TeamFLEX Newsletter

Weight Loss Spotlight

Grocery Shop & Nutrition

The number one rule when grocery shopping and especially if you are on a diet too, don't ever go grocery shopping with an empty stomach or when you are hungry. The result would be a whole shopping cart full of junk food, candy, cookies and food you would never normally buy. The eye wants more then the stomach can handle and when hungry you don't usually go for the healthy food.

Incorporate grocery shopping into your weekly schedule like for instance on Sundays so you can start the week fresh with everything you need at home in order to stay on your diet.

Make a list before you go to the store of exactly what you need for the week ahead. Without a list you probably end up forgetting something and having to go twice instead. Or you will end up buying things you don't really need and already have at home.

Grocery shopping demands some level of knowledge from you in order to shop food with nutritionally high value.The more you learn about nutrition and how to cook healthy for you and your family, the better start in life you are giving your children.

Stay away from preservatives and processed food as much as possible. The cleaner and raw the food is the more nutrition it still has in it. Fiber is an important nutritional ingredient for your family. Instead of candy and cookies, load up on fresh fruit and vegetables.

The more health oriented you become as a shopper the less time you have to spend in the grocery store aisle reading food labels. When you shop food for a week ahead, think everyday food and occasional food because nobody is perfect and you will most likely have one cheating day a week when you eat whatever you want even when on a diet.

If you choose to include bread in your diet stick to the whole grain version which will give you a little bit more nutritional value then white or sourdough bread does. Whole grain cereals are usually low fat foods but make sure you check the fat content which should be 2 grams or less and the fibers should be above 2grams per 1 ounce serving.

Cereals are a good low fat breakfast choice however the only problem is that most of us eat a lot more then the serving size that gives us only 150 calories. Stay away from the granola cereal which are usually loaded with sugar and toasted in sugar to taste better. Not exactly a healthy choice.

When shopping for meats, keep in mind that it should not contain more then 3g of fat or less per ounce cooked meat. Choose lean (7% in raw meat and 10% in cooked weight) or extra lean (5% fat in cooked meat). If the meat has no label, the ones that are minimally marbled and trimmed to less than ¼ inch of fat are usually keeping the fat standards.

If you grew up learning that milk is good for your teeth and provides you with good protein, think again. Milk even in a low-fat version is high in sugars and as we mentioned earlier even the 2% fat milk contains over 25% fat.

If a product doesn't list the fat content, refuse to buy it. As a consumer you have the right to demand nutritional value on all the products in your supermarket.

Don't buy sodas and other artificial juices and beverages. Drink water, tea and fresh squeezed juices only. The juice you buy in a bottle on the shelf is mainly sugar and preservatives and has very low nutritional value.