Here are my top tips to detox your trolley and come home with nutritious food to set you up for the week:
- Develop a food plan so that you can shop for all of the ingredients you'll need for your meals.
- Always, always make a shopping list before you leave home and stick to it.
- Minimise the purchase of processed foods, opting for fresh and as minimally processed foods as possible.
- Don't be fooled! Be sure to read the labels on foods, they can be very misleading - for example - food items with 99% fat-free can contain excessive carbohydrates and you don't need these.
- Be aware of terms such as 'lite' or 'light' - they do not always mean low fat.
- Be aware of the serving sizes on food labels. Often, they are much smaller than you would normally consume.
- Avoid shopping when you are hungry!
So, what should you include in your weekly grocery shop?
- Load up your trolley with colourful fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of varieties and a good quantity of greens.
- Include a variety of herbs, garlic, ginger, chilli, lemons and limes so that you have these on hand to flavour foods rather than using ready-made sauces
- The best carbohydrates are those that are quality, water based, low carbohydrate foods, with high vitamin and mineral values and low fat. Fibrous fruits and vegetables are best here, we need plenty of these.
- Include a range of protein sources such as lean meats and fish. Chicken, turkey, pork, beef, veal and lamb, most types of fish are all good choices, just make sure that you choose good cuts of meat which are trimmed of fat.
- Low-fat dairy foods (with no added sugar) such as yoghurt, milk and cottage cheese, egg whites or some soy products like tofu are also great choices.
- We need good fats in our diets, some fats, known as Essential Fatty Acids should be included: Omega 6 - found in many oils/Omega 3 - found in cold-water fish and some plants.
Consider including:
- olive oil (extra virgin, first cold pressed is the best)
- peanuts (the unsalted variety)
- canola oil
- avocados, however, they are not considered to be essential.
Food is such an important element to our health and for this reason we run a monthly grocery tour to show you just what you need to make yours as healthy as possible. If you are interested to find out when the next one is, please get in touch at jconroy@visionpt.com.au.
