Grocery Shopping to Optimize Nutrition
Grocery Shopping for Healthy Foods
You want to shop healthy, but that trip to the grocery store can be daunting. With so many choices and misleading advertising, it’s hard to know what to put in your cart.
We need to decrease obesity in America — and with it, the risks of obesity-related illnesses, including:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Some cancers
Healthy Eating Tips
- Increasing the "nutrient-dense" foods we eat. That is stop "junk food."
- Reducing our intake of sodium, and of solid fats and added sugars (now called SoFAS).
- If you are ingesting carbohydrates you need to have fiber attached (fruit).
- If you are ingesting fat, should be heart health fat like olive oil, nuts, seeds, and avocado.
The most nutritious bang for the buck
What you want to put in your grocery cart are nutrient-dense foods and beverages. These have relatively few calories yet are rich in:
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Other healthy substances
Nutrient-dense foods are also low in solid fats and have not been diluted with “junk” calories such as added sugars.
Top choices include:
- All vegetables and fruits
- Whole grains
- Seafood
- Eggs
- Beans and peas
- Unsalted nuts and seeds
- Fat-free and low-fat milk and milk products
- Lean meats and poultry
Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store to find these nutrient-dense foods.
Beware of the middle aisles
The middle aisles of the grocery store are where you’ll find these dietary culprits linked to obesity:
- Processed foods, canned foods, unrefined carbs, junk food
- unhealthy solid fats
Solid fats
Solid fats are found in:
- Fatty animal products — marbleized steak, full-fat (regular) cheeses and ice cream.
- Baked goods, such as cookies and crackers.
- Convenience foods that contain hydrogenated fats (liquid vegetable oils put through a chemical process to solidify them).
Compare saturated fat and trans fat amounts on the “Nutrition Facts” box on packaged foods and look for hydrogenated fats on the “Ingredients” lists to identify foods with solid fats. Avoid all transfats and limit saturated fat to less than 22 grams per day
Added sugars
Added sugars don’t occur naturally in fruit, milk or other foods. These sugars include:
- Corn syrup, corn syrup solids and high-fructose corn syrup
- Juice concentrates
- Raw, brown and white sugar
- Fructose, fructose sweetener and liquid fructose
- Malt, maple and pancake syrup
- Honey and molasses
- Anhydrous and crystal dextrose
Steer clear of foods with added sugars at the top of their ingredients panels.
Sodium
Sodium is the mineral in salt. It helps to flavor and preserve canned and packaged foods. Sodium is abundant in:
- Processed meats
- Cheese
- Salted snacks
Comparing labels for sodium content can be a real eye-opener.
Get active and have fun
Filling your grocery cart with nutritious foods can be rewarding and fun for your family. Pairing daily activity with healthy food choices leads to many benefits Involve the whole family in planning healthy meals and making the weekly shopping list. For children, it can be like solving a puzzle. Plus, they’ll take pride of ownership in the foods they choose.
What You Need Every Day
The latest USDA dietary guidelines are back to the basics emphasizing five food groups of fruits, veggies, grains, protein foods and dairy, PLUS heart-healthy oils set the following daily targets and limits:
- Fruits -2 cups
- Veggies - 2.5 cups
- Grains - 6 oz daily
- Protein - 5.5 oz
- Dairy -3 cups
- Limit sodium to 2,300 mg per day
- Limit saturate fast to 22 grams per day
- Limit sugar to less than 50 grams a day