Tag Archives: supermarket

Affordable Nutrition in Frozen and Canned Foods

Now that fall is on its way, the fresh summer bounty is dwindling down; but the truth is your diet doesn’t have to hibernate for the winter. You can get lots of great foods in the canned and frozen food aisles that are full of nutrition at a price that will have you dancing to the cash register. In this post, I’ll share some of my favorite picks and recipe ideas.

Canned beans

Not just the “musical fruit,” beans provide complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. In fact, a one-cup serving provides one-third of your day’s protein needs, half your fiber needs, and 65% of your folate needs (an important B-complex vitamin that helps prevent osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, anemia, and homocysteine buildup in the blood). For less than a dollar a can, you can-not go wrong! Try cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, lentils and black-eyed peas. You can buy them with no salt added, low sodium, or rinse them before use to remove about half the salt.

Recipe ideas: add to salads, home-made bean dip, three bean chili, and breakfast burritos. (more…)

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Rebecca

Smart Choices Program May Not be Overly Smart for Shoppers

I was recently invited to attend the launch of the Smart Choices food labeling system. Smart Choices is a front of packaging nutritional food label system developed by an alliance of U.S. food manufacturers and retailers. Products must meet specific guidelines to be included. The program is funded by the participating food companies – basically, a company pays for the label. Smart Choices is “designed to promote public health by helping shoppers make smarter food and beverage choices,” says the program’s press statements.

The basic premise couldn’t be more simple. Qualifying foods are stamped with a green check mark, which is designed to help a shopper make the healthiest choice within a particular category. (All fresh fruits and vegetables are automatically included – but they don’t get a green check mark because they are grown on a farm and not represented by a company.) If you are buying peanut butter, the green check mark container might contain the best choice in terms of health. (more…)

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Carmen

Slash Your Grocery Bill and Avoid a Nutrition Recession

Grocery shopping can be such a pain. We have more choices than ever before. My friend told me she was “overwhelmed” by the eggs at a recent shopping trip – eggs! Evidently, there are too many varieties (whole grain, omega-3, cage-free, etc.).

We’d also like to keep food costs down, which is not always easy, but increasingly important in this economy. But I worry that the economic recession is going to drive well-meaning people into a nutrition recession, too. Don’t let this happen to you. It is possible to save money on your grocery bill without sacrificing nutrition and I’m going to tell you how in this video.

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Posted on August 27, 2023 by Rebecca

Grocery Tips from Wendy Bazilian and SuperFoods Rx Diet Giveaway

This week I had the distinct privilege of meeting with Wendy Bazilian to discuss the new Smart Choices grocery initiative. She was kind enough to share a few tips to help all of us experience a healthier, more successful shopping trip.

Watch her tips now and then read on to learn about the giveaway!

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Posted on August 21, 2023 by Carmen

Will the New Smart Choices Label Help You Lose Weight?

If you haven’t already, you will soon see this label on processed foods at a grocery store near you. I know, I know… anyone who has been in a grocery store in the last three years, has probably seen the “smart spots”, “sensible solutions”, “best life”, and healthy food rating systems like “stars” or “overall nutrient quality index“. It’s complicated. What do these things mean and how can they help me? Right?!

The Smart Choices Program was motivated by the need for a single, trusted and reliable front-of-pack nutrition labeling program that U.S. food manufacturers and retailers could voluntarily adopt to help guide people in making food and beverage choices that fit within their daily calorie needs. (more…)

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Rebecca

The More We Have, the More We Consume

man grocery shopping Take a stroll through your grocery store and do a quick survey of how many choices you have for a variety of different items. Mayonnaise– low-fat, full-fat, fat-free, wasabi, lemon, olive oil. Pretzels – rods, sticks, braids, twists, nuggets, cheddar, sour cream and onion, honey mustard. Frozen waffles – egg, multi-grain, low-fat, high fiber, strawberry, flax, blueberry, wheat-free. The array of foods is just as dizzyingly endless as their varieties and flavors.

Maybe this is part of our problem: The sheer abundance of choices provided at any given grocery store in any given town in the country. From pretzels to yogurt and from frozen pizzas to waffles, perhaps it is no wonder why our enormous selection of foods has also bestowed upon us enormous bums. (more…)

Posted on June 27, 2023 by heather

125 Packaged Foods That Won’t Wreck Your Diet

Eating packaged foods is often the most economical option. The problem is, they’re also often the most unhealthy. On top of that, labels are confusing, and even intentionally misleading. You have terms like “50 percent less fat” or “reduced sodium.” But those phrases beg the questions: 50 percent less fat, but how much fat is left? And, reduced sodium… from what level? I realize that it’s simply a matter of reading the labels, but for the average person, the implication of something being healthier by subtraction seems to validate the product. Not so.

There’s help on the way. (more…)

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Jason

The 10 Healthiest Grocery Store Food Choices

The March issue of Prevention Magazine had a great article that will serve as a smart guide the next time you’re at the grocery store. All the marketing-speak and hundreds of choices can make choosing one food over another a difficult choice, especially when your goal is to be as healthy as possible. Here we share the good, better and best choice of 10 common grocery aisles.

Meat Counter

Good – Lean Beef
Better – Organic Beef
Best – Grass-fed Beef

Egg Section

Good – Packaged egg whites
Better – Whole eggs
Best – Omega-3-fortified eggs (more…)

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Natalie K

Major Food Brands Adopt New Smart Choices Logo

Some of the nation’s largest food and beverage companies are implementing a common nutritional standard and using a universal logo on packaging to denote healthier foods in our grocery aisles, which they are hoping will help consumers identify and purchase healthier foods. This logo and packaging are part of the Smart Choices Program, which is expected to hit our grocery stores the middle of next year.

This logo will appear on the front of the products’ packaging and will include the Smart Choices logo, a check mark, the calories per serving and number of servings in the package. The Smart Choices Program logo signifies foods that limit unhealthy ingredients and feature healthy ones.

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Posted on December 10, 2023 by Kinsey

The Top 10 Healthiest Supermarkets

Unless you live off the land, your health and well being is in the hands of your local supermarkets. Not all grocery stores are created equal. So it behooves you to know which offer you the healthiest foods, and thus the best choices.

The folks at Health.com asked six health experts to help choose the top 10 healthiest grocery stores out of the nation’s largest chains. Many of these I’ve heard of, since I’ve had the benefit of living on both coasts of the country. But like everyone, there are a couple in here I’ve never been to. Here are the top 10, and the regions of the U.S. that they service. For details on each, head over to MSN.com:

1. Whole Foods (279 stores in 38 states and Washington, D.C.)

2. Safeway (1,700-plus stores nationwide) (more…)

Posted on December 10, 2023 by Jason

Guest Blog: Living on a Shoe String While Dieting

Ranae from Ranesheart.com joins us as a guest blogger today. Ranaesheart.com was born as the result of a life-changing weight loss and the commitment to “pay it forward” in helping others achieve the same success. This site is dedicated to helping people transition to a healthier lifestyle by implementing nutritional food choices, moderate exercise, positive self-talk and surrounding themselves with the support of friends, family and Internet social networks, such as MedHelp.org, an online health community that provides medical information and support.

In these economically challenged times, the competition for our food dollars is fierce. In addition, with large corporation failures, Wall Street tumbling and foreclosures at record highs, there is an ever increasing need for us to tighten our belts and be frugal with our food budgets.

Here are some suggestions on how to live on a shoestring and make wise choices while pinching pennies:

Visit your farmer’s market or street side stand to purchase the freshest fruits and vegetables of the season. The further you get into the growing season, the more plentiful the produce and the greater value you can find.
Check out the frozen fruits and vegetables; sometimes they are less expensive than their fresh counterparts.
Watch the weekly ads at your local supermarket and plan your menu around those items. If you don’t get the paper showing you the advertisements, you can usually obtain a copy at the courtesy counter.
Managers also have many in-store specials. Here are a few to watch for:
– Take a stroll to the meat department and watch for items priced to sell quickly. Just use them quickly or pop them in the freezer and they’ll be ready to use when you are!
– Scope out the produce department as markdowns are made when items reach the ready-to-eat stage. (more…)

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Natalie K

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