Tips for Smart Food Shopping
Shop the produce, diary, meat sections of the supermarket. These departments are usually placed around the outer wall sections of the supermarket. Stay away from the inner isles. There is nothing there for you anymore, this is where you usually find the carbohydrate temptations.
Buy fresh
Fresh vegetables, fruits and protein foods will be the basis of your diet.Stay away fron canned goods. They may contain hidden carbs and are loaded with transfats and/or nitrates and nitrites. If at all possible buy organic vegetrables, fruits, poultry, meat and eggs.
Think fish
Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, halibut and macherel, herring, bluefish, and saridines supply protein and B vitamins, as well as omega-3s, a type of essential fatty acid with disease-fighting properties. Keep canned fish on hand for hurry-up suppers. Look for light tuna packed in olive oil; it tastes richer than tuna packaged in water or vegatable oil.
Shop with the seasons
Choose vegetables and fruits at their height of flavor and freshness. Seasonal produces are generally less expensive.
Color matters
Dark leafy greens, orange vegetables, purple grapes contain more nutrients than their paler cousins. Arugula has almost twice the folateof iceberg lettuce. red grapes are higher in anthocyanins than green; and pink grapefruit has 40 times more beta-carotene than white. Stay away from white foods such as white rice, white flour, and pale pasta. Focus on brown breads and grains, beans and legumes.
Go with the grain
Go beyond rice and pasta fo rlower carb choices. Oatmeal boasts cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. Wild rice packs twice the protein of the other varieties. Bulgar, a form of whole wheat, is already cooked; simply pour boiling liquid over it until soft, about 30 minutes.
Scrutinize labels
Avoid anything that has high-fructose corn syrup or any kind of starch, such as modified potato or rice starch, in the ingredient list. Pay attention to fat free foods, the fat is usually replaced with sugar. Instead use high flavor condiments such as peat and salsa.
Think small
Purchase only what you can consume in a few days. Keep food as fresh as possible.
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