To come up with our winning chains, our expert panel (meet them below) reviewed the 35 largest food retailers across the country and selected the absolute healthiest, based on everything from the freshness of produce and taste of prepared foods to the healthiness of packaged goods and availability of supplemental nutritional information.
Who helped us choose the best? We turned to these top health experts and foodies:
Kate Geagan, MS, RD, is a nutrition consultant to companies and author of Go Green, Get Lean: Trim Your Waistline with the Ultimate Low Carbon Diet.
Alan Greene, MD, is a clinical professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, president of The Organic Center, and author of Raising Baby Green.
Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, is the senior food and nutrition editor at Health. Her first book, Feed the Belly, an eating guide for expectant moms, will be published in spring 2009.
Linda McDonald, MS, RD, is a dietitian-nutritionist and owner of Supermarket Savvy, a resource for health and culinary professionals.
Christine Palumbo, RD, is a nutritionist who serves on the American Dietetic Association Board of Directors.
Lisa R. Pawloski, PhD, is chair of the department of global and community health at George Mason Universitys College of Health and Human Services.