In the search for ever healthier foods I stumbled across this great food resource from the Environmental Working Group.

It is their Food Score guide. It will actually tell you how healthy a food is based on a score from 1.0 down to 10.0 (lower is better in this case). They factor in nutrition, ingredient and processing concerns to give you the total. This algorithm gives you a number that weighs each concern to really take the guesswork out of it for you

You can even download it for your Apple or Android device to use on the go. This is a great way to check on healthy food when you are at the grocery store or even out to eat.

This should still does not mean that you want to be always searching for foods that are packaged and processed to see if they are a low enough score. Rather use it as a guide, but learn about the nutrition in food along the way. If you are buying Organic fruits and veggies, pasture raised meats and wild caught fish there will be little use for the guide.

However, if you are not able to get the cleanest and freshest local foods all the time, then it will be a game changer in eating healthier. It will allow you to see if there tends to be more pesticides, hormones, more sugar or high processing of a certain food.

It is also a great idea if you are just starting to eat healthy foods because now you can have a teacher in your pocket.

There are always foods that “seem” healthy and we might be told they are to sell you on them, but now you can check for yourself. This type of education can go a long way when making future food selections.

Another great feature is how visual it is.

It doesn’t take tons of reading to find out about foods, but a simple glance at the number. If you want to get down into the details you can, but if you are busy or want your kids to get on board this will certainly help out the whole family.

There is also a nice comparison to similar foods.

I love this because it can give you great alternatives if a food comes up a little less than healthy. This is sometimes a big deal breaker for people when they completely lose a food that they love, but don’t know what else is similar and  a whole lot more nutritious.

Now I’m sure that there are going to be scores that get spit out that you or I may not agree with and that is fine.

This is not the only resource you should be using. It is important to think for yourself and be able to identify situations when your values on food do not match up with an algorithm. A computer calculation is great, but knowing your body and feeling the foods that you put into it are priceless and cannot be replaced with anything. Keep refining the process and you will be surprised how much you can boost your nutrition knowledge and improve your health along the way.

Have a Great Day!

Nick Horowski