Tuesday 21 February 2012

Smart Shop

Here's a few tips to help you sort out your weekly shop and keep your nutritional plans up to date and keep you fueling your training in positive ways.

1. Aim for Fresh Veg:
Make your first stop at the fresh veg aisle and target as many menbers of the brassica family as possible (e.g broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower) they can not only help to reduce the risk of cancer, but also provide many of the much needed minerals that your need to keep your body going and keep your muscles recovering fullly before your next training session.

2. Get Organic:
Organic food has come under scrutiny in the past few years with an academic study from the 'Food Standrads Agency' claiming that it offered, "no health benifits" over regular food. But when it comes to meat and dairy it would be stupid to consume somthing that wasn't organic or free range. This ensures that the meat does not contain traces of unwanted drugs, or poor quality, fat ridden cuts of meat.

3. Get into the freezer:
Avoid the pizza and ice cream and you'll find some healthy options in the frozen asile. 'Whole fods maintain their nutrients better when frozen because vegetables are generally picked and then frozen straight away' says Bishop-Weston. Scientific studies have confirmed that fresh veg lost around half of is nutritional content in the process of picking, transportation and cooking. The frozen veg is also better as it contains no additives unlike chilled meals.

4. Avoid low fat products:
'Low fat means that it contains less than 3 grams of fat per 100 grams, while reduced fat means that it is at least 25% lower in fact than the standard product. While you may think you're making the healthier choice, they ofn replace fats with sugar and artificial flavourings to make them more tasty. Also research in the Cornell university in the USA has suggested that people who eat low fat products actually consume more calories because you underestimate how much you eat. Besides we need fats to make cells and they are essential for survival, just aviod the trans fats and saturated fats. Tip - become a compulsive labell reader next time you shop.

5. Take only what you NEED:
Supermarkets are desigened to draw your attention to the layers of crap stacked wall to wall in the shop. Instead try to make a list of what you want to get before you go to help avoid temptation in aisles lined with high carb and fat products. Also, if you know that you dont want anything from an isle, dont go down it or temptation may overwhelm you and you'll come away with food that neither you nor your body needs.

6. Avoid 'free from' food:
This section may appear virtuous, but there's a reason this section isn't called 'healthy food'. Just becasue it is free from one ingredient doesn't mean that the others are all good. Make sure you check the label for sugar, fat and salt levels or else it just isnt worth it.

Also heres a good tip, the ingredient list must be listed from highest to lowest in terms of % inclusion in the food. For example if your peanut butter doesn't have peanuts as the first ingredient then get rid of it fast, because it more likely than not has more salt than peanuts in the jar! I mean who wants to be eating that?! 

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