This is one of the most common questions I get from people. EATING WELL is the key to a healthy lifestyle. Going to the gym is great, but if you're not eating well you are not giving your body what it truly needs. The best piece of advice I can give you when you food shop is to STAY AWAY FROM PROCESSED FOODS! What does this mean? If you pick something up in the store and that item had to go through a lot of processes to be 'made' and put on the shelf.. you probably shouldn't eat it. I will give you some examples of things to look for and things to stay away from when food shopping.
Foods to Stay Away From
- Processed Meats (contain nitrates as a preservative)
- White Starches which contain higher glycemic index than brown starches which raises blood sugar
- Foods with artificial sweeteners - Sucrose, Aspartame, Corn Syrup, Stevia
- When looking at ingredients a lot of words you can't pronounce are not good for you
- Monosodium Glutamate - can also be called hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed yeast, and sodium caseinate
Foods you Should Buy
- Foods with all natural ingredients
- Fruits & Vegetables
- Nuts & Dried Fruits
- Natural Meats without hormones
- Nut butters are great to replace sugary syrups, and regular butters
- Short Ingredient Lists on Labels
One of my alltime FAVORITE apps I use at the grocery store is called ShopWell. It's a simple app that inputs what your needs are for food and what you DON'T want in your food (gluten, wheat, soy, sugar, etc.) & you simply scan any food and it will give you a score of 1-100 if it fits your needs or not. Extremely easy & you can earn points that turn into gift cards! This is not an ad.. lol. I just really love the app! This is the app icon below.
I hope this helps! Xo