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How to Shop for Groceries with a Healthy Plan
A plain-language guide to planning a grocery list, moving through the store with purpose, and choosing foods that fit your needs, budget and schedule.
Body
Reading labels and shopping with a plan.
Start here
A plain-language guide to planning a grocery list, moving through the store with purpose, and choosing foods that fit your needs, budget and schedule.
Fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables each have strengths. Compare convenience, cost, shelf life and general nutrition to choose what suits your household.
Learn how to read a Nutrition Facts label step by step: serving size, calories, percent Daily Value, nutrients to limit and nutrients to look for.
Words like natural, low fat and made with whole grains can mean less than they seem. Learn what common food package claims may and may not tell you.
Most sodium in the diet comes from packaged and restaurant foods, not the salt shaker. Learn common sources, how to spot them and what the general guidance says.
Learn where added sugar hides in everyday foods, how it differs from natural sugar, how to spot it on labels, and what general guidance says about limits.
Learn how ingredients are ordered on a food label, what common additive names such as lecithin and citric acid mean, and how to read long lists calmly.
Learn what makes a grain whole, how to tell real whole grain products from look-alikes on packaging, and simple ways to include whole grains in meals.
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