• Select produce-fruit, vegetables, breads and even protein sources-that were grown or made as close to home as possible.
• If you can justify the cost of buying organic produce instead of the regular stuff, great!
• If you don't like paying extra for organic, wash your produce as thoroughly as possible to remove at least some of the chemicals.
• Remember variety! The more variety or cross-training in your diet the more nourishment you get and the less you risk exposure to any one harmful chemical.
• Think about where the product was grown or produced. In the case of fruit for example, you can visualize the fruit actually coming from a tree somewhere. In the case of coffee whitener, the ingredient list reads: glucose syrup, hydrogenated canola oil, sodium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, monoglycerides, tricalcium phosphate, acetylated tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, artificial flavour, citric acid, BHT and colour. So a good rule of thumb is if you need a dictionary to understand the product's ingredient list, it's likely not very nutritious.

• Choose whole grain breads and cereals instead of white. This includes pasta and rice. That's whole wheat and not simply wheat. Wheat means white.
• In the vegetable and fruit category, go with dark green, orange and richly-colored fruits and vegetables. They're packed with more nutrition than wimpy vegetables like iceberg lettuce, celery and cucumbers. Some top picks include spinach, romaine, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, garlic, onions, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, all peppers, apricots, cantaloupe, berries and all citrus fruit.
• In the milk category, choose lower fat products and vary your choices. The best quality yogurts are those below 1 percent milk fat with no aspartame or other fake sugars. Fortified soymilk is a good option from this group.
• In the meat and alternates category, again select a variety. If chicken is your main meat, you've got to mix it up with fish, beans, tofu, etc. Fish is a high quality meat due to the good fats it supplies. Go with fish in place of meat at least twice a week. Maybe a tuna sandwich at lunch and perhaps a halibut fillet at dinner? This leaves beef, pork, chicken and eggs as occasional options instead of being staples.
• Other high quality steps you can take in your diet include substituting tea for coffee. Black and green tea are rich in powerful antioxidant vitamins and the more garlic and onions you eat the better.

Watch for the Eating for Energy segment every Tuesday on BCTV's Noon News Hour!

Excerpt from The 80-20 cookbook - Eating for Energy without Deprivation, by Diana Steele and Patricia Chuey

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