GOOD nutrition starts with smart choices in the grocery store. Cooking up healthy meals is a challenge if you don’t have the right ingredients in your kitchen.
However, many of us find visiting the supermarket a daunting task. How do we figure out which items are the most nutritious and the best buys? It doesn’t help that many of the least healthy foods – those which are high in sugars and processed carbohydrates are usually also those with the most enticing promotions.
So how do we avoid being misled by heavy advertising of unhealthy foods and the promotion of profit-driven diseases, and when shopping in the supermarket, are able to make the right choices for ourselves, our families and our children?
- Plan your shopping list
It is good to plan ahead the food you would like to eat prior to grocery shopping. This helps to save time and allows to limit your spending behaviour. Remember to include a combination of healthy protein and lots of fruits and vegetables in your list. Balance and moderation are the key.
- Pick Healthier Choice Products
A lot of healthier choice products are being sold in most supermarkets. All you need to do is pick and buy! You can easily identify such products by looking at the healthier choice logo attached on the front packaging. There are a few supermarkets that have been collaborating with the Ministry of Health in promoting healthier choice products in the market. This has empowered supermarkets to facilitate in environmental change, making healthier choice as an easy choice.
- Look for Healthier Choice Shelves
Some supermarkets in Brunei have set up healthier choice shelves where selected healthier choice products are displayed and sold separately to ease customers. Dividers are placed on the sides of the shelves that labelled ‘Shop Healthier, Live Healthier’ and ‘Beli Sihat, Hidup Sihat’. Stickers are placed on the floor of the supermarket that directed customers to the healthier choice shelves. Try to find these shelves when you go shopping.
- Search for Point-of-Decision Prompts
Apart from having healthier choice shelves, Point-of-Decision Prompts (PODP) are always being displayed. These are labels with key messages and reminders for the customers to make healthier food choices. The PODPs are strategically placed near the products.
- Avoid temptation
Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, where fresh foods like fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and fish are usually located. Avoid the centre aisles where junk foods lurk. Choose “real” foods, such as whole-grain items with as little processing and as few additives as possible. Stay clear of foods with cartoons on the label that are targeted to children. If you don’t want your kids eating junk foods, don’t have them in the house. Finally, don’t buy lots of fruit juice. It doesn’t provide the fibre whole fruit does and it’s not as good at satisfying hunger. Encourage drinking water in the home instead. Between the trendy buzzwords on packaging, the tempting low prices on processed food and the limited amount of time you’d like to spend reading nutrition labels, even the most knowledgable shoppers can end up making mistakes in his or her cart.
With a few tried and true tricks up your sleeve, we firmly believe it’s not all that tough to make smarter decisions at the store.
Try these tips the next time you go shopping! – (Ministry of Health)
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