Open Mind Grocery Shopping Tips For You !

Open Mind, Grocery Shopping Tips wants you to focus on variety. Choose a wide selection of low-fat foods rich in fiber. Include whole grain breads and cereals,vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and poultry, fish,and lean meat.

Although the goal is to reduce fat to 30 percent or less of calories, when choosing foods that do contain fat, try to choose ones that contain primarily unsaturated fats. For example, choose an unsaturated-rich margarine instead of butter; choose vegetable oils.

Read food labels. To help you find foods that are low in fat and cholesterol and high in fiber, get into the label-reading habit. Many nutritional labels on packaged foods show the amount of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids and the amount of cholesterol and fiber they contain. Check the type of fat on the ingredients list. Is it an animal fat, coconut or palm kernel oil high in saturated fat? Or, is it corn or soybean oil high in polyunsaturated fat? Choose a product with the lowest proportion of saturated fat.

Open Mind, Grocery Shopping Tips says read the label it also tells you something else about a product. Ingredients are listed in order of amount from most to least by weight. So, when you buy a breakfast cereal, for example, choose one that has a whole grain listed first (such as whole wheat or oatmeal).

Pay attention to sodium. Many processed, canned, and frozen foods are high in sodium. Cured or processed meats, cheeses, and condiments (soy sauce, mustard, tartar sauce) are also high in sodium. Check for salt, onion or garlic salt, and any ingredient with "sodium" on the label. If the sodium content is given on the nutritional label, compare products and choose the ones with lower levels. One teaspoon of salt contains about 2 grams of sodium.

Do you Know? How to absorb salt in in stews and other dishes. If you've been too heavy handed with the salt when cooking, simply drop a few apple wedges into the pan. After cooking for another 10 minutes or so, remove the wedges which will have absorbed the excess salt.

We know that there is an association between too much sodium in the diet and high blood pressure in some individuals. Sodium is a mineral that occurs naturally in some foods and is added to many foods and beverages as salt or other additives.it is probably best for most people to reduce the amount of sodium they eat. According to the National Academy of Sciences, a safe and adequate amount of sodium in the diet of the average adult is between 1 and 3.3 grams daily.

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