ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Six Tips for Making Healthy Choices at the Grocery Store

Updated on January 11, 2019

Healthy eating depends on healthy decisions. These choices are made not just when we decide to prepare ourselves a meal, but when we shop at the grocery store as well. Good decisions there will lead to a kitchen stocked with nutritious options -- while bad choices will make eating well back home almost impossible. Here are six practical recommendations on making your next food shopping trip a healthy one.


Fruits and vegetables

1. Buy produce - lots of it. Simply put, fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet. Rich in vital nutrients and low in harmful substances, produce should be the cornerstone of your diet. Unfortunately, few people get the fruits and vegetables their body needs. Change by making better decisions on your next shopping trip. There, purchase plenty of different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Buy primarily fresh, whole fruit and vegetables, since produce that has been processed or canned is generally much less healthy.

Self-control

2. Make a list beforehand. Impulse buys and other poor decisions will be less likely if you bring along a grocery list. Make a list filled with vegetables, fruits, and other healthy choices, while including only a few sweets, salty snacks, processed foods, and the like. While unhealthy products will still be there to tempt you in store, your list should help you exert self-control. Your list should also make your shopping faster and more efficient, and may allow you to take fewer shopping trips.

Inspect labels

3. Inspect labels closely. It's no secret that consumers care more than ever about eating healthily. Companies have responded by marketing their products as nutritious -- whether or not that is actually the case. Determine if they're telling the truth by checking a product's nutrition facts. Steer clear of items that are highly processed and/or have a large number of impossible-to-pronounce ingredients. Trans fats, saturated fats, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners are among the ingredients to watch out for.

Eat before shopping

4. Don't go hungry. It might be a cliché, but it also happens to be true: shopping for food on an empty stomach will lead to bad choices. You'll buy way too much of any food you happen to be craving, and much less of the things that are actually good for you. It's much harder to be disciplined when you feel like you're starving to death. Scientists have even discovered that hunger increases desire for foods with high fat, sugar, and salt content more than for healthier choices.

Healthy food stores

5. Try healthy food stores. Even if you inspect labels carefully you may fail when it comes to sweets, cookies or meat, as they are all filled with additives. Substituting butter with trans fat makes cookie production twice as cheap. So healthy snacks just don’t exist nowadays. But if you are passionate about eating healthier register at Iherb online organic store or drive to Whole Foods. Everything what’s still produced in this country without frightening additives you’ll find there.

Leave kids at home

6. Don't bring the kids (if you have any). Parents simply cannot allow their children to have a hand in food purchasing decisions. Kids will inevitably go for some of the worst foods out there -- processed, fatty, and sugar-laden junk foods are always big hits among the younger generation. The best way to make sure your kids (and you) eat nutritiously is to leave them at home, where they won't be able to influence your shopping choices. Eventually, your children will become used to eating nutritiously -- a habit that will serve them well their entire life.

If you have found yourself struggling to eat nutritiously, don't give up. While eating well is never simple, the battle can be made easier if you shop for food intelligently. Use the practical tips described above on your future trips to the grocery store, and you'll soon find that your diet has become much healthier.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)