Shop Smart - - Shop Healthy

*Shop Smart
*The first step toward healthy eating is stocking up on fresh, delicious
foods. But if you tend to spend more time in the packaged-foods aisles than
the produce aisle at the grocery store, your food-shopping routine may be
ready for an overhaul. Here are some tips that will help you shop smart to
live well.
Plan your shopping trip ahead of time: Write a shopping list, so you'll
spend less and stay on track for healthier choices.

Eat before you go shopping, so you're not tempted by high-calorie junk
foods.

Buy fewer processed foods and prepared meals, which are often unhealthier
choices.

In the store, spend more time in the fruit-and-veggie section than in the
other departments.

Load your cart with more fresh produce, whole grains, and fish. Skip or
breeze through the inside aisles of the market, which usually feature
expensive, less-healthy packaged and processed foods.

Load up on frozen and canned vegetables, too, so you have them on hand
anytime.

Go to farmers' markets - they are gold mines for super-fresh, seasonal
produce.

Don't be fooled by health claims on the front of food packages. Remember,
"low-fat" or "nonfat" is not the same thing as "low-calorie." Low-fat foods
can be high in calories.

Focus on the key stats on the Nutrition Facts labels - calories, fat,
sodium, cholesterol, and fiber.

If your supermarket offers prepared meals without full Nutrition Facts on
the package, talk to the manager or e-mail the CEO to let him or her know
that you won't buy them without this critical information.

Shop for whole-grain rice, bread, pasta, and cereals; limit pastries,
sweetened cereals, and other high-sugar foods.

Eatting healthy is so exspensive! Thats the reson I havent lost none, Ive actually gained! Fruits and veggies and chicken and stuff is so dang high!
ONE DAY I WILL BE ABLE TO BUY WHAT I WANT AND EAT WHAT I WANT...

I so often hear many say the same thing, but to me fast foods and junk foods are SO much more expensive because they don't satify you and it's a vicious cycle to break, you eat junk then you crave more junk (aka simple carbs..very addicting!), then you eat more...well and on and on it goes.

I wonder if many of us had kept track of how much we ate out, ate less than healthy, binge days etc. just how much MORE that would have cost than healthy eating... least that's how I see it.

Without much money everything is expensive, but food that's healthy goes much further for me than the way I used to eat several years back. No nutrition, junk, and fast foods...they weren't CHEAP that's for sure, in more than $$!

FC