Shop with Doc to make healthy grocery choices

Fewer processed foods, more fresh foods, lots of veggies, good quality protein and healthy fats – and some fruit. That’s the recipe for a healthy diet, says Dr Margo de Kooker.

Easy in theory, but when you are pushing that trolley down the aisles after a long day at work and you haven’t given supper much thought, where do you even start?

This is where Margo’s “Shop With Doc” grocery tours come in as they help you to join the dots between the food you eat and your health.

The “Doc” specialises in wellness and functional medicine and has been working with Waterfront SuperSPAR to label the foods which actually are good for you.

She has gone through each item to check its ingredients, which means that you don’t have to.

What is more, after a tour with Margo you, as the customer, will be better able to:

• Understand labels;
• Choose healthier brands;
• Become aware of your “Mitos”.

This last one, Mito, is short for mitochondria, which is an integral part of the trillions of cells in our bodies, Margo says. These tiny entities work by turning the food we eat into energy.

“If Mitos don’t work, our cells won’t have the energy to do their jobs,” she says. “That is when we get sick, so we need to eat well.”

With this goal in mind, Margo and the staff at Waterfront SuperSPAR have been gradually sifting out less healthy choices and this has meant an overhaul of entire sub-sections of the store, starting with the deli, which is now proud to present customers with real, homemade food.

“80% of the food that is made in this SPAR is made with real ingredients such as butter, Himalayan salt, whole spices like turmeric, garlic, and no MSG – the chicken stew, for example, will be made from scratch with natural spices, not spice packs.”

And, despite popular belief, Margo says it has not been more expensive for the store to make healthier food. “It’s cheaper to use the spices they grind from fresh in store and real butter, rather than the MSG, additives and processed oils.”

She points out several items where the healthier choice need not cost more. For example, Waterfront SuperSPAR may be the only store in Port Elizabeth to sell maize meal that is not genetically modified, in 5kg bags which retails at the same price as the other brands of mealie meal.

“Mielie meal is a South African staple and consumers deserve better,” she says.

As a consumer guide, Margo has attached a Mito sticker on the shelf for each item which is good for you so shoppers will see a sticker under, for example, tins of tomato with no chemical preservatives but not under tins which contain added sugar and artificial additives.

“There are stickers on items that are clean and natural,” Margo explains. “We have to check our labels.”

Luckily for the shoppers at Waterfront, she has examined (and regularly updates) the ever-changing labels on food. “Ingredients get put in and taken out of products all the time but the consumer does not get told. We will start to see changes as retailers start pushing back against the food manufacturers’ lack of transparency.”

Obviously the fresh produce section is full of healthy choices but the salad bar is a revelation – only about half the options have the coveted Mito sticker signalling their health benefits. This is because many salad dressings are full of sugar, preservatives and processed oils.

Among other supposed healthy choices there are more surprises, such as some yoghurts containing unnecessary additives like starches and other additives, for example.

Unlike certain retailers who she says “greenwash” the consumer with hollow claims, Margo knows items on the shelves at Waterfront that are labelled Mito-friendly really are.

She also has not shied away from letting SPAR know which of its own house brands have been lacking – and is thrilled to have had a positive response.
So how do we know if this brand is better than that one?

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES

When Waterfront SuperSPAR owner Howard Robertson went on one of Dr Margo de Kooker’s food detective tours, he took action almost immediately to make his store healthier for his customers.

“The penny dropped that when you get down to looking at the ingredients, it’s disgusting how little we know and what the manufacturers actually shove into their products,” Howard says.

“There are crazy things that are allowed to be put into food!

But it’s so simple really. It’s not as if you have to eat kale, cabbage and cauliflower for the rest of your life, and you don’t have to give up eating slap chips either. Just cut out some of the bad and start to do more of the good things.”

Now the Humerail retailer offers its customers regular free “Shop With Doc” tours, generally on a Tuesday morning, which last two hours and can accommodate up to six visitors at a time.

Margo says Waterfront SuperSPAR was ahead of the curve in making health-related changes to its food range, but now other stores in Nelson Mandela Bay – Sherwood and Hunters Retreat for example – will also be rolling out this outreach.

She also says the grocery tours are only Phase 1 of what she hopes to achieve with Howard and his team.

“Watch out for Phase 2 at Waterfront, it will be cutting- edge shopping,” she promises of the plans for 2019. “It will blow your mind!”

What is TBHQ? Or an “e” number? Are baked beans as good as green beans? Take the “Shop With Doc” tour and see for yourself!

More information on the tours from (041) 501-8600, e-mail: waterfrontsp@mweb.co.za