15 Grocery Items We Keep Stocked in the Fit Fresh Real Kitchen

After a few weeks on our meal plans, you'll start to see some our favorite healthy ingredients playing on repeat. Many are simple, healthy swaps for other items you probably already have in your pantry. It's okay to use those "less healthy" items until they run out but as you start cleaning out unhealthy foods from your pantry and fridge, here's a quick list of items you'll want to start replacing them with:

1. Liquid Aminos (instead of low-sodium soy sauce)
2. Coconut Sugar and raw, organic honey (instead of cane sugar)
3. Avocado Oil, Coconut oil, and a high-quality Extra Virgin Olive Oilinstead of canola or vegetable oil
4. REAL sticks of unsalted butter (instead of fake buttery spreads)
5. Almond flour and coconut flour (instead of white or wheat flour)
6. Low-fat, PLAIN Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream or any other kind of yogurt -- you want it to taste like sweet yogurt? Just add honey and some real fruit.)
7. Almond Butter and Peanut Butter free of sugar (The amount of sugar in most of these is cray-cray. It's used as a binding agent to help lazy people from having to stir before spreading. Don't get sucked into that madness!)
8. Unsweetened Almond, Flax or Cashew milk (instead of cow's milk -- dude, think of it this way, you're basically drinking from a cow's boob. You don't need that...)
9. Basic flavoring spices (parsley, cilantro, garlic powder -- not garlic salt!, onion powder,  salt and pepper, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, and turmeric)
10. A few baskets of decently healthy snacks: Organic jerky, variety of raw or plain roasted nuts, low-sugar cereals, apples, bananas, carrots, hummus, salsa and organic tortilla chips, and oatmeal. 
11. Organic Lemon & Lime Juice (NOT lemon or lime flavoring. Try Lakewood Organic.) 
12. Low-sugar Marinara Sauce (This is another food that is often packed with unnecessary sugar. Tomatoes already have natural sugars, and that's okay, but when you see sugar on the ingredient list of a marinara sauce, you should run for the hills. We like Muir Glen's Organic Classic Marinara. It's the only organic option in it's price range with good-for-you ingredients and no added sugar. Plus, it's delish!)
13. Canned Tuna (line-caught, BPA free)
14. Variety of whole grains (like brown rice, farro, and quinoa) 
15. Protein pasta (The closest type your find to real pasta is this pasta with protein added from Barilla -- a decent choice. Or, try the many varieties of lentil or bean pastas available at your local grocery store.)