Dr. Gena Chiropractic - Your Favorite Family Chiropractors - Plantation, Florida

Grocery shopping can sometimes feel like a chore, especially if you are trying to maintain a healthy diet. It’s easy to stroll into the supermarket and pluck things off the shelves one by one, filling up your cart until you feel you’ve sufficiently supplied your family with food for the week ahead, but this isn’t the smartest way, nor is it the most nutritious way to shop for groceries. 

There is certainly a strategy involved in navigating the grocery store when you want to shop smart and healthfully. Let’s explore some of the best ways to keep you focused when you go grocery shopping so you make the healthiest choices for you and your family. 

Tips for Healthy Grocery Shopping

As a family chiropractor, Dr. Gena cares about more than simply making sure your nervous system is working well — she cares about your health and wellness as a whole, and diet and nutrition is part of that. Her number one tip for navigating the grocery store for health is to stick to the outside perimeters of the store where you’ll find all of the fresh ingredients, instead of the center aisles where more commercially packaged goods are stocked on the shelves. 

The outside area of the grocery store is where you’ll find the fresh produce, meat, and dairy (if you’re choosing to eat those food groups). This is where you will find all of your fruits and veggies, seafood, meat and poultry, milk and yogurt, cheeses, and other fresh produce. The outside perimeter is also home to the bakery, and we all know that this is not the healthiest of sections in the grocery store. If you are shopping in the bakery, try to stay away from the cookies and cupcakes, and stick to whole grain breads that are higher in protein and fiber, vitamins and minerals, and are made from less ingredients than their mass-produced counterparts. 

Here are a few more useful tips to help you on your next shopping trip:

• Make a list. Going into the grocery store blind is a surefire way to just buy a bunch of things you might not even need. Here’s an idea: start by picking out a few healthy recipes you plan on making for the week ahead and list out the ingredients needed that you don’t already have. This will ensure that you are purchasing exactly what is required for the recipes and aren’t shopping just to shop. This strategy also saves you time and money, because you won’t be mindlessly wandering through the store picking out whatever looks good.

• Don’t shop hungry. Make sure your tummy isn’t rumbling as you get in your car to drive to the grocery store. Going to the store hungry could result in impulse buys, and usually these impulsive purchases aren’t the healthiest of choices. If you haven’t eaten, your blood sugar could be low and that might cause you to crave a soda or sugary/salty snack that you normally wouldn’t buy. That hunger might also make you lose focus on your grocery shopping goals and you may not leave with all of the things you came for.

• Consider healthy alternatives. We know it’s not realistic to 100% stay away from all products in the center aisles, but if you do need to purchase these items, consider looking for healthier, more nutritious alternatives to goods that are otherwise nutrient-deprived. For example, if you like to have savory snacks in the house, reach for a brand that is high in fiber. High-fiber foods fill you up faster, so you’re less likely to eat more than the recommended serving size in one sitting. Products with more natural, wholesome ingredients are much better, healthier choices as well. If the ingredient list is extensive, and contains a lot of hard-to-pronounce words that you don’t recognize, you probably should put it back on the shelf. There are a lot of healthier, more nutritious products available now, so take the time to read nutritional panels and ingredient lists.

According to Dr. Gena “if it lived, walked or grew, it’s probably safe to put in your body. If the food sat on a shelf for most if it’s life, it’s not going to be your best choice.” Choose organic produce where you can, and when you cannot, be sure to clean and soak those vegetables to remove extra pesticide residue. 

Make Healthy Choices

Dr. Gena, your favorite family chiropractor in Plantation, stresses the importance of a healthy diet, and developing a healthy grocery shopping strategy is one of many ways to achieve that. Couple that with regular chiropractic care to keep your body functioning properly, and you should be feeling great! While you are at our office for an adjustment, feel free to ask Dr. Gena and her expert team about grocery shopping, eating, and cooking healthy at home. Remember, your health is in your hands; our hands are here to help. Call Dr. Gena Chiropractic at 954-417-5815 to schedule a consultation.