Having a healthy lifestyle starts with having a balanced diet. You can’t expect to maintain a healthy weight or have nice skin and hair if you eat junk all day long. When you go to the grocery store, you have to make smart choices that will affect your lifestyle in a positive way. For example, it is better to buy fresh cream and whip it yourself at home than to buy an already made one at your local grocery store. If you’re looking to live a healthier lifestyle, it’s time you ban these 25 foods from your grocery store cart.
1. Breakfast spreads
Caramel and chocolate spreads you add to your morning toasts, like Nutella, are filled with glucose, shortening and additives. They don’t keep you full and have little or no nutrients. Stick to natural
2. Sugary cereal
If you take a look at the list of ingredients, “sugar” will probably be one of the first ingredients of most children’s cereal brands. This type of cereal barely has any fibre or other important nutrients. It’s best to choose a type made with whole grain and with no added sugar.
3. Chips
Once in a while, chips are ok to buy but you should not be adding them to your supermarket list every week. They are filled with salt and not much else.
4. Crackers
Most industrial made crackers are almost as bad as chips since they are also filled with salt but also sugar!
5. Popcorn seasoning
Filled with salt and additives, popcorn seasoning is a real no. If you absolutely need to add seasoning, choose sea salt instead or a little bit of butter.
6. Chocolate treats
Chocolate bars like Oh Henry!, Mars, Snickers, Kit Kat, all these chocolatey treats are much worse than real chocolate. If you’re craving some chocolate, opt for real cocoa bars.
7. Chewy bars
You should definitely remove chewy bars from your basket. They are equivalent to other chocolate treats. Filled with empty calories and sugar, it’s best if you stick to a handful of nuts and a few pieces of dark chocolate if you are craving a mid-afternoon snack.
8. Cotton candy
Enjoy it at the fair or at your niece’s 4th birthday but don’t buy this 100% sugar candy.
9. Whipped cream
Stop being so lazy! Make your own whipped cream at home. All you need is cream, a bit of white sugar and a dash of vanilla extract. Store bought whipped cream has many additives and other unhealthy ingredients.
10. Icing
Same for icing. You can easily make icing at home with pure chocolate, cream, butter and other easy to find ingredients. Sugar, shortening, soybean oil, added colour and other additives.
11. Syrup
Syrup, like Aunt Jemima’s, is not real syrup. Filled with glucose, fructose, sulphites, and tons of sugar, it’s much better to spend a little more on real syrup from Vermont or Quebec.
12. Cookies
Baking cookies at home is a fun and relaxing activity you can do with your family or loved one. Store bought cookies have too much sugar in them and their ingredient list is always much longer than the one from homemade ones.
13. Jell-O
This is too sugary and there are no fruits in this pseudo-dessert, only dyes and artificial aromas.
14. Pastries
Dessert pastries should be banned from your grocery basket since they have empty calories, have tons of fat and sugar and we know you can make something much more delicious at home.
15. Cake mix
Again, you can easily make a cake at home! The store bought cake mix has too much sugar and salt.
16. Popsicles
Sugar, glucose, dyes and additives, that’s what you are ingesting when you buy popsicles at the grocery store. Make you own with real fruit for a refreshing and healthy alternative.
17. Powdered drinks
If you find water boring, add fresh lemon or lime instead of these sugary powders.
18. Juice
A lot of grocery store juices have too much sugar and barely have any fruits. Make sure you check the ingredient list before selecting your juice.
19. Energy drinks
These have too much caffeine and too much sugar! You should definitely ban these from your home.
20. Soda
If you want to fill up on empty calories and too much sugar then soda is the way to go. You can buy a small amount for special occasions but don’t have any with meals. If you like the bubbles, try a no-calory, no-sugar bubbly water like Perrier.
21. Coffee drinks
Iced coffee drinks like these ones from Starbucks have too much sugar and too many calories. They will fill you up for an hour or too and then you will feel dehydrated and hungry again.
22. Powdered soup
Soups are easy to make. You only need a few ingredients like onions, carrots, chicken stock and potatoes to make a delicious homemade soup so avoid the packaged ones, which are filled with salt.
23. Frozen meals
Frozen meals might be practical but they also have too much salt, too much fat and too many additives. Make larger portions for dinner and bring your leftovers at work the next day instead of these bad excuses for a meal.
24. Powdered mashed potatoes
Rich in sodium, there are tons of additives in these powdered potatoes. Get out your peeler and make delicious and creamy mashed potatoes at home.
25. Frozen meat
Yes, it does take longer to make your own marinade and cook fresh meat but you won’t regret the superior taste. These should no longer be allowed in your home!
