When you’re not working, one of your many responsibilities may be food shopping. You can become more “supermarket savvy” so shopping is a simple, healthy and even enjoyable task.

First, avoid temptation. Keep high-fat, high-sugar foods out of your home.

Second, prepare a running grocery list. Jot down healthy foods as you get low on them. When you think of a healthy meal you’d like to try, write down the ingredients. This will help to avoid random impulse purchases and comfort foods.

Another great shortcut in list making (and healthy meal planning) is to subscribe to a meal planning service, which not only gives you a week of healthy recipes, but comes with a handy grocery list listing the ingredients you’ll need. Search online for a simple service that serves your needs and budget.

Third, for reasons that you’ll understand when you’re eyeing that coffee ring, make sure to have a light snack before you go. You’re more likely to adhere to the first recommendation if you leave the children at home.

Let’s talk about labels
1.) The first think to notice when looking at a nutrition label is the number of servings in the package. The calories, fat, cholesterol, fiber and sodium are all listed for only one serving. So, for example, if you buy a bag of popcorn and the bag contains ten servings and you finish the bag, the calories, fat, cholesterol and other nutritional information must all be multiplied by ten.

2.) Ingredients are listed in order from the highest concentration to the lowest. This means that if sugar or fat are listed within the first few ingredients, there’s a high concentration of sugar or fat on the item. The reverse is also true. If the healthy-sounding ingredients - the fruit, the whole grains - are at the end of the ingredient list, there is likely to be only a tiny bit of them in the product.

3.) Sugar is often disguised under different names. High fructose corn syrup, any ingredient ending in “-ose”, honey, molasses, fruit juice concentrate, and brown sugar are all forms of sugar that act just like regular, white, refined sugar within your body.

4.) If the front label claims that the food is “healthy”, “low-fat”, “wholesome”, “made with whole grain”, “made with fruit”, check the back label to see what the real story is.  Typically, food producers could care less about your good health when they put foods on the shelf. They want the foods to sell and they know these claims catch your attention. But the ingredients often tell a different story. Foods may be low in sugar, but high in fat and artificial coloring. They may contain a small amount of whole grain with a hefty dose of white flour and high fructose corn syrup. Make sure you look at the whole label and don’t rely on the health claims to guide your choices.

The ingredients
Although there are thousands of items available in the typical supermarket today, an alarming amount are pre-packaged, processed and provide little nutrient value.
When a food is processed, it’s altered from its natural state. Valuable nutrients, vitamins and minerals are taken out while chemicals and additives are injected back in. Food dyes, flavor enhancers, stabilizers and preservatives may make food look more colorful and extend shelf life but here’s a simple rule to follow:
•    If a product can last indefinitely in a store or a vending machine shelf…
•    If you can’t pronounce it…
•    If you wouldn’t add it to anything you’re cooking or baking…
•    If you wouldn’t find the ingredient listed in a cookbook…
Don’t eat it.

Healthy aisles and healthy choices
Most of the healthiest foods are located in the outermost aisles of the supermarket, especially in the fruit and vegetable departments. Different colors of fruits and vegetables offer different nutrients, so just by making colorful selections you’re automatically increasing your chances of getting a wide variety of healthy nutrients. There are also many varieties of prewashed, precut lettuce and other vegetables available, making it easy to prepare interesting salads and side dishes. Here’s where you splurge, because if a variety of pretty, precut vegetables are available at home, your may reconsider eating pre-packaged, processed junk food.

A word on organic fruits and vegetables
One of the greatest differences in organic fruits and vegetables lies in how the food is grown, handled and processed. Because organic foods aren’t treated with preservatives and waxes you may find that organic fruits and vegetables spoil more quickly than nonorganic varieties. Organic fruits and vegetables also aren’t sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, which leave a residue on the food; something many people want to reduce their exposure to. Organic farming methods are also designed to conserve water and soil while reducing pollution; making organic foods more environmentally friendly. There is a price for these farming practices however. While these methods encourage the growth of fruits and vegetables free from herbicides and pesticides, it often means that the farming method is more labor intensive which increases the price of the food.

If you’re interested in shopping organic and there’s a limited supply at your local supermarket, here’s where you can find local farmers markets, organic foods and community supported agriculture near you. Check out http://www.localharvest.org/ to find out what’s being grown and harvested right in your surrounding area.

Here are some tips if you don’t buy organic:
Rinse, gently scrub or peel the fruit or vegetable to reduce the amount of residue that may have accumulated on the skin. You may lose some nutrients this way however because many fruits and vegetables contain valuable nutrients found within the skin.

If choosing only a few organic options, these choices (known as the “dirty dozen”) are the ones to splurge on:?
•    Peaches
•    Apples
•    sweet bell peppers
•    celery
•    nectarines
•    strawberries
•    cherries
•    pears
•    imported grapes
•    spinach
•    lettuce
•    potatoes

These fruits and vegetables have been dubbed the “cleanest” so it’s ok to go nonorganic for these choices: ?
•    onions
•    avocado
•    frozen sweet corn
•    pineapples
•    mango
•    asparagus
•    frozen sweet peas
•    kiwi
•    bananas
•    cabbage
•    broccoli
•    papaya

The difference between organic and non-organic meat
Organic meat comes from an animal that hasn’t been fed any antibiotics, growth hormones or steroids. These animals eat grass or grain (for chicken) so they grow at a natural rate. Organic meat and poultry also has less fat than conventionally farmed livestock because the animals are given more freedom to move.
So moving beyond organic or nonorganic, how can you make healthier choices in the meat and poultry aisle?
•    In the meat section opt for leaner cuts of beef and poultry. Choose cuts with less visible fat to decrease your intake of saturated fat. If you are buying ground meat, look closely at the percent of fat (most labels now show the fat content) and buy the leanest version.
•    With fish, choose both fatty (salmon and tuna) and lean varieties. Fatty fish are great sources of omega 3’s and white colored varieties (flounder, sole, and halibut) are low in fat and calories.
•    For vegetarians or those trying to decrease their intake of animal protein, bypass this aisle entirely for protein sources coming from tofu, nuts, seeds, etc.

The dairy aisle
Look for words such as “low fat”, “non fat”, “fat free”, “1 percent”, “2 percent”, and “skim”. Consider switching to skim milk, or at least working your way down to 2%, then 1% and then skim. Just some facts-eight ounces of whole milk has 156 calories with more than half of those calories coming from fat. Skim milk has around 92 calories with only 5 of those calories coming from fat.

Eggs, butter, margarine and soy products are often in these aisles so read labels and choose carefully. Watch the fat in your dairy products and look out for added sugar in yogurts, creamers and soymilk.

The center aisles
You can still pick up healthy items in some of the center aisles if you choose carefully.  In the grain aisle, try to avoid refined carbohydrates and opt for whole grain and high fiber whenever possible. Choose 100% whole-wheat or sprouted grain bread, high-fiber cereals, whole-grain pasta, brown rice and other fiber rich grains. The closer the grain is to its natural source, the more fiber and nutrients it contains. Beans can also be found in either the grain or canned food aisles. Dry beans require soaking. If this doesn’t appeal to you, canned beans are just as nutritious so if you’ll eat more beans this way, buy the canned version instead.

In the frozen foods section, you might want to grab a few bags of frozen vegetables or mixed blends (without the added sauces or butter flavoring). Frozen vegetables retain the vitamins and nutrients while being convenient and easy to prepare.

Of course, you may want to add a few sweets and treats to your shopping cart and that’s ok. Opt for single serving portions for easier portion control whenever possible. Remember, as difficult as it may be to bypass something in the supermarket, it’s easier to walk past an item while it’s on the shelf than once it’s in your home.

The most important thing to remember is that slow and steady change in the right direction brings lasting results. Just starting with one change from these ideas can create some new, healthy habits your entire family can benefit from as you learn how to strategically shop within your favorite supermarket.

By Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC The Mojo Coach®