Supermarket Sweepstake Rules

     Food shopping can be super convenient if you learn how to circumvent the many pitfalls inducing you to buy unhealthy food.  Slick advertising and clever packaging works wonders on a multitude of unsuspecting shoppers.  Consider your visit akin to mission impossible or better yet, Supermarket Sweepstakes where you can improve your chances of successfully winning the good health jackpot if you follow my helpful tips:

1-Go with a list based on the meals you plan on preparing for the week.  This should prevent you from absentmindedly tossing cookies into your cart if you stick to your list.

2-Shop the periphery of the store where you will find the majority of single ingredient foods.  These are foods that are what they are with no added ingredients.

3-Refrain from buying processed or prepared foods.  If you feel you must challenge this rule, read the ingredient list.  If there's anything you can't pronounce, you  don't want to eat it.  If a form of sugar is listed in the first six ingredients, you don't want this item.  Watch out for the fats and sodium added.  Also be aware that anything that is enriched had little value to begin with and needed to be fortified with chemicals.  Low fat items contain added sugar so beware.  If it seems to good to be true, it often is.

4-Purchase staples like beans, brown rice, quinoa, nuts and seeds in bulk and save money.  Try to purchase the organic variety when available to avoid harmful pesticides.  Recently, Consumer Reports released a report recently about arsenic contained in brown rice produced in this country.  They claim that basmati brown rice from India and Pakistan is safe.  You can reduce the arsenic, which is absorbed in the outer layer, by rinsing the rice really well in filtered water.  Then boil with extra water and spill off the extra water when rice is finished cooking.

5-Do buy frozen fruits and veggies.  They are frozen at their peak of freshness and contain all those nutrients your body craves.  Fresh ingredients may be past as you have no way of knowing how the produce was handled or how long they have been in the store. They may be well past their prime and not as fresh as you think.

6-Do buy cut up fruits and veggies to keep in the fridge to promote healthy snacking.  Also make your own fruit and nut mixes to control the sugar in your snacks.

7-Buy organic, free range and/or grass fed meats.  You will prevent unwanted antibiotics and added growth hormones entering your body.  Refrain from buying farm raised fish who suffer   in overcrowded environments saturated with pesticides, veterinary drugs, dead fish,feces, uneaten food and are fed fish meal and other trash food made from genetically modified organisms.   The waste from these questionable practices are flushed into surrounding waters causing contamination of our Eco-system.  When you buy these fish you help sustain this practice.    Remember you will eat what they have eaten.  That's a terrible thought!

8-Choose foods high in fiber like fruits and veggies.  They help to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates in the body.

9-And last, shop during non-busy times to avoid impulse buying while waiting on line.  Read those magazines, if you must go during prime time, to distract you.

     Going shopping for food is less of a gamble if you use the above strategies to make mindful decisions regarding the nutrition you garner from your trip to the supermarket.  Below are pictures of some of my supermarket jackpots. 

Bottom Line:  Supermarket Smarts will yield a wealth of health.

Organic buckwheat and string beans with wild shrimp  

Organic garbanzo beans,  green peppers & zuchini with black rice