Making your way through the grocery store and selecting healthy choices can be overwhelming.
At her March 18 presentation at PWC, Weis Markets dietitian Christina Pelletier (MS, RDN, LDN) demystified the process for attendees, who learned what to watch for in the grocery store to better support their health.
A few of Christina’s guidelines:
- Try to keep added sugars and saturated fat to no more than 5% in a food – refer to the nutrition label when shopping.
- Eat the rainbow! Incorporating green, red, purple/blue, yellow/orange and white fruits and vegetables will help put healthy variety into your diet. Did you know bananas and mushrooms are two foods that count in the white category?
- When making deli purchases, choose meats that are lean and have low sodium levels.
- Chickpea-based hummus is typically found in the deli and is a great protein source to pair with dippable veggies like carrots for a snack.
- In the bakery, limit high fat choices. If you purchase cookies, consider freezing some to help regulate consumption.
- When buying meat, trim off excess fat on beef, chicken and pork.
- Try to consume two or more seafood portions each week. Christina recommended the Seafood Nutrition Partnership for recipes.
- Dairy is a good source of protein: low or no-fat milk, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are all good options (however, watch the sodium content in cottage cheese). With the exception of soy milk, plant-based milks are typically much lower in protein than cow or other animal milk.
- Frozen vegetables and fruits are budget friendly and offer good quality because freezing typically occurs at peak freshness.
- Consider no salt or low sodium options for canned vegetables.
- Aim for 25-30 grams of fiber each day. Aim for 3-5 grams of fiber in cereals.
- Choose unsalted or lightly salted snacks. Popcorn is a good high fiber option to snack on.
Weis Markets offers many resources in support of healthy eating. These include nutrition counseling, online cooking and nutrition classes; information on these resources can be found here. Other resources include Healthy Bites magazine, and online recipes.
Looking for a tasty and filling snack to enjoy pre or post workout? Click here for the delicious no-bake Energy Bites recipe that Christina assembled for program attendees to sample!
