Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 182: Grocery Shopping for Gains + The 8 Foods I Eat Daily.

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

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Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matrenga. And in today's episode, I'm going to go over how I approach grocery shopping for optimizing health, performance, body composition. in groups. I'm also going to share with you the four stores I shop the most at, as well as going over eight foods that I buy every week and what my actual grocery list looks like right now. So you'll get a really good in-depth understanding of how I shop, the things that I shop for. I'll go over some of the ways in which I save money, some of the ways in which I'm able to spread foods out. But overall, this is a pretty comprehensive deep dive into what you can do and what you might be able to replicate to eat a relatively high protein diet that's rich in micronutrient dense plant foods while still including some of what you like. I'm not telling you that this is the best way to eat, but this is how I eat and oftentimes how I recommend my

clients eat. I'm not a dietician nor a physician, so this is pure conjecture and advice that you should take heavily with a grain of salt, and it's not intended to be medical advice in any way, shape, or form. Before we get into the kind of grocery shopping manifesto, though, I'd like to take a minute to talk to you about one of the amazing partners of this podcast, which is Seed's symbiotic probiotic product. Seed is a pretty unbelievable probiotic product. In fact, it's my favorite one on the market because I think it's the only one that I would spend money on. And in fact, I do spend money on it. Seed was something that I was taking for many, many months before we

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you can go to seed.com peruse all of their amazing science and research see just how legit they are you have no need to take my word for it you can see for yourself at seed.com and check out using the promo code Danny15 to save on your first order. Okay, guys. So when I go to the grocery store, there are a few things that I am shopping for and I want to make sure show up in my cart each and every week. The first are my animal proteins. Now, if you are a vegan or a plant-based dieter, there are a lot of different options that you can include in your nutrition to get a diverse amount of protein or a diverse array of proteins from a variety of different plant sources. It's really important if you're going to be sourcing your protein from plants that you get diversity. I'm not somebody who

consumes a lot of plant proteins myself, but I did want to make sure that we went over some options before we dove specifically into my list, because I know many of you are plant-based or vegetarian eaters. So if you're not going to consume animal proteins, you might instead look to include things like tempeh, tofu, edamame, lentils, beans, split peas, and black-eyed peas in your grocery shopping list. Some vegetarian options, of course, are eggs, cottage cheese, and yogurt. So I do actually include both eggs and yogurt in my weekly shopping list. So those are the first two things that I will include every single week. Eggs, I like to be pasture-raised

because they tend to have a better nutrient density profile. Although from a macronutrient standpoint, meaning the carbs and the fats, there is not much difference, but the actual micronutrient quality, meaning the vitamins and minerals you get in the yolk of that egg, tend to be better from pastured eggs. So I always start each week with some pastured eggs. The second thing I get every week is Greek yogurt or Icelandic yogurt. I like these yogurts because they have a little bit of a tart taste, which I've become somewhat accustomed to and actually quite enjoy. They're loaded with protein. Most of the lactose is actually fermented out, so they tend to be okay on my stomach as somebody who's mildly lactose

sensitive. And generally, they're lower in sugar and pretty low in fat. So yogurt is something that I eat almost every single day as a primary protein source. You can also use unflavored Greek yogurt as a dip or as a topping or as a component in dressings, as a component in different cooking modalities. It's a very versatile, high protein food. I'm not a fan of cottage cheese, but cottage cheese and specifically low fat cottage cheese tend to be pretty darn good options for getting protein. So those are my non-meat based proteins. I will every single week buy at least one poultry protein, whether that is ground turkey, ground chicken, chicken breast, or chicken thighs. I do like to

have the poultry based proteins because I find ground turkey to be pretty, or chicken thighs. I do like to have the poultry-based proteins because I find ground turkey to be pretty easy to cook with. I will often make a mixture of ground turkey, rice, and vegetables, or chicken breast and chicken thighs, which I find you can prepare in many different ways. If I'm very busy, I will often shop at Costco for chicken nuggets. There is a company named Bear that makes a phenomenal breaded chicken breast nugget. our chicken nuggets. There is a company named Bear that makes a phenomenal breaded chicken breast nugget. And that's a quick, not super clean, if you will, but very macro-friendly option for those of you who are in a hurry. The other animal proteins I will often get are fish. I love shellfish, particularly shrimp. And I also quite enjoy salmon, which is rich in omega-3s.

And I also eat red meat. I will consume 93.7 ground red meat weekly, again, just the same way I consume ground turkey with rice and vegetables, and I'm a big fan of a few different cuts of steak, most specifically skirt steak, ribeye steak, and flank steak. Now, skirt steak and ribeye steak are quite a bit fattier and quite a bit more expensive, so those aren't things I would necessarily assume most people are looking to include, but flank steak can be quite lean, as can things like top sirloin. So those are kind of the animal proteins I consume every single week. For greens, I am not the biggest fan of most vegetables. I do kind of get my BAM or bare-ass minimums through salads. I like a lot of salad mixes, particularly mixes that are rich in arugula, spinach, and other nitrate-rich greens. Occasionally, I'll include things like

green beans or broccoli, but most of my greens are bagged salads, believe it or not. I will shop for starches that include things like rices, oatmeal, cereals, as well as breads. I'm an equal opportunity employer when it comes to starches. I love different potatoes, whether it be traditional russet, white potatoes, white sweet potatoes, regular sweet potatoes, yams, purple sweet potatoes. I love all potatoes, fingerling potatoes even. Those are things that I look to include because they're very nutrient dense. They're high in fiber. I think they're quite tasty. They're very filling. I also, like I said, enjoy on a very regular basis, including things like breads, rices, cereals,

opting for options that are preferably made from whole minimally processed grain and don't include a ton of sugar. I love to include fruit in my shopping cart every single week. And the fruits that I tend to eat year-round, whether they're seasonal or not, are things like berries, apples, and citrus fruit. I actually really enjoy grapefruit. Occasionally, I'll include things like bananas or some fun fruits like grapes. But for the most part, I'm sticking to pretty fibrous, pretty nutritious foods. And another one that I get in here quite a bit are kiwis. I also like protein-rich snacks and protein bars, and I'll even include some fun post-workout carbohydrate things like cookies, ice cream sandwiches, or Rice Krispies that are very high in sugar and highly processed, but I usually will have one serving a day after my workout. So those are kind of the nuts and bolts

of what my shopping list looks like, And let's get into where I tend to do my grocery shopping and what I like each one of these stores for. I've tried to optimize for stores that are pretty popular in most municipalities and markets here in the United States. If you live overseas or in Canada, you might not have access to these stores specifically, but you might have access to similar stores. The first one that I like to shop at is actually Target. Now, I don't go here for anything in particular, but I have found that Target has some individual protein snacks and bars that I very much like. It has a lot of small snacks that are high in protein as well with a lot of diversity and a lot of variety, and they have a tremendous

number of different drinks. I will often always include some form of low-calorie beverage, whether it's diet soda, Spindrift, or LaCroix, in my shopping cart each and every week, and I find that Target is the place to go for really fun, enjoyable protein snacks and those drinks that I quite like. For the meat and potatoes and the big bulk of what I buy, I'm usually shopping between two different stores, Costco and Trader Joe's. Costco is a great way to buy things in bulk, including things like protein and produce. Now, the problem for most people is a lot of the stuff they buy, they buy in such large quantities that it goes bad. But one thing that

you can do is buy it and freeze it, specifically your proteins, and that will help you make that stuff last longer without going bad. Hey guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. So if you see something you like on sale there, perhaps it's a red meat protein or even something like a salmon that you like,

you can actually pre-slice that big fillet of salmon up into small individual fillets, put those into Ziploc bags and freeze them because it's tough to beat Costco's volume discount in addition to their pricing when they have things on sale. I will buy most of my produce and frozen goods here, including a lot of high-protein frozen snacks. I've also found that Costco has a ton of various organic options, keto-friendly options, low-calorie options, and even high-protein options. Costco is one of the best places to go if you're looking for high-protein, relatively nutritious, nutrient-dense foods. It's also where I get my yogurt because I can get a volume discount here. It's a great place to buy kombucha. It's a great place to buy things that you might top your food with, like sauces, condiments, and spices.

It's a great place to buy things that you might top your food with, like sauces, condiments, and spices. It's a really good place to shop. Trader Joe's is my secondary store. I usually will go to Costco first, and I use Trader Joe's to fill in the gaps. I find Trader Joe's has great values on various yogurts, jerkies. They have a great value on pastured eggs, and they have some really fun frozen food and snack options that are oftentimes high in protein and relatively nutritious. For example, I love to buy Trader Joe's chicken

fried rice. It's frozen. It's pretty macro-friendly, and I'll just throw that in a pan, fry it up, and include some ground turkey or ground chicken for a really yummy high-protein fried rice that I can make in under five minutes. That's an example of something that works well for my busy schedule, but for you at home, you might not necessarily want to buy frozen or processed foods, but I find that that is a place that really excels at providing quick and convenience foods that aren't entirely overly processed and are pretty macro-friendly. The last one is Walmart or Sands Club, which I think kind of covers the basis of the three up top. Walmart has a lot of the same things that Target has, and Sam's Club is similar to Costco. And then most markets that have Walmart or Sam's share with you to be a little bit more helpful, which is just the eight foods that I include and build my diet around each and every week, as well as what my current grocery list actually looks like. So I kind of went over the fundamental core

inclusions that I have year round, no matter what. I've gone over where I like to shop, but these are the fixtures. These are the things that never leave that I actually eat every single day. So the first one is a whey protein powder. I include a whey protein powder in my diet each and every day because I find it's very standardized. It's very easy. And so I start my day off with two scoops of Legion's Whey Plus, which is my favorite whey protein isolate. It's sourced from grass-fed cows from Ireland. It's incredibly thick, creamy, and doesn't include a lot of additional bullshit, which I really like. I mix two scoops of that with one scoop of Vital Protein's collagen and one scoop of Legion's genesis. I'm not affiliated with Vital Protein's, but I do think it's worth noting I am affiliated with Legion. However,

that's a company whose products I've been taking for many years prior to our relationship and partnership. But if you'd like to support the show, you can go to Legion and check out using the promo code Danny to save 20% off your first order and earn double points on their amazing product line, including their whey protein isolate. The second food I have every day I've already talked about is Greek yogurt or Icelandic yogurt. I like to have this as a post-workout because I find it's relatively easy to eat after I finish training when I don't necessarily have a huge appetite. Very high in protein, not overly sweetened, awesome food there, also fermented, so there might be some good gut properties. The third food, this is getting into the plant matter, are berries. I buy berries each and every

week, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries. These are my go-to foods in terms of the fruit department. I love that they're loaded with fiber, micronutrients, and polyphenols. They're very, very nutrient dense. You can add them to things like yogurt. You can buy them frozen and add them to things like smoothies. You can add them to your salads. There's so many unique ways to include berries in your diet. And given their nutrient density and high fiber content, I think they're a phenomenal choice. The fourth, another fruit, if I'm not mistaken, actually, another berry is the kiwi. The kiwi is amazing. I do eat it with the skin on. It's very, very tart and very, very sour if you've never had one. If you have not been having them with the skin on, I recommend trying it. All it does is add a little bit of extra

chewiness. There's quite a bit of extra fiber and micronutrients in the actual skin kiwis are as nutrient dense a fruit as there is and i find that they're really tart and uh very unique taste is quite enjoyable and oftentimes something i actually crave the fifth thing i eat each and every day is some type of rice dish i am a huge fan of rice white rice brown rice fried rice wild rice i love all rices. I find they're easy on the stomach. They're fairly easy to digest. They're easy to eat in high quantities.

And for somebody like me who eats north of 300 grams of carbs, sometimes 400 grams of carbs every single day, just to maintain my weight as somebody who's pretty active, trains, multiple dog walks. I'm still on my feet training clients, going back and forth from the core coaching method studio to my home, working online. You know. My brain and body are running all the time, so I need those carbohydrates. And rice is my go-to. Spinach and leafy greens coming in at number six. I try to get at least one serving of these every single day. Even if it literally means I tear open a bag of spinach, keep it in the fridge, and once a day I walk by and shove a

handful in my mouth and chew it down. I know that sounds crazy and disordered, but that actually works pretty well for me. I'm like, oh shoot, I haven't had my spinach. Let me jam a handful in my mouth and chew it down, get some fibers, some vitamin A, some micronutrients, but spinach and leafy greens. Every single day I have some form of jerky, whether that be traditional jerky or biltong. Biltong is my favorite. It's a South African style jerky that has almost no fat, almost no sugar. It's air dried, very smoky, very tasty, a little bit on the chewy side, but extremely high in protein, very convenient. I can eat it when I'm running on the go. And the eighth food I eat every single day is some form of nut,

whether it's walnuts, almonds, cashews, or macadamia nut. I am a pretty big fan of the nuts, paws, no pun intended, but I do enjoy those. So every single day I'm including without fail, and it's been this way for several years, whey protein, Greek yogurt, berries, kiwis, rices, spinach, or leafy greens of some kind, biltong or jerky, and some form of nut. Those are kind of the things that show up in my diet every single day. Now, what I'm shopping for lately to include with these foods, these are things that I add into my diet across the week. These are things that you can shop for. I've already gone over a list of things that I think should make up the nuts and bolts of maybe what you shop for as well as where I like to shop for them. But what I'm adding to my whey,

my Greek yogurt, my berries, my kiwis, my rices, my spinach, my jerky, and my mixed nuts are things like oatmeal. I love oatmeal because it's very high in fiber. It's very filling. It's very good for the microbiome given the fiber density, but also there's multiple different kinds of oatmeal. There's quick oats, there's steel cut oats, but I'd like to have quick oats. I know that that's probably not as fibrous, but I can cook them up really quick. I can add one tablespoon of chia seed, one tablespoon of hemp seed, and a little bit of whey protein or some Greek yogurt or some cinnamon or some maple syrup or some brown sugar and make a really tasty, relatively high carb, decently high fat dish

that I can have in the morning that can keep me full and ready to go all day. I'm including various forms of bread. Right now, I'm including Ezekiel bread, which I quite like, which is made from sprouted grains, so it's very nutritious. And I will often have two fried eggs in the morning, two pastured fried eggs on my Ezekiel bread with some low-fat Havarti from Trader Joe's, for example. But those things pair really well. So oatmeal and Ezekiel bread are in the rotation right now for carbohydrate sources with my normal rice inclusion. I'm also including deli ham and deli turkey, which I'm also using with that Ezekiel egg and cheese dish to make breakfast sandwiches. And I will oftentimes have that ham and egg dish on the weekends as well. I'm not a

huge fan of bacon, although I like it. I rarely have it in the house, but I find that deli ham and turkey are pretty nice to add to eggs, cheese, and toast in the morning and a great way to increase the protein because both ham and turkey are very high protein, very low in fat. And yes, they are processed meats, but I do find in the long term, these things are probably okay to include. While I don't have them every day, they're always on my shopping list. Those are eggs. Another thing is kombucha. I love kombucha, not just because it's got fermented stuff in there. In fact, that's the last reason I like it. I tend to like it just because it tastes mildly alcoholic. I'm not a huge drinker, but I like that slightly fermented taste. And oftentimes, kombuchas are low sugar, semi-calorie friendly bread beverages. So kombucha is another thing I'm including right now. For fun, I'm including frozen pizzas and fried rice, specifically the chicken fried rice from Trader Joe's and the frozen barbecue chicken pizza from Trader Joe's. I can throw one of those barbecue chicken pizzas in there, cut it in half and get 20 plus grams of protein splitting that pizza up into two different servings. I can cut it up into several different slices

and eat it across two days. It's a very quick, high-protein way for me to get some food in, but also some protein. I'm really focusing right now on eating more red meat because I actually enjoy the taste of red meat, particularly as spring turns to summer and I get the opportunity to barbecue. So you'll see me cooking up a lot of burgers,

a lot of flank steak, and a lot of ribeye right now because it's barbecue season, baby. I've included a little bit more of the frozen wild salmon because Costco has a great value on that. And so those are the things that are kind of supplementing my weekly grocery list. And I'll work those things in with the foods I eat every single day to eat a relatively high protein diet. Now, how much protein you need to eat is relative

to your weight and your goals. For most of you who are healthy body weight, if you care about optimizing body composition, muscle growth, and performance, somewhere between 0.7 to 1 grams per pound of body weight would be a great place to start. If you're a heavier adult, you can go for one gram per pound of lean body mass and you can calculate your lean body mass fairly easily online. And as far as the other stuff, carbohydrates and fats, a lot of that's up to preference. But when it comes to selecting for carbohydrates, you'll see I tend to select for whole grains, fruits, and vegetables because they're very nutrient dense and they have quite a bit of fiber. But also, I will make room for foods that I do enjoy that are processed. You'll see I have some frozen fried rice on here, pizza, I'll have bread, I'll have rice crispy treats, right?

And so those are carbohydrates that are relatively high in sugar and very processed, but I tend to put those around my workouts with the majority of my carbohydrates coming from things like nutrient dense whole grains and fruit. And with the amount of carbohydrates I eat, that's a rule I will tend to stick to. As for fats, I get the majority of my dietary fats from things like nuts, eggs, seeds. Occasionally, I will include avocado, although I'm not the biggest fan of avocado. I love it. I like it, but it's not always on my shopping list. Things like frozen salmon, and I cook with a lot of olive oil as well. And so in the grand scheme of things, you guys, if body fat reduction is your goal, foods that I've mentioned today that are high in fiber,

high in nutrient density, and high in protein will help, but it's all futile if your calories aren't where they need to be. You need to make sure you're eating in a calorie deficit to optimize fat loss. Protein and vegetables can help keep you full. If you want to optimize muscle gain, you can do it at maintenance, but it's best to be in a calorie surplus. And if you just want to eat for general wellness and longevity, I would eat less food, more protein, a lot of plants, skip a meal here and there, don't eat so darn often. And make sure that your body fat and body composition stay stable across the lifespan. So there you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode, this little kind of deep dive into what I look for when I'm shopping and how I build a

grocery list. And I'll catch you on the next one.