Smart and healthy shopping

By Lovely Ranganath, Dietician, Al Zahra Hospital, Sharjah 

Ask anybody what they think about eating right and they will tell you that eating right means avoiding bad foods (foods you need to eat less often), but nobody will tell you that eating right means that you avoid the bad foods and also consume the good foods! The good food can help you as much as the bad can harm you. Remember Hippocrates statement, “Let food be your medicine”. All foods – they can improve your health or destroy it.  

Here is the very simple truth: The only way to get lean – and to stay lean permanently – is through regular low-fat eating and through moderate exercise. Words like ‘moderation’, ‘balance’, etc sounds boring but those are the words that work! You are looking at a plan that does not force you to overhaul your life, but one that leads you to accept positive habits that will start transforming your body. 

As a dietician, I come across people subjecting themselves to lives of dieting or intense exercising, and it’s not working! One tells me that she was eating only one meal a day, another who believed he could eat anything because he worked out two hours a day, a mother who felt she was doing her obese kids a favour by getting them to drink cola!, another who thought she was going to lose weight since she ate only low-fat foods. I could go on and on … Now, I’d like you to do yourself a big favour. Start accepting facts and remember, there are no rules, only suggestions. The more suggestions you adopt, the faster you’ll see results. 

What are the good foods (or foods that you need to eat more often)?

The process of eating right starts right from the time you go shopping. So, I’ll start by making you more aware of the foods that you could bring into your home that is both nutritious and tasty and can go a long way in knocking fat out of your diet and body. You don’t have to eliminate any food, but you need to work out a balance where you still get the chance to ‘cheat’ occasionally.  

Learning to shop is very important. When you go to the supermarket, get in the habit of shopping at the perimeter of the store…this is where all the natural foods (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, low-fat dairy products) are kept. Think about it now, the inner aisle is where you’ll find processed, canned, and frozen foods. Yes, I do know we are not a society that prepares food from scratch and I don’t expect you to do that all the time. Fresh food gets the thumbs-up anytime but frozen vegetables are better than no vegetables! All I really want you to do is to start finding better choices for the same kinds of food you eat. By the way, do remember to eat before you shop. Shopping when you are hungry can lead you to choose the wrong foods almost without thinking about it. 

What to start buying? I’ll give you a list of items that you can purchase, that will also take the inches off your body as well as save money. 

Produce (vegetables, beans, grains): Fresh vegetables to buy are carrots spinach, peppers, cucumbers, onions, mushrooms, celery, tomatoes, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, eggplant, squash, lettuce, asparagus, corn, broccoli, red beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, sweet peas, green peas, brown rice, basmati rice, oats, wheat, couscous, barley, millet, bulgur, etc. 

Fruit: Go ahead and buy apples, pears, berries, melons, grapefruit, mangoes, tangerines, oranges, papayas, plums, nectarines, bananas, pineapples, peaches, grapes. A lot of people I come across think of fruit as this secret weapon for weight loss. No, it does not promote weight loss; treat it like nature’s candy – a perfect snack that is both fibrous and nutritious. Remember, fruit is a snack, not a meal substitute. 

Meat and Fish: Your best meats are boneless, skinless white meat chicken or turkey; white-meat fishes; lean venison and game meats; the very leanest cuts of beef such as sirloin, eye of round steak. Canned tuna, white-meat chicken, or white-meat turkey packed in water are also great.

Remember hot dogs, luncheon meats, ground meat are over 50 percent fat. All deli meats are processed which means you don’t get the same high quality of protein from, say, deli turkey as you do from regular turkey. But some deli meats and hot dogs are better than others. Choose the ones that are lower in fat and sodium. 

Dairy Products: Let go of high fat dairy products. You need to see these as treats and not staples. The good news is that there are now plenty of great substitutes. You’ll find skim milk, non-fat sour cream, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cottage cheese, nonfat cream cheese, fat-free cheese singles and eggwhites.  

Freezer Foods: There are some very nutritional frozen foods, from frozen berries to frozen vegetables to frozen chicken and turkey to fat-free hash browns (bake them instead of frying and you won’t be able to tell the difference). 

Processed Foods: For you this should mean anything that comes in a package – from cold cuts, chips, crackers, pancake mixes, peanut butter, white flour products, etc. Almost all processed foods have loads of added oil, sodium or sugar. I am not asking you to cut out all processed foods but use them in moderation. 

Health Foods: Don’t get taken for a ride when you see the terms ‘health’ or ‘natural’ on a food. Granola bars are ridiculously high in fat. Plant foods like avocados, coconuts, olives, nuts and seeds are mostly 80% fat. Dried fruit such as raisin has about 210 calories per half-cup. Just be aware of these and go slow. 

Dressings, Sauces, and Oils: Try to keep the consumption of oil to a bare minimum. This also includes salad dressings, vegetable cooking oils, butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, etc. It is the oil that makes the fried food so fattening, which is why you need to stay away from fried foods. A tablespoon of oil contains 120 calories of fat – a single tablespoon! When you buy oil, look for oil that claims to be either “monounsaturated” or “polyunsaturated”, but remember, the less the better. 

Meanwhile, there are so many different nonfat condiments and spices to add flavor to your food – Tabasco sauce, mustard, tomato paste, vinegars, soy sauce, fat free dressings and sauces, spices like chilly powder, pepper powder, turmeric(yellow) powder, etc. 

Desserts: All forms of desserts contain “simple sugars”, they are called “simple” because they don’t need to be broken down by your body. They go straight into your bloodstream. They also have no nutritional value and are deceptively easy to consume. How many times have you started with one cookie and ended up eating everything in the box?

If you decide to have a dessert, I’d recommend the sugar-free and fat-free puddings, popsicles and ice creams. But please think moderation. A patient of mine has come up with a solution….she often buys sugar and fat free hard candies, one or two of which helps curb the sweet tooth. 

Snacks: The amount of low-fat salty snacks like chips and crackers available these days is overwhelming. You’ll think you can eat lots of them because they are low in fat, and you’ll find yourself gaining weight because you had no idea how many calories you were actually stuffing into your mouth. 

However, if you are going to snack, I’d suggest plain popcorn, pretzels or plain rice cakes. 

Beverages: Ever thought of water? Few people think of it these days! Start remembering it and get into the habit of drinking it. Don’t get fooled by ‘sports drinks’ – they are loaded with sugar. Fruit juices? Not what I have in mind, since they are basically loaded with sugar. If you want fruit, eat the real thing so you can get the fiber. 

Soft Drinks, Alcohol, and Coffee: Drinking diet /regular soft drink is not the same as drinking water. Then comes alcohol, you don’t need to cut it out completely but please don’t justify regular consumption by referring to studies that said alcohol helps your heart! Besides the high calories in it, it also makes you eat fattening food…it can seriously mess up with your decision making. Ideally limit your drinking to special occasions. If you choose to drink, opt for the low-calorie beverages like wine spritzers and light beer. 

Caffeine is a vice but I will never ask you to cut these out entirely. As long as you are moderate with it, you’ll be fine. 

You are now educated about what foods to buy, which means that the right environment has been created to allow you to get lean.  

Now it’s time to go for it. There’s nothing that can hold you back and all it takes to attain your goal is for you to simply believe in yourself. 

Next fortnight we shall look into more suggestions that will help you slim down and maintain it for life.

photo courtesy: paulnoll.com

Ms Lovely Ranganath, Dietician, M.Sc (Food Science & Nutrition), Dip. Fitness & Nutrition, Al Zahra Hospital, Sharjah and Al Zahra Medical Centre, Dubai will be regularly writing on Diet and Nutrition on womenone.org.