As a doctor who specializes in gut health, I spend a lot of time discussing inflammatory, gut-wrecking foods you should avoid. Yet, equally important is choosing the right foods to eat. “What do you put in your cart, Dr. Pedre?” readers and patients often ask. The whole, unprocessed foods I recommend in my book Happy Gut mean you get more nutrients from eating less food. In other words, without counting calories, you will naturally consume more nutrient-dense foods and fewer calorie-dense foods. Doing that takes a little know-how. Two excellent sources are the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) Dirty Dozen and Clean 15. These lists, updated yearly, catalog the most- and least-contaminated produce. If you can’t afford to buy everything organic, this list will help you make the most-informed choices. As much as possible, stay away from the “dirty dozen.” Keeping these things in mind, here’s how I fill my cart for under $20. While this isn’t a complete list of what I buy, these are among my favorite biggest-bang-for-your-buck gut-healing, nutrient-dense foods that often land in my grocery cart. (If any of the seven favorites I’ve listed aren’t on sale, I’ve provided alternatives for most of them.) My total bill? $15.54. By shopping smartly you can find these and other gut-healing essentials without crashing your budget. Food is my go-to first step to heal the gut and help my patients feel better. Psst! These are the best and worst foods for gut health.
