Excerpted and adapted from The Great Healing - Five Compassions That Can Save Our World.
Source healthy, sustainably and humanely raised meat and dairy products from small local family farms, regenerative farmers and other suppliers. Here are links to resources that will help you locate healthy organic produce, as well as letting you compare products in your supermarket.
localharvest.org can help you source organic and sustainably grown foods including farmers’ markets and family farms in your area.
A Greener World’s search tool enables you to find stores in your area that sell grass-fed high-welfare-managed meat, dairy, and other products.
Eat Wild has a “state-by-state plus Canada” directory to help you locate 100% grass-fed animals, as well as eggs and dairy products from animals fed natural diets.
The Cornucopia Institute’s homepage has a Scorecards tab which provides health scorecards on cereals, dairy, eggs, grains, pet foods and a variety of products and brands: cornucopia.org
The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Food Scores site rates over 80,000 foods found on supermarket shelves based on 3 criteria: nutritional value, concerns about ingredients and contaminants, and the degree and type of processing. There is also a home furnishings guide and a tap water database. A free phone app enables you to scan bar codes while shopping to check a product’s rating and compare it with dozens of similar products. Ewg.org/foodscores
The Center For Food Safety has a free phone app, the True Food Shoppers Guide, that lets you immediately identify whether or not a food product contains GMO (also referred to as GE, “genetically engineered”) ingredients. The site also has a guide to avoiding GMO food, and information on the dangers of GMO / GE foods.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (ASPCA) Meat, Eggs and Dairy Label Guide lists certification labels and defines what they mean.
Here are other groups and organizations to help you identify and locate healthy delicious food. They are great sources of information as well:
This is the USDA’s National Farmers’ Markets Directory. A national listing lets you easily find the farmers’ markets closest to you. Once you locate a market, it provides additional information on market hours and what products are typically available there.
This Natural Grocers webpage clarifies what product standards you should be looking for when purchasing body care, dairy, dietary supplements, meat, grocery, and pet products.
The Organic Authority website is a source for recipes, nutrition and wellness advice.
The Happy Cow site lets you find nearby restaurants. While the box says “Vegan restaurants nearby,” the search includes vegan and vegetarian restaurants along with restaurants that offer veg-options. Also included are juice bars, health stores, ice cream shops, food trucks, etc. The site has recipes as well.
Seafood Watch has a free phone app that provides up-to-date recommendations on sustainable seafood as well as local restaurants serving ocean-friendly seafood.
The Eat Well Guide site has a Guides navigation tab that is handy when traveling. Select a city and discover hand-picked restaurants, farms, and markets presenting local, sustainable, delicious food.
The Good Guide rates 75,000 different foods and products based on whether they are safe, ethical, or healthy. Click on the Categories Index at the bottom of the home page and 45 product categories will appear. The site also has a free phone app that lets you scan the bar code of items while shopping to check their rating.
Read product labels carefully as manufacturers often make them deliberately misleading. The Food Label Guide is a quick easy reference to find out what a food label means.
Explore delicious recipes and balanced meals.
There is so much information, so many delicious recipes available online to enable a shift to a better diet balance — lean meat along with more vegetables and fruits, seeds, nuts, and whole grains. Food is an adventure, and we have access to more varieties of it, more spices, more ways of preparing and cooking food than ever.
Here are some sites I can suggest with a mind-expanding array of delicious vegetarian and plant-based recipes. There are many more.
ChooseVeg.com is a helpful website with recipes, nutritional information, a meal planner, and one-on-one support.
Meatless Monday Recipes
Chowhound 13 Vegetarian Blogs to Inspire Healthy Eating All Year Long
The Kitchn The 5 Vegetarian Blogs I Read Every Day
Cookie + Kate Fresh vegetarian recipes
Organic Authority (primarily plant-based recipes, a few fish dishes)
New York Times Cooking: 27 Vegetarian Dishes
Forks Over Knives – All Recipes
Cooking Light Our Best Show-Stopping Vegetarian Recipes
For meat eaters, here are some sites to explore with healthy recipes, which can include humanely raised, pastured or free range, and grass-fed grass-finished meat.