Grocery Store Nutrition

Let’s face it. Grocery shopping when you are trying to eat healthy is nearly impossible. From the moment you step inside, there is an onslaught of temptations before you. Muffins, cakes, and doughnuts down one isle. Candy bars, potato chips and soda down another. Let’s say you get past all the junk and are making an attempt at healthy shopping. What health food products do you go for? Are they really health food products, or are they just marketed that way? Do you try and avoid convenience foods all together and stick with food you can picture growing in a garden?

I am currently a student working towards my master’s degree in nutrition at Bastyr University and I can without a doubt say that real food is the way to go! In the words of Michael Pollan, “If you can’t make it yourself then don’t eat it.” This way of thinking is idealistic, but is it always realistic day in and day out in our busy lives? Speaking up as a busy student I can certainly say it is not. When you are at school for the majority of the day and then you come home to a dirty apartment, a dog that needs a walk, about 8 hours of homework, and a blog that needs to be written you don’t always have time to cook from scratch! Let’s be serious people! We all have busy lives and if you are reading this, then I hope that you love food and care about your health as much as I do. I am a nutrition student after all; I plan on making a fruitful career out of my love for food. (More blog readers would certainly help… tell your friends and keep reading!) Not only do I love food, but I also love grocery shopping. Let me tell you, if I could take a trip to Whole Foods Market on an unlimited budget, I could fill 100 carts! Once summer hits, I would hit up the farmers markets every night if I could! I have always loved trips to the grocery store ever since I was a kid. When I was 2 years old my dad said he would roll me by the fish counter and from within the cart I would point at the salmon and proclaim, “I want the pink one Daddy!” I love picking out food, planning healthy meals, and of course preparing them.

My goal of this blog is to take you on a grocery store tour through the eyes of a budding nutritionist. I want to tell you all about some of the products I love. I want to teach you how I look at labels of packaged foods and tell you why I pick the ones that I do. Every post will highlight an item or two that I dig and will feature nutrition insights and meal ideas. Feel free to comment with foods that you buy and why you buy them, I love trying new things! Okay, off to make my grocery list!