- Health, Fitness & Weight Loss
- Sport Specific Performance
- Nutrition
- Adapting Recipes
- Avoiding the Runs while Running
- Breakfast Boycotters Beware!
- Dentist Dollars
- Don't De-Tox, De-Junk!
- Eat Well to Stay Healthy this Winter
- Food Additives
- Get Grainwise
- Healthy Eating - It's a Balancing Act!
- Healthy from the Inside Out
- How Alcohol can Contribute to your Weight
- How Food Choices can Influence your Sleep
- How Iron Deficiency Impairs Performance
- Is Sugar the New Fat?
- Improving your Power to Weight Ratio
- Portion Patrol and Control
- Sports Drinks - Do they Work?
- Supermarket Shopping Survival
- Sustainable Eating Practices
- Ten Top Tips when Out Eating
- Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin
- Will Vitamin Supplements Keep the Bugs at Bay?
- Training with Specific Conditions
- References
Supermarket Shopping Survival
I was in the supermarket the other day looking for my favourite breakfast cereal but could have been mistaken for thinking I was in the confectionery aisle! Every time I go to the supermarket, there seems to be less and less suitable options. Most breakfast cereals that are now on our shelves are so full of sugar and fat, that it’s hard to find one that won’t block your arteries or add to your waistline!
Many people spend hours grocery shopping, trying to decipher all the numbers and nutritional “jargon” on the back of a packet and then just end up more confused than when they started. Understanding food labels will allow you to make better choices on a daily basis, as you can not afford to put the wrong fuel in the tank!
Two tools you can use to decide whether or not a product is a good choice are the ingredients list and the nutrition information table.
The Ingredients List
Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight i.e. from most to least. Don’t be fooled by the fancy wording or technical terms (e.g. sucrose, molasses, dextrose, glucose, corn syrup, malt extract, disaccharides, fructose, lactose, maltose, monosaccharides, golden syrup and honey are all types of sugar; and copha, dripping, kremelta, hydrogenated fat, lard, milk solids, shortening and anything ending in ‘oil’ e.g. palm oil are all types of fat).
The Nutrition Information Panel
The nutrition information panel gives the nutrient breakdown of the food product. Most tables will list nutrient values per serve and per 100g. When comparing different foods it is important to compare the nutrient values from the 100g column, as serving sizes often vary even between similar food groups.
Kaths Tips for Supermarket Survival
Breads: Choose bread that is high in fibre (at least 6g/ 100g) and preferably those which have whole grains in them. If you take bread based items while exercising, you should still be able to have high fibre varieties. The exception to this is running - I recommend the lower fibre variety here.
Cereals: The best cereal choices are high in fibre (at least 6g/ 100g); lower in fat (less than 10g/ 100g) and contain lots of oats. Oat based cereals take longer to be digested, therefore sustain your energy and keep you feeling full for longer.
Muesli/Cereal Bars: These can make convenient snacks however don’t always contain a great deal of nutritional value so check out the ingredients list and aim for those first three ingredients to be nutritionally rich (e.g. whole-grain cereals, fruit, nuts/ seeds).
It always pays remember that the four major food groups lay around the perimeter of the supermarkets so the majority of your trolley should be filled with items from here. I once heard this described as – the items around the perimeter are food and the items in the middle are food science (down the aisles). Food for thought!
By Kath Fouhy, BSc, PG DipDiet, NZRD - 16/03/10