DaytonDailyNews.com

You don't have to be a nutrition expert to make healthy food choices if you follow a couple rules of thumb.

One such rule says to shop the perimeter of the grocery store, where you'll find the whole foods — produce, meats and dairy products.

So far, so good — as long as you don't mind produce drenched in petroleum from cross-country shipping, and meat from industrial feed lots where animals may live and die without ever being able to turn around.

Let's not confuse "healthy" with "ethical."

Another rule of thumb is to avoid foods with more than five ingredients or ingredients you can't pronounce. I can pronounce "high fructose corn syrup," but I also know it's the most evil thing to come along since white bread.

So I was surprised it was listed as the sixth ingredient in the wheat bread I bought — sixth out of 15. And I thought wheat bread was healthy; you'll find it along the perimeter.

OK, so maybe making healthy food choices isn't always so easy. But surely something labeled "organic" would be healthy, right?

"Organic" conjures images of pastoral land and family farmers, but it's merely a label applied to foods grown without pesticides or artificial fertilizers, and animals raised without antibiotics or growth hormones.

It also turns out to mean Organic Batter Blaster — sprayable pancake/waffle batter in a whip-cream style can.

Spray waffles? That's just wrong. I bought two. (They were on sale.)

So maybe the ingredients are organic, and the packaging is recyclable. It's still pretty far removed from the farm.

How do they taste? A little butter, a little syrup, and they're not too bad.

Are they healthy? Well, I found them in the grocery perimeter, so, yes. But they have more than five ingredients, so, no. But most of the ingredients are organic, so, yes. But one is dicalcium phosphate, which might be hard for some to pronounce, so, no.

Perhaps the best rule of thumb for identifying nutritious foods involves fingers. It goes like this:

Make a fist. Look at your food label and raise one finger for each nutrient (calcium, fiber, protein, iron, vitamins A and C) listed as 10 percent or more of the recommended daily requirement.

Now, look at the fat grams. Put one finger down if the percent daily value of total fat is more than 10 percent.

If you have at least one finger up, the food is nutritious. The more fingers, the more nutritious.

Batter Blaster fails. So does my wheat bread.

We like waffles, especially on Sunday morning. I've made them from scratch with yeast, I've made them from a mix, and now, I've made them from a spray can.

But one of my favorite recipes is also one of the easiest. It uses soda and biscuit mix (such as Bisquick). The waffles are light and crispy on the outside.

It isn't healthy, but I'm not sure any waffle worth its syrup is. That doesn't mean you should never eat them. Just remember one more rule of thumb: Everything's OK in moderation.

Club Soda Waffles

Makes 6-8 waffles

2 cups biscuit mix (such as Bisquick)

10 ounces club soda

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

Combine ingredients and mix gently by hand, being careful not to overmix. Pour onto a hot waffle iron and cook until golden brown.

Contact this writer at carol.rini@gmail.com