Shopping for healthy food for your family means finding the healthy foods that you can get everyone to eat. Eliminate the processed snacks and foods with empty calories from your refrigerator and pantry, and replace them with a wide variety of healthy choices of fruit, veggies, whole-grain breads and cereals, low-fat dairy items and lean-meat, poultry and fish choices.
Start Fresh
Once you have removed processed snacks and processed foods filled with unhealthy sodium and preservatives, you need to replace those items with a wide variety of fruits and veggies for healthy munchies, salads and side dishes. MayoClinic.com says to start your family shopping trips in fresh produce and you will naturally prioritize fresh veggies and fruit as snack possibilities for the whole family. Leave some sliced fruit and veggies around with flavored, low-fat yogurt dip to compensate for missing, processed snacks. Plan for about 3 cups of veggies and 2 cups of fruit per person each day.
Get the Whole Grain
Choose whole-grain breads and cereals for your family so everyone gets the iron, B-complex vitamins and dietary fiber found in whole grain. MyPyramid.gov says that whole grain breads, cereals, pastas and brown rice keep the entire kernel in the mix instead of milling out needed fiber and nutrition. Look for the words "whole grain" high on the food label and don't be fooled by "hearty" or "enriched" tags that don't signal the same high nutrition and fiber as "whole grain." Try to supply about three slices of whole grain bread or 1 ½ cups whole-grain cereal for each family member daily.
Lessen Dairy Fat
You will find enough fat in low-fat dairy products to process fat-soluble vitamins such as E, K, D and A. MyPyramid.gov says whole-milk products have more artery-clogging fat content than low-fat or even no-fat dairy products such as frozen yogurt, low-fat milk or low-fat frozen desserts. The low-fat items still contain the calcium needed for strong bones. Try to supply the equivalent of 2 cups of dairy products daily per person.
High Protein with Low Fat
Try to get your family off the red meat wagon by providing a variety of fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds. The Harvard School of Public Health says that fish such as salmon has nearly as much protein as beef steak but with a quarter of the fat. Trout and herring also have heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids along with high protein. Try coating fish steaks and skinless poultry breasts with crushed fruit pulp or crushed almonds or seeds for a different, tasty alternative. You only need about 6 oz. of the meat and bean group for each person's protein intake daily.
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