How To Shop Healthy Every Day
Be the change to a healthy lifestyle that revitalizes your family’s way of living. It all starts at the grocery store.
Looking through the aisles, you become enamoured by the beautiful assortment of colourful fruits and vegetables at the entrance.
You’ll ogle at the beautiful apples, oranges and exotic vegetables, but look there yonder! Is that a sale of large extra salty Ruffles! My word!
You run with your cart down the end of the produce section and voila! Row upon row of salty, sweet, snacks, drinks, and junk food paraphernalia! If you want to eat healthy and provide true nourishment for your family, you need to have a plan going in.
Here are 5 tips for shopping healthier:
1. Read nutrition labels not claims on the cover of the packaging
So many products go on about gross statements such as ‘Fortified with Vitamin A and D,’ ‘Reduces cholesterol,’ and the list goes on. When confirming with the food label, such items may indeed pose what they say.
At the end of the day, it matters how many calories you are taking in and how many you are burning off.
As such, to find out how many calories you eat, you need to look at food labels to note the amounts of all nutrients being ingested.
It doesn’t matter if you’re eating something that reduces your cholesterol if you shovel it down in the bowl-full, going beyond your daily caloric intake to maintain your weight.
You will gain weight, and quite possibly increase bad cholesterol, due to the negative effects of becoming overweight.
2. Avoid trans fats
Trans-fats are simply not normal. These hydrogenated fats have become notoriously known for causing a decrease in high-density lipoproteins which is the cholesterol that is supposed to be high, and an increase in low-density lipoproteins which are cholesterols that is best to one’s health in low levels.
Many store-bought treats such as cookies and pastries contain this nasty fat but don’t let this put a damper on your kid’s or your own sweet tooth.
Knowing what ingredients you are putting into your dessert meals, by whipping it up yourself, plays a key role in moderating a healthy lifestyle. It goes to show that convenience may not always be the best for your health.
3. Opt for lots of fresh vegetables and fruit
We don’t eat as many real fruits and veggies as we should. The health food guide learned in grade school recommends eating a variety of fruits and vegetables from the colours of the rainbow to get balanced vitamin and mineral count.
So when you trounce into the grocery store eyeing the beautiful medley of fruits and vegetables in all their colours, don’t just look at them, go in and grab a bit of each. Variety is key, quantity not so much.
4. Minimize highly processed meats
The go to meats are salami, pastrami, etc.
These are well good and all, however, they possess a very high amount of saturated fat and the sources of the meats are questionable many times.
Most people gain a lot of their fat intake from saturated fats and such a pursuit can lead to imbalances of over consumption of saturated fats, such as heart disease.
Skip out the salami next time, make it a special treat every once in a while and opt for the more lean meats.
5. Make a grocery based off a healthy meal plan
Ultimately failing to plan is a plan to fail. Plan out the meals you are going to make using healthy ingredients. Write them down in a grocery list and stay committed to only getting items on the list.
If you want junk food, plan it into the meal plan and only stick to the limited amount you have allowed yourself and your family.
We can’t all eat clean all the time, that’s an unreasonable expectation and not including your personal cravings, is a plan that can’t be adhered to for long.
Stick to the items on the list and get in and out of the grocery store with the satisfaction that each shopping bag has something contributing to your family’s journey to healthy independent living.
