s/o Is Trader Joe's Food "healthy" or nutritionally the work of the devil?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Processed food is garbage, period. Sorry.

Yes, beer and wine. Garbage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Giant food healthy? Is Safeway food healthy? Is wegman's food healthy?

Yes. No. Yes.

[Anonymous]

You can have a 100% crap diet from any grocery store, including Whole Foods.

And you can have 100% healthy diet from any grocery store (read grocery store, not a convenience store).

It's not about labels, it's about INGREDIENTS. You should be able to recognize and pronounce all of them, and there shouldn't be a ton, for most of the foods you buy.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, some dairy if you do dairy. I do take shortcuts (I use canned beans instead of fresh) and if I'm at Giant I will do vegetarian meals that week. I buy chicken or fish from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Same with bread - I like the fresh baked bakery bread, though Giant offers that too. Bread on the shelves is filled with preservatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(reposted from the meals thread)

Try Trader Joes for frozen dinners in a bag. Pretty tasty and better than fast food.

Um.... No, not really. Trader Joes food is terrible and terrible for you. It's basically a junk food store. Llike a 7-11 for hipsters, as someone put it recently.

Disagree. If you're looking for low-fat options, yeah, it's not that healthy. And you do have to look at sodium content, because some are high. But - the ingredients list is short and understandable and not filled with chemicals, corn syrup, and preservatives. So yeah, it's not the best, but it is a big step up from fast food.

I 100% agree with the PP. My husband has a very restricted diet and needs to avoid all preservatives (except salt and sugar) and TJs is the best place for us to find foods without a lot of added gunk. Of course we have to eat it up quickly eze it because otherwise it goes bad within a day or two....Also TJs food doesn't have a lot of artificial dyes and flavorings, THQ, or transfatty acids.

What does your husband's doctor/nutritionist say about this, just curious? Someone put him on the restricted diet -- so what's their professional opinion?

My husband's dietitian thinks Trader Joe's foods or any foods without certain preservatives are an excellent choice for his diet.

So you have discussed the stock at Trader Joes specifically with the dietician? Or are you just making shit up now?

Trader Joes food is filled with MSG anyway. At least house-label food is.

You do realize that for the most part, Trader joe's branded food is just repackaged name brand food, right? Like the pita chips are Stacy's pita chips, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can have a 100% crap diet from any grocery store, including Whole Foods.

And you can have 100% healthy diet from any grocery store (read grocery store, not a convenience store).

It's not about labels, it's about INGREDIENTS.

I completely agree with you - so many people who shop at WF assume that because it's from WF, it is automatically healthy, but look at the ingredients people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can have a 100% crap diet from any grocery store, including Whole Foods.

And you can have 100% healthy diet from any grocery store (read grocery store, not a convenience store).

It's not about labels, it's about INGREDIENTS. You should be able to recognize and pronounce all of them, and there shouldn't be a ton, for most of the foods you buy.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, some dairy if you do dairy. I do take shortcuts (I use canned beans instead of fresh) and if I'm at Giant I will do vegetarian meals that week. I buy chicken or fish from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Same with bread - I like the fresh baked bakery bread, though Giant offers that too. Bread on the shelves is filled with preservatives.

I agree with this up to a point, but I think there's been a tremendous over emphasis on this recently. Stick to the basics about calories, fat, sodium, sugar. Those levels are far more important than whether or not a preservative exists.

[Anonymous]

Is it really that hard to read the labels?

Check the fat, check the sodium. How many grams of protein (you're supposed to get 65 per day)? How many calories in a serving (you're supposed to get 2,000 a day)? Is the serving size reasonable (i.e., are you going to eat the whole package yourself when it says it is 2 servings--or could you eat the recommended serving and add raw veggies as a side)?

Look at the label, do a quick assessment, make the call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So you have discussed the stock at Trader Joes specifically with the dietician? Or are you just making shit up now?

Trader Joes food is filled with MSG anyway. At least house-label food is.

Yes, I brought in some of the prepared foods labels (empty, cleaned) to her to see if they'd be a good choice for meals. They were specifically from Trader Joe's. I need to develop some very easy, reliable meals that I can feed our whole family straight from the freezer on days when we are too busy to cook.

These meals or items were specifically from Trader Joes and the dietitian said they were a good choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Giant food healthy? Is Safeway food healthy? Is wegman's food healthy?

Yes. No. Yes.

LOL, poor Safeway!

[Anonymous]

As other PP said, it completely depends on what you get and you have to read the labels. I have found a few convenience foods there are relatively healthy and great for quick night meals. I love their prepared brown rice to supplement a meal and the frozen vegetables are great. I will add the turkey meatballs to pasta I make at home. Generally, I use Trader Joes to supplement meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can have a 100% crap diet from any grocery store, including Whole Foods.

And you can have 100% healthy diet from any grocery store (read grocery store, not a convenience store).

It's not about labels, it's about INGREDIENTS. You should be able to recognize and pronounce all of them, and there shouldn't be a ton, for most of the foods you buy.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, some dairy if you do dairy. I do take shortcuts (I use canned beans instead of fresh) and if I'm at Giant I will do vegetarian meals that week. I buy chicken or fish from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Same with bread - I like the fresh baked bakery bread, though Giant offers that too. Bread on the shelves is filled with preservatives.

I agree. I just bought some cookies from WF and I am not under the impression that they are healthy.

I think TJs has some good options or less expensive options (frozen organic fruit is cheaper than other stores, cheaper olive oil, interesting pasta sauces, etc). Some of the food is still crap though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Trader Joes food is filled with MSG anyway. At least house-label food is.

No, it doesn't. I have an allergy to MSG and it is the only place I can reliably buy any convenience foods that don't have MSG added. I challenge you to find one product on their shelves that has it because I haven't seen it in years. The last time was a prepared broth concentrate that they stopped carrying specifically because the formula changed and it began to have MSG in it.

[Anonymous]

from the website:
All Products In The Trader Joe's Label Promise:
NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
NO MSG
NO genetically modified ingredients
NO added Trans Fats

[Anonymous]

50-100 grams carbs. 1 gram protein per pound of lean body mass. The rest from natural, animal fats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Giant food healthy? Is Safeway food healthy? Is wegman's food healthy?

Or even ... Is the Farmer's Market healthy?

What an odd debate. It's not the store, it's what you buy there? At TJ's I can get a salad with grilled chicken and a few almonds for much less than I can get at the shop by work. Fine choice I think. Chocolate covered sunflower seeds not such a great choice.

At the Farmer's market I can get all the ingredients to make that salad or I can get a pain au chocolate and creamy goat cheese. The latter, while "fresh" still aren't so great for the arteries.