Grocery plan good for budget and limits treats

Grocery plan good for budget and limits treats, says nutritionist

Having a supermarket shopping list is good for your budget, can ensure variety, and limits ‘treat’ items, says dietitian and Registered Nutritionist Nikki Hart in a new video on healthy eating.

The video, entitled ‘Smarter Shopping’ and produced for the NZ Food and Grocery Council, is full of great tips about where consumers can find the most healthful foods in supermarkets, how to read labels, and how to compare products.

Nikki Hart says shoppers should have a shopping plan.

“Don’t arrive at the supermarket without a menu plan for the week. It’s not only good for your budget but it can ensure you balance meals with regards to variety.”

She says learning how to read labels to identify what’s in food is an important skill, and though there’s no one best labelling system, the Health Star Rating and the Heart Foundation Tick programmes are good places to start.

“They will help shoppers compare products as healthier within a category based on them containing less energy, less unhealthy fats, less salt, or less sugar, or more fibre or calcium.”

Nikki Hart says shopping around the perimeter of a supermarket is healthier shopping because it’s where food in its ‘whole form’ is found – including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, and dairy – which does not have added ingredients such as sugar and salt used for preserving.

‘Smarter Shopping’ is the third in a four-part series by Nikki Hart, who offers practical tips on healthy eating backed up by sound science.

The first video, ‘Energy Balance & the Complexity of Obesity’, explains why creating an energy gap is the key to preventing weight gain, while the second, ‘Snacks vs Treats’, says snacking can help boost nutrition for some people, but if a diet is already providing enough energy and nutrients then it doesn’t need snacks added to it.

FGC Chief Executive Katherine Rich says the videos are intended to offer positive and achievable solutions at a time when some people say they get confused by often contradictory information.

“A lot of the food or nutrition information can seem too complicated or based on theory rather than practice. We want to make sound and practical information available to help people make better-informed food choices.

“These videos are the next step in building food literacy among consumers and are just one of the ways the food and beverage industry is helping to reduce obesity.

“We are part of the solution, and many of our member companies are working to reduce portion sizes, and reformulating products to reduce energy, saturated fat, salt, and sugar.”

‘Smarter Shopping’ can be viewed on FGC’s YouTube channel here.

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