What's in Your Basket?

Healthy eating starts before the food even gets to your kitchen cabinet. Healthy eating starts at the grocery store. You can’t eat healthy if you don’t buy healthy. So pay attention to what you put in your basket. Here are some strategies for shopping right.

Have a List. You’ve probably heard this one before and there’s a good reason. If you have a plan before you enter the store, you’re much more likely to only buy things you need—and by that we mean only foods that are good for you. Make a list in advance and stick to it!

Eat Before You Go. It’s much harder to resist the temptation of junk food and sugary snacks if you’re hungry. So never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Eat a meal or a healthy snack before you set foot in the store so you can say “no” to all those tempting items that’ll be calling your name.

Shop the Perimeter. The healthiest choices in the grocery store are, for the most part, around the perimeter of the store. Up and down the aisles is where you’ll find the processed and packaged foods—the stuff you’ll want to avoid. This is a general rule, but there are exceptions. For example, you’ll generally find dried beans, whole grains, and nuts in the aisles; these are great sources of nutrition that you don’t want to ignore. In addition, frozen fruits and vegetables can be acceptable substitutes for fresh produce. In many cases, they’re frozen within hours of having been picked so they contain more nutrients than some of the fresh items in the produce area. Having frozen fruits and vegetables on hand can also save you trips to the store, and they’re excellent in smoothies or soups.

Read the Labels. Be sure to read the label on your packaged foods and know what they’re made of. Reject foods that are overloaded with sodium, added sugar, or with too many ingredients you can’t pronounce. And beware: Just because the marketing label on the front of the package says its “healthy” or “made with real fruit” doesn’t mean it’s a good choice. The Nutrition Facts will tell the true story, so do a careful review before buying.

Make Fruits and Vegetables Your Main Choice. Check your basket before you check out. At least half of your purchases should be fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Two-thirds is an even better ratio. If you have too many packaged and processed foods, re-assess and put some of them back before you go through the checkout line. If you know you shouldn’t be eating it, don’t even take it out of the store.

In fact, that’s my point here. Get in the habit of exercising restraint at the store. Only bring home foods that are good for you. That way, when you find yourself hungry late at night, it’ll be harder to eat junk food because you won’t have any!