Make Grocery Shopping Easy

Streamline your meal prep with these tips that will not only leave you feeling satisfied but also help boost your energy and brainpower.

Before you head to the store for this weeks’ worth of groceries, take a few minutes to look at what you already have at home. Make an inventory of what is in your refrigerator, freezer, pantry, and even spice rack. If you have an idea of what you already have, you will save money and time as you will have everything in place for your weekly meal prep. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to create a weekly plan when you know ahead of time what you have on hand and what will require a trip to the store. 

It’s essential to include protein with every meal. Protein helps to maintain healthy blood sugar levels; it can decrease cravings while powering your metabolism. Protein doesn’t necessarily need to come from meat; it can also be found in nuts, seeds, grains, vegetables, and legumes. Of course, fish poultry and most meats contain protein, as well as some of the 20 essential amino acids your body requires. 

Look for animal proteins that are free-range, grass-fed, and free of hormones and antibiotics. Seek out sustainably harvested and mercury-free sources of fish. While these items may be more expensive than industrial, farm-raised products, they are a better investment for your health.

Try to pick just one day a week to go food shopping. Fill your cart with vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods to keep your body fueled and your brain active and healthy. Avoid processed foods and anything in a box. Never shop without a list as this can result in multiple trips or cause you to forget essential items. If you do your best to purchase everything in one trip, it will make meal prep much more manageable and save you time. 

We all know that leafy greens are better for you, but often we forget to choose vegetables that are different coloured. Including spinach, kale and collard greens are essential, but don’t forget to include veggies such as bell peppers, squash, cauliflower, and broccoli. These vegetables have tremendous health benefits and provide a vast array of vitamins, essential minerals, free radical-blocking carotenoids and flavonoids, which are excellent antioxidants. 

Plant foods can also help balance healthy inflammatory response and lessen your chances of brain, heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, joint, or gastrointestinal problems.

 

There are plenty of so-called ‘smart’ carbohydrates and healthy fats to incorporate into your diet; both are needed because they help keep you in a healthy balance. Smart carbs are loaded with nutrients; they help keep your blood sugar in balance and can decrease cravings. Most vegetables, legumes, and low glycemic fruits are smart carbs. When shopping, purchase those that have the lowest sugar content and lowest glycemic indexes. These include oats, cereals, bread, legumes, starchy vegetables, pasta, and rice.

The body needs fats to build cell structure, and the most healthy fats tend to come from foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids. These are found in chia seeds, ground flaxseed, walnuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes. Though the body can convert some of these into small amounts of EPA and DHA, cold-water fish are a good source of actual, preformed EPA and DHA. 

The brain can be vulnerable to attacks by free radicals - highly reactive molecules that burn away antioxidants. Luckily, berries are one of the most concentrated sources of antioxidants. These are found in blueberries and help to protect the brain against oxidative stress, including those from toxic pollutants. They can also help support learning capabilities, motor skills and have shown promise for memory in clinical trials. 

Other berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, goji, and mangosteen provide different classes of antioxidants. The bottom line, the greater the variety of berries you eat, the broader the antioxidant protection you’ll have. 

Following these six meal tips will help relieve the stress associated with meal prep while, in turn, improving your diet. It will also free up more time for you to do other things, improve your energy, focus, and mental sharpness, which will lead to a healthy brain for life.