SHOPPING AND STOCKING THE CUPBOARDS

I wrote this cookbook because people wanted recipes that would help
them understand how to apply the principles in How Not to Die in their
daily diet and to give them handy, delicious ways to get the Daily Dozen
and other wonderful Green Light foods into their meals.
That's great if you're already committed to the most healthful way of
eating. But I also wrote this book for those of you who may be at the
experimental stage, where you are telling yourself, 'Okay, I'm willing to
try eating more healthfully, but I'm only going to do it if I like what's on
my plate!'



To eat well, it helps to cook well, and to cook well, you need to have
the right foods at the ready. And all that starts with shopping.
When I go to the shops, I am thinking mainly about three things:
produce, produce and produce. I try to stock the fridge with as many
fresh vegetables and fruits as will fit.
A shopping spree in our household means spending almost all of our
time in the fresh produce aisle. I love seeing what new items are in
season - such as peaches in the summer and squash in the winter. I try to
make sure my trolley mimics a rainbow. Besides all shades of greens, I
might buy red cabbage, yellow peppers, red apples and blueberries. More
colors mean the most plant pigments, which mean more antioxidants.
As part of our produce-gathering mission, I also spend time in the
opposite side of the store, the frozen foods section. Sometimes frozen
fruits and veggies actually contain more nutrition than fresh ones. Frozen
vegetables may be frozen on the day of picking, whereas 'fresh' produce
may have been sitting on a ship from the other side of the Earth, losing
some of its nutritional value along the way. Local and fresh-picked is
best, but not available year-round where I live, which is why I hang out
in the frozen foods aisle.
The only times I really fan out into the heart of the store is to buy
whole-grain pastas, jarred or Tetra Pak tomato products, tinned beans
when I'm not cooking my own, and whole grains, dried beans, nuts and
seeds, dried fruit and spices from the bulk aisle. I like to make big
batches of beans and greens so I have them always at the ready to
instantly improve the nutrition of any dish. I hate to see good food go
bad, so it provides that extra motivation to pack in the healthiest of
foods.
As well, I keep lots of old bottles and shakers sitting out on the kitchen
island. I keep them brimming with spice mixes I've created, chia seeds,
pumpkin seeds, dried parsley, dried peppermint, dried dill, ground
flaxseeds and dried barberries, all ready to spontaneously add extra
texture, flavor and nutrition to meals.
It takes time to build up a truly plant-terrific kitchen, and I recommend
going at whatever pace you feel comfortable to transition to a fully
evidence-based diet. The people who try to adopt a whole-food, plantbased
diet cold turkey are often, I'm afraid, the ones who may not keep it
up. People who learn to eat well over time, food by food and meal by
meal, may do best. They experiment with new foods, deliberately adding
more vegetables to their diet to crowd out some of the less healthy
choices and when they can, introducing a new, healthful recipe to their
cooking repertoire. Then they find another such recipe, and another, until
all of their meals are centered around Green Light foods.
The most important thing to keep in mind is long-term sustainability.
It's not what you ate for the first few decades of your life, or even what
you eat tomorrow or next week, that matters. It's all about what you eat
for the next few decades. So please proceed at whatever pace works best
for you. Remember: don't stress if you fall off the wagon from time to
time. If you do eat poorly one day, simply try to eat better the next.
Besides these basics, it's also important to find foods you love. And
the best way to do that may be to expand your horizons. There are all
kinds of exotic beans and greens, so why not select some you aren't as
familiar with? How about adzuki beans or gigantes? What about sorrel or
kai-lan (Chinese broccoli)? If you're lucky enough to have a large Asian
market near you, that's where you can find more unusual produce, such
as jackfruit, which looks like a huge, spiky melon with a shredded
meatlike texture that can help extend your meatless Monday health streak
into taco Tuesday. Although eating healthfully might sound limiting at
first, many people tell me that they end up eating a more diverse diet
than they ever have before.
Venture into the ethnic sections of your local supermarkets, which
span Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, and beyond. The goal is
to find sauces or seasonings that can jazz up the most humble of beans or
greens. Most prepared sauces are Yellow or Red Light foods, with added
salt, sugar, and fat, but if a not-so-good-for-you sauce dramatically
increases your intake of whole plant foods, it may be worth it to use it
until you can Google your way to find a Green Light alternative.
Some spice mixes may start out in the Green, such as Italian, jerk,
taco, berbere, garam masala and za'atar. Be sure to have some on hand
so when you're in the midst of cooking, you can just toss some in the pot
without having to worry about the proper ratio of basil-to-oregano ( or
whatever). That's already been taken care of for you.