Pantry Makeover Series: Part 2

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the first part of the Pantry Makeover Series last week! If you haven’t read it yet, grab a cup of coffee and take a peek. And don’t forget to download your healthy Pantry Staples guide with a list of everything I like to keep stocked to make healthy eating easier! Once you’re all caught up, join me back here to get the lowdown on all things sauces and condiments :)

Ready?

Ok, so the big thing here is going to be labels, labels, labels. Want to guess what the #1 culprit in sauces and condiments might be? I’ll give you a hint… it starts with “s” and rhymes with booger. You guessed it - sugar! You’d be so surprised by how many jars and cans in your pantry are home to this little devil. Here are some of the main things to look for when looking at your foods’ nutrition facts and ingredients:

Sugar

As I mentioned, companies put sugar in almost everything. We’ve become so accustomed to sugar in our food we don’t even taste it anymore. It hides out in pasta sauces, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, ketchup, teriyaki sauce, and more. Check the ingredients for sugar, honey, corn syrup, dextrose, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, and other sugary code names. Keep in mind ingredients are listed in order of quantity (greatest amounts listed first), so be especially wary of foods that list sugar in the first few ingredients. You can also check the nutrition facts label for added sugar. **You’ll also want to avoid artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

Sodium

This is another ingredient to which our taste buds have become acclimated. Especially if you’re used to eating fast food, restaurant meals, or frozen meals (all high in sodium), you may not even taste the salt in your sauces and condiments. The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 2,300mg total per day (less if you have high blood pressure) and it quickly adds up when you’re eating packaged foods. You can see how much sodium is in your food by looking for it on the nutrition facts label. You’ll also see salt listed in the ingredients list (watch out for monosodium glutamate a.k.a. MSG, too). If you’re eating mostly plants and whole foods, some sodium in your sauces and condiments is OK. That’s because plants are naturally low in sodium and are high in potassium, magnesium and other minerals that balance it out. If you’re still transitioning to a whole-food, plant-forward diet, though, you’ll need to pay more attention to how much sodium is hiding in your food.

Artificial Food Coloring

Chemical dyes and food colorings abound in packaged foods. If you read Part 1, you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of cereals and breads for other reasons, but they’re also some of the main sources of food colorings. Sugary, colorful cereals are colored with chemical dyes (which you may expect) and a lot of “whole grain” brown breads are actually colored with caramel coloring to make them look healthier (which you might not expect)! You may also be surprised to find artificial colors in your pickles (yellow dye), soy/ teriyaki sauces (caramel coloring), syrup (caramel coloring), jams/ jellies (chemical dyes), salad dressings (caramel color and chemical dyes) and other pantry items. Check the ingredient labels or use an app like Fooducate that grades your food and tells you if it contains harmful food coloring or other chemicals.

Tip: I love this article from Eat This, Not That on artificial colors and dyes - find out where they lurk, why they’re not great for you, and some healthier swaps!

Artificial Flavors

Natural and artificial flavors are chemical flavors added to foods. You’ll see these in the ingredients list. Some natural flavors aren’t so natural which is why I am including them here, too. Unless you know for a fact where and how a company sources the natural flavors for a product, try to avoid them. The evidence is inconclusive on whether natural and artificial flavors cause direct harm; but even if they don’t, they usually accompany other ingredients that do. You can read more in this article by Dr. Andrew Weil.

Processed Oils

I think by now most people realize fats aren’t inherently bad. In fact, fats are essential for delivering nutrients to cells, manufacturing hormones, and building cell membranes. However, the type of fat is super important to make sure our bodies can actually carry out these processes. Trans fats and highly processed, oxidized fats are especially detrimental to our health. Avoid sauces and dressings that contain hydrogenated oils, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, and other vegetable oils. They are highly inflammatory and contribute to diseases like heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, IBS, asthma, and more. Instead choose anti-inflammatory fats like clarified butter or ghee, grass-fed butter, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.

Wow - you’re going to be a label-reading pro by the end of this series! But before we wrap up Part 2, I want to share some of my favorite sauces, dressings, and other condiments I keep on hand.

Salad Dressings

• Primal Kitchen (I love their Greek dressing)

• Bragg’s Organic Vinaigrette

• Homemade - easily make your own dressing with olive oil, lemon or vinegar, salt and pepper, and other herbs and spices!

Sauces

• Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (soy sauce alternative)

• Muir Glenn or Rao’s pasta sauce (they make organic pasta sauces with no added sugar and use extra virgin olive oil)

• Vegan pesto (I love this recipe by Minimalist Baker!)

• Cholula or Trader Joe’s yuzu hot sauce

Condiments

• Organic salsa

• Whole grain mustard (adds tons of flavor and texture and can be used in lieu of mayo on sandwiches)

• Organic honey (preferably local and/ or raw)

• 100% pure maple syrup

• Stevia extract (I like Trader Joe’s organic liquid stevia extract because it doesn’t have any other fillers or sweeteners)

• Nut butters (almond, peanut, or mixed nut; avoid nut butters with hydrogenated oils or sugar in the ingredients)