Eat Like Grandmother

Ditch the Overprocessed Foodlike Substances Your Grandparents Wouldn’t Recognize

30 Days to Green Your Diet - Eat real foods that your grandmother would recognize as part of a healthy eating plan.

Photo: George Marks / Getty Images

By Annie Bell Muzaurieta

30 Days to a Greener Diet - Day 3

People always ask: How can I tell if a food is green? There’s a quick trick lots of folks are talking about today. Ask yourself, “Would my grandmother (or for some of us, great-grandmother) recognize this thing as actual food?"

This step is about giving your health a boost by avoiding products that your grandmother would not recognize as food. Sure Nana knew what the heck chicken was, but would she have recognized nuggets of poultry bits infused with chickeny flavor? She may have enjoyed a bit of farm-fresh cheese, but would she recognize a block of yellow dairylike stuff intended to be nuked into a second life of dip?

Would anything in a plastic tube be considered food by grandmère?

Also, If Granny wouldn’t be able to understand the majority of words on the ingredients list, you’re probably dealing with a processed, artificially sweetened, foodlike product. High in fat, calories and chemicals, these substances (they’re not really food, after all) are increasingly linked to our growing levels of disease and our nation’s obesity epidemic. Some processing actually depletes naturally nutritious fruits and vegetables of their farm-grown goodness.

So think nonprocessed foods that your grandmother would recognize and consider safe to eat. Focus on organic meats from humanely raised animals instead of factory-made fun shapes of meat parts. Top your locally baked bread with butter or olive oil, instead of a spoonful of whipped flavored chemicals from a tub. Opt for natural snack foods (nuts, fruit, real yogurt) instead of science projects. Nana would be proud.

Oh, and portions should be reasonable too. Grandma didn’t chug Big Gulps or measure her sandwiches by the foot.