Low-Calorie Shopping List

THINK PROTEIN! THINK LOW GLYCEMIC!

With about 100,000 items or more in many of the big grocery stores, choosing the right ingredients for a healthy living. Despite the colorful labels with great models, most of the products contain two ingredients in abundance – corn and soy!

Try to stay away from HCPS and other Corn Products

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, The United States is the largest producer of corn in the world, producing 32 percent of the world’s corn crop in the early 2010s.  Corn is grown on over 400,000 U.S. farms.

The U.S. exports about 20 percent of the U.S. farmer’s corn production. Corn grown for grain accounts for almost one quarter of the harvested crop acres in this country. Unfortunately, corn is high in simple carbohydrates, and also high in glycemic index leading to insulin resistance.

Another byproduct of corn is the high fructose corn syrup that has been implicated in causing many health problems including fatty liver, insulin resistance, obesity etc.

Try to by as much unprocessed and natural foods as possible as the methods in food processing, the preservatives, coloring agents and other ingredients may or may not be healthy.

Low Fat vesus Low Carbohydrate Products

One of the fundamental questions people have in their minds is should they go low fat as traditionally advocated by many of the Government Agencies including the failed and now withdrawn food pyramid or to go with the new mantra – low carbohydrate?

Go Low Glycemic, Adequate Protein, Balanced Foods!

The evidence is now very conclusive that low carbohydrate diets lead to a more sustained weight loss, reduce insulin resistance, risk of diabetes, and are considered by many in the obesity medicine circles as a superior option to the traditional “low fat diets” that tend to be higher in glycemic loads leading to belly fat, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.

Hunter – Gatherer Diet

In order to understand this, let’s take a step back and look at how we evolved. Human race has evolved as hunters and gatherers adapted to a diet of unprocessed meat, eggs, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

This diet, had relatively high quantities of protein, fat with unrefined carbohydrates along with antioxidants that come from colored fruits and vegetables. Agriculture is a relatively recent development having been in existence for only about 10,000 years considered small in evolutionary perspective. As a result, humans have not fully adapted to eating a diet rich in grain based carbohydrate rich foods.

Read labels as you shop

Pay attention to the serving size and the servings per container. All labels list total calories in a serving size of the product.Compare the total calories in the product you choose with others like it; choose the one that is lowest in calories. Below is a sample Nutrition Facts label that identifies important information.

Have A List Ready

Prepare a list of the groceries you need ahead of time and stick to the list when you go to the store. This will keep you focused and can help prevent any spur of the moment, high calorie purchases.

In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh meat, poultry, seafood, and pork, keep your kitchen stocked with this list of heart healthy ingredients.

LEARNING FROM THE LABEL

First, look at the serving size and number of servings. Then, look at calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium per serving. The “% Daily Value” shows you how much of the recommended amounts the food provides in one serving, if you eat 2,000 calories a day.

For example, one serving of this food gives you 5 percent of your total fat recommendation. At the bottom of the label, you can see the recommended daily amount for each nutrient for two calorie levels (2,000 and 2,500 calorie diets)

Low Calorie Shopping List – follow these tips for a healthy heart:

Eat less saturated and trans fat. Stay away from fatty meats, fried foods, cakes, and cookies. Cut down on sodium (salt). Look for the low-sodium or “no salt added” brands of canned soups, vegetables, snack foods, and lunch meats. Get more fiber. Fiber is in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Take this list with you the next time you go food shopping. Vegetables and Fruits

Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits. To save money, buy vegetables and fruits that are in season, frozen, or canned.

• Fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, and spinach
• Leafy greens for salads
• Canned vegetables low in sodium (salt)
• Frozen vegetables without added butter or sauces
• Fresh fruits such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears, and peaches
• Canned fruit in 100% juice, not syrup
• Dried fruit
• Frozen berries without added sugar
• Milk and Milk Products
• Remember Cheese is rich in protein

Choose Whole Grains and other low glycemic foods

• 100% whole-wheat bread
• Whole-grain breakfast cereals like oatmeal
• Whole grains such as brown or wild rice, barley, and bulgur
• Whole-wheat or whole-grain pasta
• Meat, Beans, Eggs, and Nuts

Choose lean cuts of meat and other foods with protein.

• Seafood, including fish and shellfish
• Chicken and turkey breast without skin
• Pork: leg, shoulder, tenderloin
• Beef: round, sirloin, tenderloin, extra lean ground beef
• Beans, lentils, and peas
• Eggs and egg substitutes
• Nuts and seeds
• Fats and Oils

Cut back on saturated fat and look for products with no trans fats.

• Margarine and spreads (soft, tub, or liquid) with no trans fats
• Vegetable oil (canola, olive, peanut, or sesame oil)
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Light or fat-free salad dressing and mayonnaise

Go Whole Foods!

As they are feeding the animals unnatural foods such as feeding cattle large quanties of corn making them gain unhealthy metabolic weight, the saturated fat content of beef that is raised on corn has been shown to go up as much as 500 percent compared to beef from the natural grass fed cattle. They are feeding chickens, pigs, and many other animals large quantities of corn. In fact, they are teaching fish how to eat corn.

Whenever possible, get grass fed beef and other naturally raised animal meats, pastured eggs. 

Should you buy whole milk or reduced fat milk?

According to a leading weight loss physician, Dr Prab R. Tumpati, MD, founder of W8MD medical weight loss centers, America’s obsession with low fatty foods is a major factor in the raising obesity epidemic. It might come as a surprise to some but here are the reasons. While fatty foods make you gain weight, including fat from whole milk, the fat in these foods, if consumed in small quantities, helps absorb essential fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamin D. Unfortunately, 40 percent of the entire population in the US are deficient in vitamin D.

This is so despite the fact that they fortify everything under the SUN (except the SUN which is another source of Vitamin D) including orange juice with added vitamin D. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and reducing the fat content hinders the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins including that of vitamin D. Homogenization of milk also destroys the bigger fat globules so there will not be a skim on the carton but it also destroys the natural consistency and impedes the digestive quality of milk. Go Whole Milk When Ever Possible! Read more on this topic.

How can W8MD medical weight loss centers help?

If your goal is to lose weight, W8MD weight loss centers can help! Did you know that the new Affordable Care Act Passed in September, 2010 mandates all insurances, including Medicare, to provide full insurance coverage for obesity screening and treatment for all adults without copays or deductibles?

W8MD is one of the first obesity medicine program to work with all major insurances for this essential service and is available at WeightMD’s Pennsylvania, and New York City Offices With Our Physician Supervised and Insurance Covered Medical Weight Loss Program.

With extensive training and experience in Obesity Medicine, and extensive experience in dealing with the metabolic and nutritional aspects of health and weight gain, W8MD weight loss physicians are uniquely qualified in providing proper guidance on nutrition and wellness.

As we are one of the very programs to accept health insurance for the physician visits, you have nothing to lose! Trim Down Your Waist, Not Your Wallet! Think WeightMD (W8MD) for Weight loss!