The grocery store can be a pretyy hazardous place when you’re trying to stick with a healthy diet. It offers both the healthy foods you need as well as the opportunity to buy all kinds of unhealthy foods.

Today we'll go over some of the basic rules for shopping for healthy foods. You probably know some of them, so think of this as a reminder to follow the rules for them to work.

Never shop on an empty stomach. This is the best way to ensure that you will buy things you don’t need. It is much easier to give in to temptation if you’re hungry.

Read the labels on canned goods. For example, you want to be sure to buy canned fruits that are packed in juice or lite syrup when juice is not available, not heavy syrup. You want tuna packed in water.

Look for the words “hydrogenated”or “partially hydrogenated”. The earlier these appear on the ingredients list, the worse it is. These fats are unhealthy, so avoid them when you can.

When choosing poultry, try to get skinless varieties. Much of the fat in poultry is in the skin. Chicken breasts have much less fat than legs and thighs.

Frozen dinners can be deceptive. Take a look at how many calories they really contain, as well as fat, sodium and cholesterol.

Aren’t getting enough calcium? If milk and cheese really aren’t to your taste, pick up some calcium fortified orange juice. The taste is great.

When buying bread and pasta, look for whole grain products. There is a difference between wheat bread and whole wheat bread.. Also give brown rice a try.

Switch your snack foods. Pretzels, some baked crackers, ginger snaps and angel food cake are relatively low in fat. If you’re watching your salt intake, of course, pretzels should be off the list.

Above all, make a list of the things you really need to buy. You don’t have to rely on your memory, risking the need to go back to the grocery store more often than necessary, and you can better avoid temptation.

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