by: Dr. Olivia

The key to having an ideal weight and good health is to have all the tools of understanding a healthy lifestyle at your disposal.  If you are self motivated and educated on a healthy lifestyle you will not have to rely on someone else to take care of you.

One tool is shopping healthy.  Do you know how to shop carefully when purchasing your food choices for the week?  Most people don’t.

There are three aspects of learning how to shop healthy:

Understanding Healthy Foods to Buy.

Being Confident in Reading Labels.

Shopping Healthy on a Budget.

Let’s examine shopping first.   Imagine going to the grocery store with the following goal in mind, to get healthy.  You first need a clear understanding of what foods to eat and which foods not to eat.  Take the time to educate yourself on foods that will align with your healthy eating goals.

You will always get better results when you have your head aligned with your actions.  Or all pistons are firing in the same direction to use an analogy.

Do you feel this is easier said than done? Are you still stuck with “What do I buy?”  Here are a couple of good ideas to follow.

Do not shop hungry! This will definitely test your will power to not impulsively buy something that looks appealing, but is not on your list.

Keep It Fresh! 50 to 90% of your shopping should be fresh foods.  Try fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean meats.  Notice these foods are all located on the outer parameter of the grocery store.  While it requires you to walk the entire store, you can eat healthily with primarily parameter foods, and not the processed foods that are located within the interior aisles.

This is a great start to making healthy eating choices.  Next we’ll discuss how to read labels, especially on those interior aisle foods.