One of the most important determining factors in whether you eat in a way that supports your health, is having a kitchen stocked with healthy, fresh, nutritious foods. For those of us on a gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free diet, knowing which foods are safe for us to eat can be a real challenge.
Furthermore, if we are not careful with our choices, we can end up relying on too many processed foods just because they are specifically labelled as “gluten-free” or “dairy-free” rather than choosing foods that are naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, meats, fish, and ancient grains.
So, to make it easier to navigate the store next time you go shopping, I created a healthy freebie for you! You can download my Nutritious Delicious Shoppping List here for free! I use this list to guide my own choices when I am at the store because I find it helps prevent me from buying things on impulse (like gluten-free boxed graham crackers, my weakness).
Now, if it’s not on my list, I don’t buy it, and if I don’t buy it, I won’t have it at home where it can keep calling my name, luring me to indulge. And if someone (junk-food craving kids or husband) happens to come home with something junky, I stash it on the very bottom shelf, because out of sight really is out of mind.
I also try to stick to those time-tested tips when I go shopping, like sticking to the perimeter of the grocery store, shopping in stores like Farm Boy or local Farmer’s Markets that generally have minimal processed foods and healthier selections to start with, and never shopping when I am hungry (or at least bringing a snack with me).
I also find that it helps to create a budget and stick to it. You can read my blog post about what most people spend on groceries each week and my experience with creating a budget, as well as hacks and apps that I found that can save you a ton of money when shopping / cooking. Do you use a list when you shop? What other tricks do you use to help you make healthy selections?
