TIPS FOR A HEALTHY SHOPPING LIST

Protein World Nutritionist, Faye Townsend, gives her top tips for navigating the supermarket aisles and explains how to properly read a nutrition label!

Eating healthy starts with choosing the right ingredients. It’s a lot easier to eat healthy when your fridge and cupboards are stocked with nutritious, wholesome foods. When shopping it can be easy to get drawn to the convenient, ready meals and processed foods. Let’s not forget the chocolate waiting for you at the checkout.

Shop with a plan
Don’t get sucked into buying food you don’t need. By heading to the store knowing exactly which healthy ingredients you need for your meals, you can go straight to them rather than wandering through aisles filled with unhealthy foods that might somehow wind up in your cart.

Buy a rainbow
Colourful foods are not only appealing, but they are nutritious too! Eating a variety of foods will help you get essential vitamins, minerals & antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables are particularly colourful, so a rainbow plate can help you towards your 5-a day. Plus, you’re more likely to enjoy eating an attractive meal.

Keep it seasonal For fruits and veggies, try to follow seasonal items. Not only is this more cost effective, but often offer a higher nutritional value and support local suppliers. Find out what foods are in season here. Don’t be afraid of the frozen aisle Frozen produce can actually be more superior in terms of nutrient value, quality, cost and shelf life. Frozen fruit and vegetables are chilled soon after harvesting so they retain higher levels of vitamins and minerals. So even though fresh fruit and veg may sound great, the reality is they have often been held in storage for a long period of time, which causes it to deteriorate and lose nutrients. Watch out for food labelled ‘light’ When fat is removed from products, manufactures often add in sugar to compensate for the loss of flavour. Don’t be afraid to buy full-fat varieties, or if you do opt for the low-fat or light versions make sure there is no added sugar.

Reading a Food Label 1. Start with the serving information This will tell you the size of a single serving and the total number of servings per package. 2. Check total calories per serving Pay attention to the calories per serving and how many servings you’re really consuming if you eat the whole package. 3. Limit these nutrients Limit the amount of sodium/salt, saturated fat, trans fat and sugar you consume. 4. Get enough of these nutrients Make sure you get enough of beneficial nutrients such as: dietary fiber, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and other nutrients you need every day. 5. Guide to % RI The Reference intake (RI) shows you the maximum amount of calories and nutrients you should eat in a day. As a guide, if you want to consume less of a nutrient (saturated fat, trans fat, sugar, sodium), choose foods with a lower % RI. If you want to consume more of a nutrient (such as fibre, protein, vitamins & minerals), seek foods with a higher % RI. Front of pack labelling Most of the big supermarkets and many food manufacturers also display nutritional information on the front of pre-packed food. This is very useful when you want to compare different food products at a glance. These will be coloured Red (high), Orange (medium) or Green (low). How do you know if a product is high in fat, salt or sugar? Total fat High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g Saturated fat High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g Sugars High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g Salt High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium) Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)