10 smart shopping tips for healthy eating

Shopping is always a great adventure for most of us, because admittedly there is no greater playground than a well-stocked supermarket with bulging shelves. However, the variety of products also leads to us being inattentive and succumbing to one temptation or another, which is not exactly conducive to our healthy lifestyle. With these tips, however, the potential for danger when shopping is significantly reduced.

Tip 1 - Limit your time for shopping

Yes, this may sound a bit strange at first. However, there is hardly a more effective way to stay on the nutritional track than by limiting your shopping time. After all, the faster you move purposefully between the rows of shelves, the less likely you are to notice the more or less hidden temptations. So unless you're shopping for a family of four, 15 minutes in the supermarket is easily enough, as long as you make a shopping list in advance.

Tip 2 - Avoid foods with unnecessary additives

When shopping, try to avoid foods that contain unnecessary additives. This applies not only to various flavor enhancers such as glutamate, but also to foods that are enriched with sweeteners such as corn syrup or additional fructose. Your no-no list should also include all foods that contain hydrogenated fats.

Tip 3 - Read the labels before you buy something blindly

In order to be able to detect foods like the ones we mentioned in tip 2, you first need to know what is in the food in question. There is only one solution: read the label. This also applies to foods that promise to be low in fat or salt or sugar. Since all of these substances are flavor carriers, they are often replaced by other substances. Fat, for example, by additional sugar and salt by additional fat.

Tip 4 - Reach for healthy fats

That fats are unhealthy is, of course, false. However, you should make sure that a shopping cart contains as many foods as possible that are considered sources of "healthy" fats. For example, avocados, almond butter, or oils such as olive oil, coconut oil, or flax oil.

Tip 5 - Stay away from the candy section

Well, this rule is actually self-explanatory and requires no deeper explanation. True to the motto "opportunity makes the thief", a visit to the confectionery department also ensures that cookies, chocolate and the like magically end up in the shopping cart. So it's best to stay away from them altogether.

Tip 6 - Fresh meat is king

When you buy meat, it's best to buy fresh meat from the meat counter or freshly packaged goods from the display. Meat that is sold already shrink-wrapped is often provided with extremely salty marinades or has been preserved with the help of so-called "protective gases". Of course, this is not harmful in any way, it just gives the meat an unnatural red color. Here, too, a look at the label usually helps.

Tip 7 - Don't be tempted to do anything at the cash register

You'd think that the abundance of chewing gum, candy and chocolate bars piled up in the checkout area would be exclusively for children. Nevertheless, the so-called Quengelware also triggers a buying reflex in many an adult. It is interesting to note, however, that the turnover supermarkets make from the sale of the Quengelware has decreased significantly since the spread of the smartphone. Not that we want to advise you to play around with your smartphone at the checkout. But that's exactly what seems to be an effective protection against impulse buying while waiting in line.

Tip 8 - Buy unprocessed carbohydrates

When it comes to carbohydrates, you should keep it old-school and use the most natural sources possible. For example, instead of sugared cereals, simple oatmeal will do the trick. Other things that should end up in your shopping cart are potatoes, whole-grain pasta, fruit, vegetables and brown rice.

Tip 9 - Organic is not everything

Of course, you can try to buy mainly organic products. However, organic is not everything for several reasons. On the one hand, because of the price, because for many of us it is simply not possible to spend twice as much on food every month. Fortunately, however, the choice of fresh and high-quality food from conventional production is very large. Add to that the fact that many organic products fare much worse than their conventional counterparts in terms of exposure to some pollutants. An uncomfortable truth, but one that is nevertheless true.

Tip 10 - Stick to your shopping list

A well-structured shopping list is the best insurance against unplanned calorie escapades. Arrange your shopping list so that its order corresponds to the direct route through the supermarket. That way, you won't stray from your path and you'll be able to complete your shopping within your defined time limit.