This part two of a multi-part series started here.

Unless hunters and gatherers hunted or gathered it, we are not designed to digest it and it will create a clog. If anything other than cooking or blending is required between the plant or animal and your stomach, then it does not belong in your stomach to begin with.

Here is a quick quiz to illustrate this rule. Circle how we get the foods listed. The answers are in the next footnote.

The “Is It Actually Natural” Quiz

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The exceptions to this rule are whey protein powder, fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese, fat-free or low-fat plain Greek yogurt, and starchy vegetables. Whey and select dairy are SANE, so enjoy them even though they were not available to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. On the other hand, even though starchy “vegetables” such as potatoes and corn were available to our ancestors, these foods should be avoided.^[2]

One more note about “processing.” The only kinds of “processing” which do not cause clogs are freezing, cooking, canning (for meat and seafood only), and grinding/blending. There is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, canned tuna, salmon, or chicken, and ground meats. Pre-cooked and canned seafood and meat are also fine, but precooked or canned vegetables and fruits should be avoided unless they are your only option.

When in doubt, look at the ingredient list. If it is more than three items long—excluding spices—or contains anything that could not be hunted or gathered, then it is inSANE. For instance, Costco sells these wonderful frozen salmon and turkey burgers. The ingredients are basically salmon or turkey along with some seasoning. That is good food. I grill a bunch every few days and take them to work since they are excellent “desk food.” Costco also sells fish sticks and chicken nuggets with ingredient lists about a long as this paragraph and chocked full of unnatural substances. Those are not good.

 

Buy Groceries in Bulk to Save Money

 

A great way to affordably eat a lot of high-quality food is to buy it at bulk wholesalers like Costco or Sam’s Club whenever possible. By buying in bulk, you will be able to eat more higher-quality food while spending about $10 per day on food. That is a great deal.

Here is the actual grocery list my wife and I take to Costco every other week. That is the other nice thing about buying in bulk. It dramatically reduces the amount of time you have to spend grocery shopping.

Non-Starchy Vegetables2 bulk packages of mushrooms3 bulk packages of red peppers 1 bulk package of all natural tomato sauce 4 bulk packages of romaine lettuce 4 bulk packages of spinach 4 bulk packages of kale 2 bulk packages of frozen mixed vegetables 2 bulk packages of frozen green beans 1 bulk package of celery 2 bulk packages of sugar snap peas Seafood 3 bulk packages of salmon 1 bulk package of canned tuna 1 bulk package of salmon burgers Meat/Eggs 1 rotisserie chicken 1 bulk package of eggs 1 bulk package of ham steaks 1 bulk package of turkey burgers 1 bulk package of ground turkey

Fruit1 bulk package of frozen blueberries1 bulk package of frozen strawberries Nuts/Seeds 1 bulk package of mixed nuts 1 bulk tub of natural peanut butter 1 pound of milled flax seeds (ordered online) 1 pound of chia seeds (ordered online) 1 pound natural cocoa (ordered online) 1 pound shredded coconut (ordered online)   Other 1 bulk package of 2% fat cottage cheese 1 bulk package of unsweetened cocoa powder 4 bulk packages of fat-free or low-fat plain Greek yogurt

 

This is a lot of food. Fortunately, it only costs about $10 per person, per day, and we do not need to buy all of it every time we go to the store.