How to choose a grocery store: My thoughts on Trader Joe's and Whole Foods

Whenever I move to a new area, one of the first things I do is figure out where to purchase my groceries.  Factors that influence my decision include

• Distance from my house - How long does it take to get there by car? by bike? walking?
• Ease of use  - How big is the store? is it organized logically?
• Availability  - Do they stock the items I want to purchase?
• Quality - Does the produce look fresh?  do they offer grass-fed meat and dairy?  Pastured eggs?
• Price - How do the store's prices compare to nearby competitor prices?

Living near Old Town Alexandria, my favorite places to shop include Trader Joe's (612 N St. Asaph St) and Whole Foods (1700 Duke St).

I appreciate Trader Joe's for the excellent prices and ease of use.  Trader Joe's is a smaller store which requires less time to walk through.  If you know what you want, you can get in and get out very quickly.  Trader Joe's doesn't offer the variety of a bigger, conventional grocery stores but, for what they lack in variety, they make up for it in price.  A package of Gimme Organic seaweed snacks costs $1.99 at Whole Foods. Trader Joe's sells a similar product for $0.99.

Seaweed offers many healthful nutrients, including iodine, vitamin K, and calcium.

I shop at Trader Joe's for staple items like olive oil, canned beans, broth (vegetable, chicken), maple syrup, blue corn chips (so much lighter in texture and flavor than WF brand), regular cheese, bagged lettuce (my favorite is the Wild Arugula), bananas, organic carrots and celery, baby portobello mushrooms, precooked beets (so easy to add to salad), Applegate deli meat, hummus, and frozen fruit.

The high fat / medium protein + medium fiber / low sugar content
make these dark chocolate covered almonds a low glycemic snack

One downside to shopping at Trader Joe's is the temptation to try the plentiful processed or packaged foods such as their Triple Gingersnaps.  The only specialty item I allow myself to purchase is the Dark Belgian chocolate covered almonds, made with 73% Cacao and only six other ingredients (provides 5g protein, 5 g fiber, only 9 g sugar per 1/4 cup serving).  The other downside is how crazy busy it gets during rush hour.  I will NEVER choose to shop at Trader Joe's on a Sunday (10am - 4pm) or right after work (i.e weekdays around 5pm).

I might shop at Trader Joe's exclusively if they didn't have such a limited selection.  When I go grocery shopping, I usually have to make two stops - one at Trader Joe's and a second at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods offers a high-quality shopping experience - from the handsome store layout to the thoughtful consideration they put into procurement of each and every one of their offerings.  Many complain that Whole Foods is expensive - but you get a hassle-free environment offering a wide selection of quality foods.  As an example, Whole Foods is the only place I can find Snowville Creamery milk.  Reading the label, this milk comes from grass grazed cows fed only non-GMO feed & forage.

According to Jennifer Adler in her new book Passionate Nutrition: A Guide to Using Food as Medicine fro a Nutritionist Who Healed Herself From the Inside Out (Sasquatch Books, 2014), "because of bioaccumulation, or the accumulation of a substance in a living organism, organic meat and dairy give you the biggest bang for your buck.  Over its lifetime, a 1,000 pound cow consumes far more pesticides (which are added to its feed) than a carrot or strawberry would be capable of absorbing.  A study in Israel found that when people consumed organic meat and dairy, they reduced their exposure to certain estrogen-related pesticides by 98 percent."

Whole foods is my favorite place to purchase meats, dairy, eggs, and seafood because it is easy to find options that are grass-fed, pastured and wild caught.  I also tend to buy fresh produce items like apples, ginger, kale and broccolini (a.k.a. tender baby broccoli) because it is likely to be local and/or fresher.