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Grocery Shopping and Food Label Tips
Grocery Shopping and Food Label Tips
Why do I need to learn how to shop correctly and understand food labels?
• Knowledge of food labels and shopping will help you balance and control your food intake, which is necessary to
achieve and maintain body composition goals.
• Packaged, processed and convenience foods are often preserved and flavored with sugar, fat and sodium. When
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attempting to reach fitness goals, it is important to limit your daily intake of these additives.
Extra calories, above maintenance, can cause fat storage, and taking in excessive sugar and fat calories can reduce
fat utilization during exercise.
Having foods available that are part of your Meal Planner will greatly diminish the risk of becoming hungry, overeating or skipping meals.
Having food that is convenient to carry and easily prepared will reduce the chance of eating foods not included in
your Meal Planner.
When grocery shopping and healthy cooking become habits, you will probably choose to eat out less frequently.
Effective shopping:
• Plan your shopping trips to save time and ensure that frequently needed foods are always available.
• Shop with a list so you will not forget items.
• Have a plan. Begin at the perimeter of the store, where fresh, perishable foods are stocked. Then, go to the middle
aisles for nonperishable items, such as cereal, rice, pasta, beans and canned goods. Finish your shopping in the
frozen food section.
• Have healthy snacks and the ingredients for your five most frequently eaten meals on hand.
• Have your Apex Meal Replacement Drink available at all times.
Suggestions:
• Once a month, shop for food staples such as cereal, rice, pasta, beans, canned goods and condiments.
• Twice monthly, shop for meats and breads to freeze.
• Once a week, shop for produce, dairy and fresh baked goods.
Label tips
• Food labels list ingredients according to quantity (from greatest to least).
• Foods that are high in sodium include most snack food, canned meat, canned vegetables and frozen meals. Your
daily intake of sodium should not exceed 2400 milligrams.
Fat content in food
• When reading labels for fat content select foods that contain:
Meats and cheeses: 50% fat or less
Entrees: 20 - 30% fat or less
Snacks / desserts: 20% fat or less
Cereals / bread: 12% fat or less
• Remember to make food choices after analyzing the desired percentages of the entire meal
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© Copyright 2004-2005 Apex Fitness Group™. All Rights Reserved. www.apexfitness.com
bodybugg ™
Knowledge Builder
calorie management system
Grocery Shopping and Food Label Tips
• Fat percentage can be calculated by counting the number of fat grams per 100 calories:
1 gram per 100 calories
2 grams per 100 calories
3 grams per 100 calories
4 grams per 100 calories
5 grams per 100 calories
6 grams per 100 calories
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9% fat
18% fat
27% fat
36% fat
45% fat
54% fat
Example: If a 400-calorie entree has 8 grams of fat (8 ÷ 4 = 2), it has 2 grams of fat per 100 calories so its fat content
is 18 percent. Using the guidelines, this entree is acceptable since it contains less than 20 percent fat.
Sugar content in food
• Be certain to check the refined sugar (sucrose) content of low-fat foods. They may be high in sugar: 1 teaspoon = 4
grams, 1 tablespoon = 12 grams.
• A food having 24 grams of sugar per 4-ounce serving contains approximately 2 tablespoons of sugar.
• Sucrose is the form of sugar most often added to prepared foods.
• Although a simple sugar, fructose is an ideal sweetener since it causes no insulin response.
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© Copyright 2004-2005 Apex Fitness Group™. All Rights Reserved. www.apexfitness.com