It's no secret I'm a lover of whole, simple foods, and by the time they reach my dinner plate I want them as close to how they came from the earth as possible -- if there's dirt on my beets, even better! Mind you, I do wash off the dirt, but you get my point :)
In simplest terms, my preference is for "one ingredient foods". These are foods that don't come in a package because they don't have an ingredients list.
However, in Canada (and many other countries around the world) we are SO lucky with the abundance of nourishing foods that come in a package. For convenience, I do buy some packaged foods for my family because as much as I would love to make my own kettle chips, that's not going to be happening anytime soon!
One of the most important factors in my purchase decision is this: Is this packaged food MADE OF FOOD?
Sounds simple, but there are over 10,000 different chemicals in our food and I do my very best to avoid them. This is why I put this list together in my latest video of packaged foods I buy regularly.
This list is not complete, as you can see from my kitchen cupboards above there's a lot more I didn't talk about. Also, for the purpose of this video I focused on foods that have more than one ingredient. For example, even though I buy canned salmon and sardines, pickles and more, I didn't include them in this video list because I didn't think they were "packaged" enough.
Here's my video and a link for each packaged food I talk about below.
My philosophy with food is eat whole, simple food so that same philosophy applies whether I am shopping for crackers or chocolate. This is far from a complete list of foods that I stock in my kitchen, but it gives you a sense of the foods I prefer.
I limit refined sugar, all non-food substances as much as possible, I shop organic when I can and I look for local foods as well, but obviously this is not always possible.
Here's a list of all the foods in my video
Any packaged food above with an "*" is Joyous Approved!!
Now you're probably wondering where to buy everything. Here's what I mentioned in my video
- Check your local health food store.
- Check your local big box grocery store natural foods section.
- Go online to Amazon.com or .ca
- ThriveMarket.com
- Well.ca
If you're curious about what's in my fridge andfreezer, then be sure to check out those videos too. I've gotta do an update because I was VERY pregnant in both of those videos and I'm sure I'm eating some different things now but you'll get a good sense of what we eat.
What are your favourite packaged foods? Share below!
Have a joyous week!
Joy
looking for raw cacao powder vs cocoa powder...blog
ReplyHey Betty, You can find that blog post over here: https://www.joyoushealth.com/16583-blog-health-benefits-of-raw-cacao-vs-cocoa-powder :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
thrive market does not ship to Canada? any other suggestions with similar products? thanks
ReplyHey Zar, They don't ship to Canada (yet - hopefully it's in the works?) but Well.ca or Fair/Square Canada would be a decent equivalent! Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Though I usually buy local, at least Canadian, my fave pantry item is Le Pain des Fleurs buckwheat crackers. The have one ingredient: buckwheat. Organic, made in France.
ReplyAmazing! We'll have to look out for that one. Thanks for sharing Deb :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Hi Joy, Did you buy your Hu chocolate bar in Toronto? If so, where? :)
ReplyI bought it at Simple Kitchen on Roncy. Hope that helps!
I am an RHN who has a client struggling with obesity and high BP. After doing a menu plan with her, including wholesome snacks, she sees this post and loads her cupboards with potato chips, "a healthy snack because Joy said so". (*Face palm and inner silent scream.*)
ReplyUh-oh! That's no good. Sure it's better than Doritos, but I think you'll need to educate her that those kinds of snacks are a treat and not something to eat on a daily basis. However, if potato chips (good quality ones or not) are a trigger food for her to binge, then that's a whole other issue to address. I would suggest she watch the video for more context because if she's just looking at the photo she might think that eating a bag of chips is a healthy snack. Hope that helps! Good luck with your client!
Awesome tips you give, thanks! I love simple mills products, mostly the crackers for my little ones.
ReplyYes, those are delicious! :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Helpful post! - I am wondering, do we need to worry about PCBs and other pollutants in seaweed snacks? Thanks!
ReplyHey Stef, SeaSnax specifically are organic and non-GMO so I would say they are safe for consumption :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Love your video’s Joy and especially the list you provide of the products names and even the places to find them. This takes so much stress out of trying to write down this info as you watch the video. Also all the extra info we can click on for explainations of other things mentioned. This is truly helpful. Thanks for all you do to help people get healthy!!❤️
ReplySo happy you found this to be helpful Angela :) Enjoy! Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Dear Joy, I was wondering about your thoughts on the RXbars... they seem like a good, clean snack, but I don’t believe that they’re organic... would you say that they’re “joyous approved”?
ReplyThey are pretty clean. I'm not a big fan of bars myself, but my colleague loves these :)