5 Tips to Loading a Healthy Grocery Cart

Heading to the grocery store with a shopping list in hand is a great way start loading up your cart with healthy options. Loading a healthy grocery cart takes work! Here are a few other smart tips to keep you focused on coming home with wholesome ingredients after your weekly shop.

Tips for Loading a Healthy Grocery Cart:

1. Start with a list and map out your route

Pre-planning your grocery shopping will help to keep you stay focused, avoid impulse buying, and you’ll be in and out in no time! Plan your meals ahead of time and jot down the ingredients needed for those meals, also listing anything that you’re running low on. You can also go one step further and plan out your shopping route. Categorize your ingredient list by your grocery store’s areas to make your trip more efficient. You can list all of your fruit and vegetables into the produce category of the store, your milk, butter and cheese in the dairy section of the store and so on.

2. Keep to the outer edge of the grocery store, mostly

Fresh foods are usually found along the perimeter of a grocery store including fruits and vegetables, seafood, meats, baked goods, and dairy. The rest of the aisles that fill the store are usually stocked with packaged and processed foods, foods high in sugar, sodium, and saturated fats. Don’t forget about the beans, legumes and whole grains which are tucked into the mix of aisles, as well as the occasional few aisles of healthy options, vitamins, and organic packaged foods. By keeping to the outside aisles and fresh foods, and familiarizing yourself with the other healthy zones within your store, you can avoid any extra temptation and stick to loading a healthy grocery cart.

3. Read Labels

If you do happen to step away from the perimeter and jump into the land of processed food, take the time to read both ingredients and nutritional labels as food labels can be misleading and packed with additives, preservatives, and even artificial colours. The shorter the list of ingredients, the better. Many of the ingredients on packaged or processed foods are impossible to understand, so if you can’t read the word, you probably want to monitor your intake or, if you’re really curious, take out your smart phone and look it up! Spending a few extra minutes to read a label is worth it if it means you can avoid certain choices for you and your family. If you are planning to buy canned vegetables or fruit for convenience sake, choose frozen instead since most frozen produce is flash frozen meaning most of the nutrients remain, and just be sure to read the labels to avoid added sodium or sugars.

4. Go shopping after a workout at the gym

If you’re trying to load a healthy grocery cart by shopping for mostly fresh ingredients, physical exercise may also be part of your routine. Think about it, you’ve just had a great workout, and even though your legs are a little wobbly, you’re feeling on top of the world and full of the feel good endorphin hormones. It took a lot of time and effort and you aren’t about to sacrifice all your hard work and spoil that great feeling. Instead, you’ll want to encourage it with a healthy shopping trip. Don’t forget, exercise is just one part of a fitter lifestyle.

5. Shop on a full stomach

Make sure that you’re not going grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Making impulsive choices in the grocery store is most often going to occur if you show up hungry. Following all of these steps are pointless if you’re starving and you load up your cart with a few extra goodies to fill you up on the way home.