the first step towards nutritious food is to make the correct buying choices at your local store you may swear by healthy food but it completely defeats the purpose if you do not have the right ingredients to prepare it the first step towards nutritious food is to make the correct buying choices at your local store and the fact that makes this a real challenge is that you have multiple options to confuse you with all the smallprint food label detailing here are a few simple points you need to keep in mind pick what you need one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to plan your meal before you go shopping with this you will know exactly what you need to pick up and save time from aimlessly moving around the stores trying to figure out what to buy never shop when you are hungry you do not want impulsive purchases do you on an empty stomach that is what you end up doing buying unhealthy things that you may not want later this includes dessert and packaged foods newly introduced at the supermarket fill your cart right make sure your cart has plenty of fruits and vegetables then comes grains followed by proteins like fish and white meat finally pick up nuts and dessert in minimal quantity variety is the spice of life bored with the same food choose a different spice or masala for a change switch food items dont want lettuce swap it for baby spinach leaves instead of full whipped cream and mayo use hung yogurt for dips it contains healthy bacteria and is good for digestion try new vegetables every week opt for mushrooms zucchini or pokchoy instead of the usual cauliflower and cabbage buy frozen when you are buying frozen foods ensure that the canned food is without added sugar salt or fat for the inbetween times opt for crunchy fresh food between meals buy carrots cherry tomatoes broccoli et al and blanch them before you munch stay away from flour dessert shop for dried fruits that can act as dessert figs and nuts are good avoid fruit juices avoid vacuum sealed and canned juices even ones that claim to have no preservatives most of them have zero fibre and added sugars stay away from processed dairy processed cheese for instance doesnt add anything to your daily nutritional needs ice creams butter and cream have more saturated fat than whole milk opt instead for tofu or low fat paneer opt for fibre fibrous foods like beans green peas green leafy veggies oranges apples and watermelons flush out toxins from your system naturally go organic organic vegetables and pulses grown without harmful pesticides are not just good for your stomach but also great for your skin and hair tnn published on may 10 2015 at 1046 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read