The area’s Hannaford became a classroom Monday, Dec. 18, when residents Arlene Smith and Beth Dudley were taken on a tour conducted by Dr. Patricia Phillips.

Phillips, who has held two nutrition workshops this year at the Community Center, capped off her series with an escorted tour of the local grocery store to point out healthy food choices.

We don’t often have a chance to hear a nutrition expert as we’re shopping, so it was especially helpful to travel aisle-by-aisle with Phillips.

She began by citing an experiment that showed when grocery carts are divided with one section marked for produce, most shoppers fill up that section of the cart with produce.

Even when the researchers varied the size of the partition, the bigger the section, the more produce people bought, showing that we are all open to suggestion about our food choices.

The tour started in the produce section. First up were sweet potatoes, which got a thumbs up from Phillips for their fiber and vitamins. When vegetables are cut, they lose vitamins, she added.

There are certain foods she recommends eating every day. These include leafy greens, foods in the onion family, mushrooms (high in anti-oxidants and the white button variety are more nutritious than the other types), cabbage, green tea and teas containing hibiscus.

Questioned about the nutritional content of fresh versus frozen produce, she explained that it depends on the season and what is grown locally. Fresh may be best at certain times of year but in the winter, frozen produce may be more nutritious because it is frozen soon after picking.

Phillips suggested cooking tomatoes because their lycopene content can triple just by heating them.

Apple cider has live culture or probiotics, and the best olive oil to use is that marked “extra virgin cold press.” 

Phillips was questioned about opting for organic foods and the shoppers were told that, while an “organic” label is very important for salad greens, berries and berry preserves, it is not really as important for peanut butter. Pointing to a large container of oats, she said that many healthy options are not necessarily expensive.   

Adding protein to vegetarian diets was discussed and the daily requirement for 30-40 grams of protein can be added by a variety of foods.

Overall, Phillips reminded the shoppers to read labels carefully. “If you don’t know what the ingredient is or you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it!”