Take these six easy steps to ensure your next grocery-shopping trip yields the best results for your health.
1. Plan meals ahead of time.
Being prepared for your week is essential to a successful shopping trip. Planning your meals ahead of time helps to ensure that you will not be scrambling last minute to find something to eat. Don’t forget to plan snacks!
2. Make a grocery list and stick to it.
Once you know what you'll be cooking, your shopping list will naturally stem from that. The key is to stick to your list once you get to the grocery store—straying from your list can be dangerous, so beware!
3. Don't go hungry.
If you've ever shopped while hungry, you know how appealing everything is! There is actually scientific data to prove shopping hungry is bad for your diet—in one study, hunger resulted in a 32 percent increase in the number of high-calorie products shoppers placed in their carts.
4. Shop the perimeter.
Typically your fresh, whole foods (ones that can go bad) are found in the perimeter of the store. Those foods tend to have higher nutritional value than what you find in the interior aisle. Just don’t be caught by the tempting cookie displays strategically placed on the end-caps.
5. Read nutrition labels.
Don't be fooled by the claims of “low fat” or “sugar-free" on the front of packaging. The threshold required to make those claims may not be as low you think and it may be diverting attention from other non-healthy attributes. Look for items in which sugar, total fat and sodium is less than 20 percent of the Reccomended Daily Allowance (RDA). It's also good to aim for 80 to 100 percent of the ingredients to be from foods you would grow, cook or eat on their own (i.e., in their most natural state).
6. Give the freezer section a chance.
The freezer section can be your new fast food stop. Frozen vegetables and fruits last longer and are usually cheaper than those in the produce aisle. But they still have nutritional value and are easy to prepare in a pinch. Throw some frozen broccoli or green beans in with that left over chicken breast and you have a quick, healthy option for lunch or dinner.
Personalized nutritional consultations can help get your shopping—and eating—on the right track. To schedule a consultation with a registered dietitian at Beaufort Memorial LifeFit Wellness Center, call 843-522-5635.