Bangkok--13 Feb--Francom Asia
By Susan Bowerman, M.S., RD, CSSD, CSOWM, FAN, Senior Director, Worldwide Nutrition Education and Training
Make your daily staples as healthy as you can. Small changes in the foods you eat every day can add up to big rewards.
The holidays are over, and we're all getting back to our routines - which means it's time to get serious about those New Year's resolutions you've made. If "eating better" is something you plan to do this year, now is the time to think about how you're going to go about it – before you slip back into your old eating habits.
Rather than adopting a complete dietary overhaul (a complete "out with the old, in with the new" approach rarely works), your best bet is to begin by working on several small steps you can take to improve your everyday eating habits. And your first steps should take you directly to the grocery store since that's where healthy eating really begins.
What Kind of Grocery Shopper Are You?
There are different personality types when it comes to grocery shopping. Some shoppers take the "business as usual approach." They buy and prepare the same foods week after week.
Others plan all their meals in advance and shop only from a detailed shopping list, while "frequent flyers" are in the store almost every day. No matter what your shopping patterns are, a few small steps can deliver big nutrition rewards.
5 Tips for Smart, Healthy Grocery Shopping
1. Read your Nutrition Facts.
Nutrition Facts on packages are one of the best tools you have for selecting nutritious foods and comparing different products. You can consider factors such as calories, fat, protein, and sugar content across brands, which helps you make smarter choices. Understanding a food label can be difficult. Doing a little research of terms on a food label can help you know what to look out for.
2. Make your daily staples as healthy as you can.
Switching to the lower fat version of foods you eat frequently – such as salad dressings, spreads, dairy products, even desserts – can save you a lot of calories. A cup of whole milk has 150 calories and about 7 grams of fat; nonfat milk has 90 calories and no fat.
A switch from regular ground beef or pork to ground chicken breast can cut about 10 grams of fat and 100 calories per 3-ounce serving. You'll eat fewer calories and a lot less sugar if you buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit and sweetener instead of the pre-sweetened variety.
Incorporate more plant-based proteins and replace refined starches with whole grain. Try brown rice, whole wheat bread and crackers, quinoa, and oatmeal instead of cream of wheat.
3. Consider what's in season.
When it comes to produce, it's usually fresher, often retains more nutrients, and is often be less expensive than items that are out of season. If you have a farmer's market nearby, the produce might be fresher than what you find in the supermarkets, which means vegetables won't wilt as quickly and the foods retain their nutritional value. You're also more likely to find new varieties of fruits and vegetables to try. Which will help you with the next tip…
4. Try a new fruit or vegetable once a week.
If you're not ready to tackle a whole new food item, you can start slow with a different variety or relative of a familiar food. All fruits and vegetables are unique in terms of the healthy phytonutrients they provide, so variety is really important to your good health. If your salad is always made with iceberg lettuce, switch to deep green cos romaine lettuce or baby spinach instead. Try a new variety of fruits can also help.
5. Find ways to incorporate more fish into your diet.
Canned tuna and salmon are wild caught and good sources of omega 3; they're also convenient and affordable. Toss some canned salmon into a salad for a quick, healthy and light main dish.
Once you're well stocked with healthy ingredients at home, you can start to think about changes you can make when you cook. Next time, we'll look at some small changes in the way you prepare foods at home can help you reach your goals.
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