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  • I'm Stacey Zawacki, director of the Sargent Choice Nutrition Center. The first step in

  • cooking well is shopping well, so I'm gonna give you some tips for stocking your healthy

  • kitchen here at the Whole Foods in Cambridge.

  • Here we are in the produce section. Take a look around at all these beautiful colors.

  • They all represent nutrients that we can't make.

  • If you want to go food shopping once a week and not worry about your food spoiling,

  • then we'll plan a mixture of ripe and unripe, fresh and frozen.

  • Let's start with something local. Here we are in the apple section and as you can see

  • apples are grown all over the country.

  • This week our best pick is a Macintosh apple, locally grown and at its peak of freshness.

  • So he we are in the stone fruits section. These are all fruits that have a pit.

  • Unlike apples these aren't always ripe and ready to eat the same day.

  • Don't hesitate to ask a produce manager about buying these fruits.

  • Dave, can you answer a couple of questions about this?

  • Sure.

  • I'd like to know how to choose a nectarine at the right time.

  • When you're buying a nectarine, which is in season right now, you want to give it a little

  • touch, and if there's a little give to it just like the back of your hand, that's ready to eat now.

  • Now yours that you have there it's a little hard and crunchy. It will be a little more

  • tart, but if you put it on your counter for a day or two it will get as soft as this

  • and it will be ready to eat.

  • Unlike stone fruit, the way you tell if a cantaloupe, or a melon, is ripe is by smelling the stem.

  • If it smells like fruit it's ready to eat, and this one is.

  • When fresh berries aren't in season you're gonna want to take them home and eat them

  • within a couple of days.

  • Or you could try frozen.

  • Hey, Rhett, what are you doing here?

  • Oh, just randomly piling frozen berries here.

  • Well, actually, Rhett, you're helping me make a great point. Frozen berries are always in season

  • and they're just as nutritious.

  • So let's talk about vegetables.

  • Vegetables are something that we want to aim to eat three times a day.

  • Where do we start? Let's start with orange vegetables. Carrots are a great example.

  • You can also do sweet potatoes in the microwave and butternut squash.

  • So for green vegetables don't forget green beans, asparagus, brussel sprouts, cauliflower,

  • and my favorite, broccoli.

  • Broccoli lasts a long time in the refrigerator so you've got all week to work with it, and

  • it's rich in Vitamin C.

  • Leafy greens are more perishable than broccoli, and so when you bring home your lettuce or

  • your spinach, you want to make a salad tonight.

  • If you don't get a chance to do that, then tomorrow add it to your pizza. Any meal with

  • leafy greens is gonna be healthier.

  • In the meat department we're all familiar with ground beef. It's easy and affordable,

  • but lean alternatives include ground turkey breast, chicken breast, and select cuts of

  • meat like round and sirloin.

  • Salmon's a great choice for a heart-healthy dose of Omega-3s, but just like any fresh fish,

  • if you're not gonna serve it right away, you may be better off with frozen.

  • Hey, Rhett! What do you have here?

  • Oh, I just happen to have some frozen fish.

  • Oh, and I see you also have some canned tuna and salmon. That's gonna be convenient for

  • later in the week. What else do you have?

  • Oh, just a variety of proteins. Let's see here. I've got some nut butter, some beans,

  • hummus, and oh, I have tofu.

  • That's great. Meat-free is good for your wallet and the environment.

  • And it's super tasty. A lot better than dog food.

  • Thanks so much for all those healthy shopping tips, Stacey. Can't wait for the next video

  • where we'll learn about the tools we'll need to cook with.

  • You're welcome, Rhett. And don't forget to visit the Sargent Choice website to download

  • your own healthy shopping list.

  • Yup, see you around.

  • See you around.

I'm Stacey Zawacki, director of the Sargent Choice Nutrition Center. The first step in

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