Healthy Diet Foods

A big part of enjoying healthier eating is buying Healthy Diet foods, and that means making smart choices of healthy diet foods, where it matters most – at the supermarket.

Choosing the freshest, healthy diet foods are an important first step toward making healthy and delicious meals your whole family will love.

Supermarkets

In general, most supermarkets are laid out with the nutritious, most healthy diet foods around the perimeter of the store. That is where most stores locate their produce section, their dairy section, their meat counter, and the like.

Grocery Stores

Of course, the middle aisles of the grocery store also contain healthy diet foods, such as canned and frozen vegetables, whole grain cereals and more.

Good and Bad choices for Healthy diet foods

And of course each shelf of the grocery store also contains both good and bad choices for healthy diet foods.

For instance, the cereal aisle is home to the healthy diet foods, home grain cereal, and those cereals that contain more sugar than corn.

Nutritional Information

In many cases, the difference will be obvious from the packaging, while at other times you will need to read the nutritional information carefully to ensure the food is healthy diet food for your family.

Read Nutritional Labels

As a matter of fact, learning to read nutritional labels is one of the most important skills any health diet foods oriented shopper must learn. This government mandated labels contain a wealth of information if you know what to look for.

Not only do nutritional labels on the healthy diet foods contain vital information on calorie counts, fat grams and sodium content, but they contain detailed information on the percentage of each vitamin a mineral a serving contains.

When looking at nutritional labels, however, pay careful attention to the portion size listed on the healthy diet foods.

Calories, Fat Grams and Amount of Sodium

This is particularly important when looking at calories, fat grams and the amount of sodium in your healthy diet foods. For instance, a serving of juice is generally 8 ounces, while the average juice glass at your home may be 12 or even 16 ounces.

It is important to carefully look at serving size, and to do the mental calculation necessary to reflect how much of each product will actually be consumed at one sitting.

Going for Less Processed Foods

When shopping for healthy diet foods, it is usually better to opt for less processed foods. For instance, 100% fruit juice would be better than a fruit juice blend that may contain as little as 5% or 10% fruit juice.

Frozen Vegetables and Meat

And plain frozen vegetables would be healthier than vegetables in a butter sauce. When shopping for meat, try to buy fresh meat whenever possible.

Frozen meat products, or those already seasoned, heat and eat products, often contain unhealthy ingredients as well as preservatives.

Dairy Products

When it comes to dairy products, it is best to buy low fat and non-fat varieties when at all possible. The one exception to this rule is feeding babies and young children.

Their growing bodies need the fat and calories contained in whole milk products, but adults and older children are better served by low fat alternatives.

Canned Soups

When choosing canned soups, there are a number of fat free and low sodium varieties. Try to choose these soups for a healthier lifestyle. Other high protein, low calorie soup choices include black bean soup, lentil soup and split pea soup. These healthy soups are good sources of protein, fiber and folate.

Ethinic Foods – Healthy Diet Foods

Ethnic foods, such as Mexican and Chinese, can be excellent sources of healthy diet foods, and the traditional ways of preparing such foods are generally very healthy.

It is important to stay as authentic as possible when choosing and preparing Mexican, Asian, Middle Eastern and Italian food. This will help guarantee both great taste and healthy eating.

For instance, traditional salsa is an excellent, low calorie, and nutritious dip, and the traditional Mexican black bean dip is usually fat free.

Seasoning

Seasonings can be an excellent way to spice up the healthy diet foods without adding additional fat and calories.

Herbs and spices are a great way to add zest to any healthy diet foods, and starting an herb garden of your own is a great way to save both time and money while providing fresh tasting, healthy diet foods for your family.

When buying spices in the grocery store, be especially careful about sodium content. Read the label carefully, since the first ingredient on many bottled spices is actually salt (another great reason to start that herb garden).

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