While it's the best policy to buy locally where available - from farms shops for instance or growing/raising your own food - it is a fact of life that most people get their food from supermarkets. What follows are some tips on what to buy and what to avoid when grocery shopping in supermarkets.

Bear in mind firstly what is healthy and what isn't. A diet rich in fruit and vegetables is a must. Shun "ready meals" in favor of ingredients for recipes. It's best to know what you are eating and how it has been prepared. Stick to whole foods rather than anything processed like various meats and cheeses often are.

The worst kind of "ready meals" are those that come in microwavable/oven-cook plastic containers, that you are supposed to cook the food in. The food even tastes of plastic, and chemicals are bound to leech into it. Plastic containers contaminate food, some food more than others, with hormone disrupting chemicals: phthalates. Glass containers are best. Canned food is also at risk from phthalate contamination since cans are coated with plastic inside. Very worrying. I am not saying you should never buy this, but just be aware.

An important ingredient to avoid is: hydrogenated vegetable oil(and partially hydrogenated which can actually be worse). Many supermarkets and top brands have thankfully started to make a point of excluding this from their products. It is a trans fat and is the worst kind of fat, far worse than saturated fat. The hydrogenation is an industrial process, which increases the shelf life of the product and the expense of your own life span. Serious health effects include: more "bad" cholesterol, rigid arteries, clogged arteries, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Buy organically grown produce, but be aware that organic standards have been watered down. Organic food is seen as a highly profitable sector for supermarkets, and the result of this demand has seen corners being cut to qualify items as being organic. In the US, a number of non-organic ingredients are allowed in products labeled organic. In Europe, the rules now allow for 5% of the ingredients not to be organic.

"Food miles" should be taken into account when considering the impact on the environment of your purchases. Anything locally produced is the most responsible option for this reason. Products labeled "fair trade", which are sold in a scheme that aims to ensure the growers get a fair wage, that the land is farmed responsibly and that globalized free trade does not allow ruthless corporations to trample people and ecology, are still not good to buy from a "food miles" perspective. Coffee travels a long distance to arrive in the West, and it would be better to use alternatives such as Chicory coffee or Dandelion-root coffee ( available in health food shops and in some supermarkets). These don't have as far to travel to reach you.

You may also think about the company that is benefiting from your purchases. For example, many people boycott Israeli or Chinese goods. There are good reasons to avoid Chinese foods in the wake of recent revelations regarding poisonous contamination. You should think about who and what you are supporting when you buy things. Even think about the adverts you see for various brands in the media. Are they promoting degenerate ideas?

Finally, consider packaging. We must avoid buying over-packaged goods, which we pay for, and which ends up being thrown away - causing pollution as well as a waste of the energy and resources that were used to make the packaging. And don't forget to re-use or recycle those plastic shopping bags!