Denver Organic Food Market

Food is Medicine and YAO translated means medicine; therefore the food that we have at YAO is oriented around providing some sense of medicinal quality. It can be that the medicinal quality actively improves the physical health, but it can also actively improve mental health by providing something that tastes delicious and is without ingredients that are contributing to ill health.  Many of our patients are asked to take on a transformative diet that excludes: gluten, dairy and eggs which is generally agreed upon as an anti-inflammatory diet. Though this can be quite daunting at first, we are sure to provide options in house that hint at the array of variety in other stores around town: Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, King Supers and the like.  Food is a very social aspect in our lives and finding options that are accessible and tasty are extremely important to us for our patients.

We do like to provide a variety and therefore nearly every year we travel to Expo West – the HUGE Natural Products Expo where all the new products are introduces to the grocery stores for the year. We generally select some smaller lines of product prior to them reaching the larger markets and bring them in house for our customers’ enjoyment.

If there’s one thing that is probably the #1 challenge for people going off of gluten, dairy and eggs, it’s bread. There’s something warming and comforting about the staple of bread in the house.  A number of years back, a patient referred us to a fabulous bakery in Florida called Sami’s.  Sami’s bread is not only gluten, dairy and egg free, but also free of a number of other allergens and the taste is truly phenomenal.  Ever since then, we have been shipping in Sami’s to YAO nearly weekly.  We have many options: Sourdough, Millet, Ancient Grains, Millet & Flax, Cinnamon Raisin, Bagels of a number of varieties, Dinner Rolls, Pizza Crust, even Pita Pockets!

Again, our bars, snacks and candies are all gluten, dairy and egg free. We highly recommend coming by to browse.  We are often changing it up with the brands and flavors.  Our goals are tasty healthy snacks that are affordable. Wild Zora is a wonderful local fruit/veggie/meat combo snack, Caveman bars, Tahoe bars & the fabulously tasty Munkpack cookies – a high protein cookie that you can justify eating! We also feature Ocho’s Coconut Chocolate bars, Tony’s Chocolonely (several brands), Zazubean from Canada – a delicious coconut milk chocolate bar, Vivoo Sugar Free Italian Chocolate, Torie & Howard Organic hard candies and MORE!

We have several wonderful household items that align themselves with Food As Medicine. The Ullo Wine Purifier and a fabulous vegetable fermentation kit.

Many of our patients have a sensitivity to sulfites that are often used as a preservative in wines.  The sulfites can cause a biochemical reaction in the body that creates symptoms of headache, quick reddening/flushing of the cheeks and other inflammatory reactions.  The Ullo Wine Purifier looks very classy and allows you to remove sulfites from either a single glass of wine or an entire bottle. It has a handy travel case that goes with it.  We additionally sell refill filter packs.

Not only do we strive to remove foods that are causing inflammation, we are also simultaneously encouraging our patients to re-create healthy gut bacteria that can assist in digestion.  Fermenting vegetables at home can be extremely simple, but having the items necessary to manage the task can be challenging for some to figure out. We have created a simple and very cost-effective kit that we sell at YAO for $17.99 – 2 sizes (small and large) same price. A great way to start lining the small intestine with some healthy digestive assistants!