cook book author
and nutritionist Daniella Chace on one of her monthly walks through area
grocery stores.
On one
of her nutrition walks in Williams Market, Daniella Chace, right, lets
guests sample food in the chips aisle and happily find something
guiltless. Express photo by Willy Cook
Starting in
the front of the store and working her way aisle by aisle, Chace and her
assistant, Amy Boyer, choose items to be discussed and sampled.
It’s a
great learning experience for adults and children, alike, and an
opportunity to sample new and healthy foods. It’s a food demo stroll
with nutritional values.
Everything
is discussed, from the trends of genetically altered foods, to red dye No.
3 and No. 40, synthetic sweeteners, hydrogenated oil, cross breeding,
preservatives and sugar.
Chace knows
of what she preaches. She’s written 11 cookbooks, including "The
What to Eat if You have Cancer Cookbook" and "Grains for Better
Health." Based in Hailey, she works as a nutritionist with private
clients in the valley.
These free,
open to all, walks are conducted at Williams Market in Ketchum and the
Atkinson’s Markets in Ketchum and Hailey, a few times a month.
The host
markets are happy to open their aisles up to curious samplers, as both a
thank you to their customers and a way of revealing new items that are
available.
Foods
sampled items may include dried fruit; fruit "leathers," which
have no food colorings; cereal bars, like Luna Bars, that are made
especially for women and contain soy protein, which has natural phyto-estrogens.
However, some of the other bars, touted as healthful, are full of sugars,
and one, called Metabolift, even contained herbs like ephedra, ma huang
and maltitol, a baby diuretic.
Chace lets
the group sample many of the cereal bars, calling attention to the protein
grams and to the contents. A rule of thumb is that the longer an
ingredient list is, the worse the product is. All those extras are not
just unnecessary but often very unhealthy.
"The
American Heart Association says that in one handful of nuts a day there’s
enough vitamin E to reduce your chance of heart attack by fifty percent,
it’s a no brainier," Chace said, while she introduced the group to
organic nut butters, including almond and cashew.
As one
walks through the familiar aisles new products and new lines are
constantly introduced. For instance instead of sugar, Chace shows where
the Stevia is kept—in the baking aisle. It comes from a leaf in South
America and is a whole food. She says the powder is six times sweeter than
sugar so that when a tiny bit is added to a recipe one can eliminate a
good portion of suggested amount of sugar. The same is true for
Nutritional Yeast powder, not the same as baking yeast. This powder is
loaded with B vitamins and tastes like cheese.
Organics
that Chace recommends are made by such companies as Garden of Eatin’,
Healthy Choice, Muir Glen, Bearitos, Newman’s Own, Hain, Bob’s Red
Mill flour products and grains, Vicki’s Granola (made here in the
Valley), Sun Valley Ice Cream (also organically made in the valley),
Spectrum, Classic Bread, and even Western Family, which now has an organic
pasta line.
Chace also
makes suggestions for various problems. If some one has trouble digesting
milk or dairy products, alternatives are either soy milks or products
produced with lactaid, the enzyme that breaks down the lactose.
Soy milks
are also great for women, especially those who’re menopausal. And Chace
pointed out that miso soup has way more phyto-estrogens in one serving, so
it is an even better source.
Many adults
may have developed an intolerance to wheat, from having so much during
their lives. Alternative choices might be rice or potato flours. For
gluten allergies, she recommends trying buckwheat, rice, corn, millet, and
quoina non, since these don't contain gluten
"When
making pancakes add a little tofu, soy milk or protein powder, which give
you a little extra energy so you don’t have that slump after eating
carbohydrates"
Chace said
that there are often "killer deals like whole oats and almonds in the
bulk section."
Kashi is
very high in protein and fibers, and is found in the cereal aisles as well
as in the cracker section. For a pizza crust alternative she recommends
using large round whole grain rye crackers. And she steers everyone away
from the products, like Wheat Thins, that have too much sugar, salt, or
hydrogenated oils.
She calls
Annie’s Naturals salad dressings, "incredibly delicious, low in
calories, and all organic. I highly recommend this line." Other good
finds are a mayonnaise alternative by Nasoya, and free range eggs—the
color doesn’t matter, she said, but some cage-raised chickens may have
been fed pesticide contaminated food, which is passed on to us through
their eggs.
Her ideas
are numerous and inspirational. By the end of the walk every participant
usually has a new outlook on their cuisine and an armful of new stuff to
take home.
"You
spend a little extra money, but get the good stuff."
All ages
are welcome on these walks. And for kids with any eating disorder, it’s
hugely beneficial.
One
13-year-old, girl, who normally lives on popcorn, began eating Kashi Heart
to Heart cereal and seasoned tofu after going on the walk.
Now that’s
a trip to the grocery store.
Chace can
be reached at 481-0168.