Do you know what the marketing terms on the stuff you buy in the grocery store? What does natural or organic actually mean?

Today we are going to dive into what the most common terms mean so you are equipped with all the tools you need to make good decisions at the store or farmers market. Many of these terms on food labels are not even regulated so there is no actual law that defines them. There are some terms on labels that do require some kind of regulation so lets dive in.

First up is certified organic or organically grown. These labels mean foods are processed through standards of the National Organic Program which requires foods be grown without synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, or food additives. Products with low or no human toxicity can be used on these crops. This label also means the foods are not genetically modified. If a farmer makes less than $5k per year can label things organically grown but can’t be certified organic.

Genetically modified organisms or GMOs are also called Bioengineered foods on food labels. You will often find this claim or disclaimer under the ingredients list. These types of foods are modified through bioengineering or biotechnology by changing the gene structure. This usually entails the splicing of the genes of one organism with the genes of another to make them resistant to herbicides like roundup, resist frost or leaves turning brown. They can even be changed genetically to prolong their shelf life. GMOs are not supposed to be allowed in organic farming. The most common GMO crops are soybeans, corn (not sweet corn but corn processed into other things like corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup), cottonseed (oil is in a lot of food), canola (aka rapeseed), and sugar beets which are used to make table sugar.

Non GMO/GMO free/Non-GMO Verified are foods that are not bioengineered which is most of the whole foods that are available. Where you have to watch for GMO foods is in processed foods. Those processed foods with the Non GMO Verified label have their whole supply chain audited to be sure there are no GMO foods in them.

Now on to eggs. There are two common labels on eggs these days. Cage-free and Free Range. What is the difference?  Traditionally, chickens in big factory type farms for egg production have had their beaks removed and they are in small cages stacked one on top of the other. Cage-free is not a regulated term but is put through inspection by the Food Safety and Inspection Service guidelines. This requires food producers to describe how they are using the Cage-free label in relationship to their production of eggs, the packaging or their website. Cage-free hens are not living in those battery cages stacked on top of one another but are more likely to living in a big barn and do not go outside. They are also fed feed instead of eating grass and bugs.

Free Range label is regulated by the USDA and means the hens are supposed to have access to the outdoors and food and water. They need to have access to the outdoors at all times during their laying cycle as well but the reality of it is that these hens are in a big barn and have a tiny door where they could leave but most of the hens do not. In addition, this label can be used on any meat or poultry food product and all the producer has to do is give the USDA a description of the housing conditions to get the approval to use the claim. The animal only needs to have free access to the outdoors for 51% or more of its life. Pasture raised/pasture grown/free roaming/meadow raised means there must be given continuous, free access to the outdoors for a significant portion of their lives.

Grass Fed and Grass Finished is a common term found on beef in the store. All cows are started on grass and then moved to a concentrated animal feeding operation to fatten up with grains  (mostly corn) and are given growth hormones, estradiol, androgens like testosterone propionate, and trenbolone acetate). When a cow is grass fed and grass finished it is supposed to be on pasture, eating grass for its entire life. These terms are not regulated by the USDA but are required to follow Food Safety and Inspection Service guidelines so when it is on the label, the producer has had to describe the living conditions of the animals. There is another term called American Grass Fed which is a 3rd party certification through the American GrassFed Association that makes sure animals are raised on foraged grasses, are not confined to a building and are not given growth hormones or antibiotics.

The term Humanely Raised is not defined by the USDA but allows the producer to define what this means. It should mean the animals were raised with care having access to their natural diet and given clean water and that they are managed well.

Back to chickens, you might see pastured or pasture raised for both eggs, birds, and pigs. You may even see this with other poultry. These terms are not regulated it should mean the animals are living outside where they can forage for food but they may be given access to feed as well.

Obviously it is ideal to buy locally. I am a huge advocate for this and if you can do this, be grateful. I am lucky to be able to source 90% of my meat locally and literally within 15 miles of my house. In summer, I try to buy most of my vegetable produce from farmers markets. This not only supports my local economy but it allows me to get veggies that have been picked usually within 24 hours. I believe the nutrient content is better too because the people I buy from are also stewards of the land. Also, the food lasts longer because it was fresh picked rather than having been picked and transported halfway across the country a couple days or weeks ago.

The average distance your fresh food travels is 1500 miles. These foods are picked before they are ripe. This can reduce nutrient value and even change its taste. They spoil quicker too.

If you don’t have access to farmers and farmers markets like I do, you might have more limited options for sourcing fresh food. Maybe your budget doesn’t allow for you to do it. What do you do then? I think most of my audience isn’t in a food desert which is where you don’t have really any access to fresh foods but you do have access to really crappy processed foods. Maybe you are on a budget though and if that is the case you have to make due with what you have to make ends meet.

When you are dealing with chronic health issues, you need to prioritize some things. One of those things is your food. But maybe it will be deciding if you need more protein and prioritizing that. Or trying to make sure you get a variety of veggies to improve your gut health. Maybe we look at what kinds of fats you are eating and trying to improve that. Maybe we look at what your pantry is like and start to make some changes there.

You can start with choosing more affordable cuts of meat. I say this all the time when I am teaching classes. Usually the more affordable cuts can be slow cooked. Buy a whole chicken instead of pieces of chicken and you can make broth with the bones. Buy produce when it is in season when it is more affordable. If you like organ meats and bone marrow, those are usually the cheapest cuts because no one buys them anymore. Personally, I don’t enjoy them. I will scrape marrow from bones into soup but I won’t eat it outright. I feed liver and heart to my dogs.

Focus on quality of food that is realistic for you. Everything doesn’t have to be organic, pastured, grass fed or whatever. The important thing is that you just start eating real food. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store. Buy and try more vegetables. If you are feeding one or two people then maybe doing something like Hello Fresh or one of those types of meal services is cheaper than buying groceries.

Now let’s shift gears to talk about some of those compounds or chemicals in foods that you may have heard you should avoid. Like phytates, oxylates, etc. It is said that you should avoid these things because they can keep you from digesting the minerals and vitamins in them. It is also said that eating large amounts of some of these plant chemicals can be bad for you. Certain cooking methods can protect you from any dangers or damage of these things. For whatever reason, mother nature puts things into plants that we should not be consuming. After all we avoid poisonous mushrooms so, there is that.

So what is a phytate? It is also known as phytic acid and is basically how phosphorus is stored in plants. Think whole grains, nuts, seed, legumes. Side note on nuts and seeds- their natural packaging isn’t all that easy to get in to so we probably were not meant to consume them in large amounts like in the form of almond flour and things like that.

Our body makes enzymes to help us break down our food. We lack the phytase enzyme which would be needed to break down phytic acid or phytates so instead of breaking it down and digesting it, it travels through our digestive tract unharmed and it can bind up other minerals keeping us from absorbing them. If you find you are low in iron, magnesium, zinc, and/or calcium, have a look at your diet and see if you are eating something preventing absorption. This might be a bigger problem for someone on a plant based diet who eats a lot of veggies. You can mitigate any potential issues with phytates - soaking grains, beans, nuts, and seeds before cooking/consuming will help reduce the phytate content. Soaking grains is really only an option if you are grinding your own wheat or something like that and most of us are not doing that.

Oxalates are another plant compound that can be problematic for some that is found in greater amounts in almonds, spinach, rhubarb, radish, potato, buckwheat, and beets. I really believe for the general population these compounds are an issue when consumed in large amounts. No one is eating beets twice a day everyday, are they? Oxalates bind mostly to calcium which will prevent absorption in the small intestines so the best thing to do here is to not eat calcium rich foods when you are consuming a higher oxalate food. I used to eat rhubarb sauce with cream at my grandmas house every summer and it didn’t interfere with my calcium status. Anyone with kidney stones can have an issue with oxalates - kidney stones are mostly made from calcium oxalate. This means if oxalates are preventing calcium from being absorbed in the small intestine, the calcium is being shuttled to the kidneys where a stone can form.

Lectins have been sold as bad for you in the paleo community for years. Ten years later many of those paleo internet stars have completely abandoned their paleo diet ideals which is super interesting to me. I definitely wasn’t a paleo internet person 10 years ago but I fell for the diet dogma hook line and sinker. This little chemical is in all plants and in higher amounts in uncooked legumes and whole grains. They can survive the trip through your acidic stomach and keep your body from absorbing minerals in your food. It is also said that they can damage the gut and bind to the cells in your small intestine keeping you from digesting more nutrients. Aside from uncooked beans and grains, you can also find them in the nightshade family which consists of peppers, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and I feel like I might be missing something else there. The autoimmune protocol when it came out over ten years ago really made me afraid of eating potatoes- how terrible is that. In fact, this whole movement caused some orthorexia in me and probably a ton of other people too.

Now the big one for us thyroid people is glucosinolates which we more commonly know to be goitrogens. The Brassica family of plants which is largely made up of cruciferous veggies are sulfur rich which is great for your detoxification system but many on the internet say they can be bad for you if you have a thyroid problem because it can keep your thyroid tissue from taking up iodine. You can cook your veggies to reduce goitrogens in them and just don’t eat piles and piles at each meal and you will be fine. Don’t be scared of your food.

Lastly, I just have a note about tannins which is found in black tea, coffee, chocolate, and wine. These can inhibit iron absorption so don’t take iron containing supplements or eat iron rich foods with your coffee.

I want to be clear that none of these are bad for all of us. Some of us may need to watch how much of them we consume, that is it. If you are super sensitive to one of these, you may need to consider elimination until you can heal your gut.

Some symptoms of consuming too much of one of these plant compounds can be things like bloating, gas, diarrhea, cramping, acid reflux, nausea, joint pain, etc. Depends on the bio-individual how the symptoms present. You can eat less of something, or change the way you cook it.

Again, soaking things will reduce lectins, oxalates, goitrogens, tannins and phytates and they are reduced even more when cooked after soaking. This process can increase nutrient availability of minerals like iron. Soaking grains in an acidic mixture reduces phytates as well. People used to soak grains in whey which they may have naturally found a way to make the nutrients more available just by trying to preserve things. Or think of making overnight oats where you are now soaking a grain to reduce is phytate and make it easier on your digestion.

Soaking and sprouting nuts is a common practice to make nuts more digestable. It is best to do with raw nuts and then you can dehydrate them which makes them super crunchy and delicious. Sometimes you can find already sprouted nuts in the store but they are quite pricey. It does seem to improve the bioavailability of nutrients in whatever you have sprouted.

Fermenting which is one of my favorite past times is a great and delicious way to reduce these compounds that inhibit nutrients and make them really good for your gut and easy on your digestive tract. There are a lot of great books on fermentation with one of my favorites being Fermented Vegetables. I forget the author but it is a great starter book for anyone diving into fermentation. You can ferment meat too but I’ve not dove down that road. Fermented foods are higher in histamine so if you have a histamine issue, you might need to avoid these.

You can cure meat too- I’ve made bacon in the past and it was a fun experiment. Curing meats was a method of storing meat to keep it from spoiling in the past. Thankfully we have refrigeration now. You can also cure fruits and veggies- sun dried tomatoes, raisins, prunes- sometimes these have more nutrient content than the fresh versions.