Seeking to Eat Better but Finding the Maze of Products, Claims and Labels at the Grocery Store Confusing?

You know the drill. You walk into your favorite grocery store, grab a cart and begin navigating through aisles laden with thousands of products – each with various claims of quality, taste, value and nutrition. As you find your way through the immense product array, you continually remind yourself of the goal to make healthy grocery purchases.

You try to recall the last you heard or read about what constitutes good nutrition. What about fats? Sugars? Carbohydrates? Calories? Natural or organic ingredients? The mind reels. With more than 45,000 product offerings in the average grocery store and approximately 17,000 new items introduced each year, you wonder if its even possible to achieve a healthy and balanced trip to the grocery store.

“When presented with conflicting nutrition information, marketing claims and confusing product packaging and labeling, what should be a routine trip to the store can easily become confusing and frustrating when it comes to the pursuit of healthy foods,” said Tom Nikkola, Life Time Fitness Nutrition Program Manager.

In the face of this challenge, here are some ‘nutrition smart’ tips to help guide you:

• Visit the outside first!: Most grocery stores place whole, natural and unprocessed foods in the perimeter aisles of the store. The bulk of your purchases should come from these areas.
• Get to know fruits and vegetables: Produce should command a fair share of your shopping cart space. The more fruits and vegetables, the less room you have for processed, less healthy options.
• Choose protein wisely: Seek out “free-range,” “grass-fed,” “free of hormones,” “wild,” etc. options in the meat section. If you’re a vegetarian, good sources of proteins include nuts and seeds, tofu, soy milk, free-range eggs and some dairy products.
• Be selective with dairy: Choose hormone-free and organic dairy and eggs.
• Fats or no fats: Fat is an essential part of the diet. The key is the right types of fat such as non-saturated fat which has numerous health benefits or fats/oils that come from UNREFINED vegetable sources or oily fish such as salmon or tuna.
• Reward yourself: There is no crime in treats but moderation is key.
• Don’t forget to supplement: Try to consume the best diet possible, but a high-quality multivitamin and omega-3 fish oil should still be a regular part of your diet. We just don’t get enough of the vitamins and minerals we should, even when we try to be perfect with our diets.