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Healthy Grocery Shopping

Healthy grocery shopping is a huge challenge for people with busy lifestyles. The convenience of eating out or grabbing take-out has led many people to do less healthy grocery shopping and watch the scales go up.

Grocery shopping is often becoming a quick trip we take to grab a few convenience foods. It’s obvious that this lifestyle is hurting us, as many diseases are also on the rise—many of which are related to obesity and poor nutrition.

It's hard to believe but there are still some very overlooked principles to fight belly fat.

Your journey to flat abs begins with the right food selections at the grocery store. Keep reading for help on how to begin your journey.

First, follow these basic principles for healthy grocery shopping:

Make a list and stick to it. Plan what you will buy and what you will cook ahead of time. Not doing this is just asking for trouble! Plan some healthy snacks and meals so that when unhealthy items are tempting, you will remember that you have a PLAN.
Never go healthy grocery shopping when you are hungry. Not only will you spend more than you planned, but also you will be much more tempted to buy unhealthy foods. These are the times that cravings are strong!
Stay on the perimeter of the grocery store (mostly). Though there are exceptions to the rule, most of the healthiest foods are on the perimeter (produce, dairy, meat, whole grains). The biggest exceptions to the rule are frozen veggies/fruit and whole grains like rice. Healthy grocery shopping happens on the perimeter!
Don’t even go down the aisles that are too tempting for you. There is no reason to even walk by the Oreos or ice cream if that is what tempts you! Use the “out of sight, out of mind” method!

For most of us, we can let our motivation to eat right be our desire to lose a few extra pounds.

Healthy grocery shopping food list:

The following is a guide for grocery shopping, but it is not comprehensive. There are both healthy and unhealthy foods that may not be included on the list.

The foods in the “Often” column are ideally going to be the foods mostly filling your grocery cart. Many of these are high-fiber and/or nutrient-dense. These are the BEST fuel for your body.

Those foods in the “Occasional” column are not evil, but they should only be eaten sometimes. These tend to be the foods that we eat too much of!

The “Worst” foods should only be eaten on more rare occasion—these are more like indulgence foods. Remember: if food items that have ingredients in them from the “rare” column, then those count as well! When you are healthy grocery shopping, READ THE LABEL!

Breads, Pasta, Rice, Grain, Starches:

Often	Occasional	Rare
Amaranth	Cornbread	Biscuits
Barley	Couscous	Pancakes
Bran	Corn tortillas	Pastries
Brown rice	Flour tortillas	Croissant
Buckwheat	White bread	Muffins
Bulgur	White rice	Any breads prepared with excessive fat and/or sugar (i.e. banana bread)
Millet	Pretzels
Oatmeal	Corn-based cereals (ex. corn flakes)
Whole wheat bread
Whole wheat pasta
Multi-grain pasta
Whole grain cereal
Bran cereal
"High fiber" cereal"
Whole grain English muffins
Whole wheat tortillas

Meat, Poultry, Fish:

Often	Occasional	Rare
Skinless chicken breast	Beef (lean cuts)	Bacon
Skinless turkey breast	Canadian bacon	Chicken (w/skin)
*Fish (other than shellfish)	Pork (lean cuts)	Chicken wings
Egg whites	Low fat deli meats	Beef (high fat cuts)
Egg substitute	Shrimp	Pork (high fat cuts)
	Eggs (with yolk)	Sausage
	Turkey bacon	Liver
		High-fat deli meats
		Ribs

*See consumer guide for buying fish based on mercury levels at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp

Fruits and Vegetables:

If you are healthy grocery shopping, you should have a colorful cart full of fruits and vegetables. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables and enjoy!

Just be sure they are not fried, slathered in butter, or drowned in salt.

Also, eat the rainbow – chose vegetables that are many different colors. Each color supplies different nutrients that your body needs.

For example, yellow/orange vegetables such as squash, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc provide beta-carotene and bioflavonoids.

Also, be sure to eat all of the other colors such as green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale, and peas), white vegetables (cauliflower, onion, garlic, leeks, scallion), purple fruits and vegetables (plums, berries, eggplant), and red (tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit, beets, strawberries).

Each color provides different phytochemicals, which have been shown to protect against cancer and other diseases. Use these powerfoods to prevent disease and give you energy!

Fats and Oils:

Often	Occasional	Rare
Canola oil	Margarine (soft tub or liquid)	Butter
Olive oil		Stick margarine
Olives		Coconut oil
Avocado*		Palm kernel oil
Soybean oil		Palm oil
Flaxseed oil		Animal fat (fats that are solid at room temperature)
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Fish oil
Corn oil

Keep in mind that avocado is high in fat, even though it's a healthy fat
It is still important to keep your total fat intake to around 25% of your total daily calories. If total intake of fat is too high, the benefits of the "good fats" will not be present.
Remember that low-fat means that there is 3 or less grams of fat per 100 calories
AVOID foods that contain trans fat: by law, food companies are now required to list trans fat on the label.

Dairy:

Often	Occasional	Rare
Skim milk	Dairy products w/ 1% or skim milk	Ice cream
1% Milk		Whole milk
Part-skim mozzarella cheese		Half and half
Nonfat yogurt		Whipping cream
Fat free cream cheese		Any dairy products made w/ whole milk
Fat free half and half
Cottage cheese w/ 1% milk fat

*The word “light” or “reduced fat” does not mean that it’s low fat—it must say nonfat or low fat.

Nuts and Seeds:

Nuts and seeds have many healthy properties to them—however, they are high in calories. It’s very important to use moderation, especially if you are trying to lose weight.

Sweets:

A healthy grocery shopping cart contains few if any sweets. Almost everyone loves them, but unfortunately there is not usually a lot of good nutrition in them.

Limit the amount of sweets you buy and especially keep around the house. Having them in the house is just too much temptation for most people, so it’s better to save them for special occasions.

If you are one of those people who “cannot live without” chocolate, find ways to sneak a little piece in each day if that helps you not to binge on it later.

Buy things that are individually wrapped like mini candy bars, Hershey Kisses, Hershey chocolate sticks (only 60 calories each).

Also, if you’re going to eat chocolate, go ahead and make it dark chocolate. The benefits of dark chocolate include the antioxidants it contains.

Beverages:

Don’t drink your calories—save them for foods that will actually fill you up and satisfy you. Water is the best beverage! Try to stick with other beverages that are very low calorie or calorie-free. If you buy fruit juice, be sure that it is 100% fruit juice.

READ, READ, READ…

…Labels, that is!!! This is the single most important concept that you have to take hold of while you are doing your healthy grocery shopping! There is no way to form a comprehensive list of EVERY single food in the grocery store, but if you know some basic principles about label reading, you are set!

1. Calories – Believe it or not, you can look at two different brands of whole-wheat tortillas that are close to the same size that have a 90- calorie difference.

These kinds of discrepancies make a big difference in your overall caloric intake. For a few foods, you may decide opt for the higher calorie version for taste, but many of the “light” versions taste similar to their higher-calorie counterparts.

2. Fat – Limit how much you consume. Get your fats from the healthy fats listed above, not from saturated fat, which is also listed on the labels.

3. Sodium – Our diets contain too much of this, so limit as much as possible. Choose a lower sodium food when available, and keep in mind that if you are adding salt to your food, you are probably getting too much sodium.

4. Fiber – Try to get around 20-35 grams per day, as this important nutrient has many health benefits, including cancer prevention. Compare fiber content of foods closely, because they can vary greatly from brand to brand. Choose high-fiber breads and cereals – the more fiber, the better!

Here's an article from a site dedicated to exercise and weight loss on how to read food labels.

To learn more click on one of the following topics:

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7 Secrets to Lose Belly Fat and Get Flat Abs

SURPRISING RESEARCH! It's Making You Fat!

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