With large grocery stores chains selling organic foods -- Eagle, Publix, Safeway and even Wal-Mart -- more Americans have access to healthier foods than ever before. I knew it would eventually come. If there is a demand, most businesses will wake up and provide the service.
This move certainly makes sense: Sales at traditional grocery stores have stagnated, while same-store sales at Whole Foods locations have risen more than 11 percent annually for the past five years.
This reminds me of the gradual acceptance of whole grain breads. Thirty years ago, the only place you could find them was in the health food store. Now they are available in nearly every grocery store, including many gas stations. If you carefully examine them, however, you will find that the bulk of them are deceptively packaged. Most are only darkly colored highly processed breads made to look like whole grains, but not provide the benefits of whole grain nutrition.
One of the easiest ways you can distinguish healthier breads is to pick up the loaf and see and feel how heavy it is. The better breads are far denser and much heavier.
Please do not accept this as an endorsement to go out and purchase whole grain breads. I still believe very strongly that at least 75 percent of the population would be best served avoiding grains until they normalized their insulin dysfunction.
However, there are clearly some people who not only enjoy whole grain breads, but whose health actually thrives with them. It is just that they are a very small fraction of the population.
USA Today June 29, 2006