Foods to avoid at the supermarket
All five of these foods are high in added sugars or saturated fats. The kilojoules in discretionary foods are high, but they don’t provide many nutrients.
A lot of discretionary food and drink increases your risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. It is not possible to eat these foods while maintaining a healthy body weight unless you are extremely active.
Lollies
The most expensive and common diet-related problem is dental caries (holes in the teeth). Dental caries are increasing in prevalence not only in children but also in adults who rate their oral hygiene as fair or bad. You or your children who are addicted to lollies can avoid dental disease by giving up sweets.
Switch to sugar-free gum instead of lollies to save kilojoules. It will also help your teeth. Susan/Flickr, CC BY
More lollies and more frequent consumption of them increase the risk.
They’ll also make you fat. One hundred grams of jellybabies contain over 1,400 kilojoules and 50 grams of sugar. That’s about 10 teaspoons. To save kilojoules, and to protect your teeth, ditch the lolly bags and switch to sugar-free gum.
Drinks sweetened with sugar
Sweetened soft drinks include sports drinks, energy beverages, fruit juice drinks, cordials, and sweetened soda.
If you want to enjoy the fizz and taste of soft drinks, but without the calories, drink soda water. arbyreed/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND
Researchers found that drinking more than one cup of soft drink per month increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 29 percent compared to those who drank less. A US study found that drinking a can of soft drinks a day would contribute to six kilograms in weight gain within a year if it wasn’t offset by increased physical activity and reducing food intake.
You can now see that drinking sweetened drinks frequently increases your risk of weight gain.
If you prefer fizzy drinks without the calories, try diet sodas or soda water. Drink water instead. If you are not an elite athlete, you can get by with plain water during sports.
Crisps in all varieties
Crisps such as potato chips, Burger Rings and Twisties, as well corn chips are among the world’s most popular snacks. The bigger the bag is, the more chips we consume.
The developed world loves crisps. Alan/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA
Air-popped popcorn is a healthy, low-calorie alternative. Put the multi-bags of crisps on the shelf and grab a bag full of popcorn kernels to pop yourself.
Wholegrain popcorn is healthier, and cheaper. One cup of air popped popcorn contains 150 kilojoules compared to the 550 kilojoules found in a 25 gram packet of potato chips. The energy saved by this approximately 400 kilojoule reduction is equivalent to a walk of about 25 minutes.
Biscuits
The majority of biscuits are eaten with a hot cup of coffee or tea. The problem with biscuits is that they are more than just crunchy. They are high in kilojoules and unhealthy fats, as well as highly processed carbohydrates. They’re also low in whole grains and fibre.
Biscuits tend to be low in fibre, and are made with whole grains. Rob Faulkner/Flickr CC-BY
Consider this: two biscuits with cream filling contain about 860 kilojoules. To burn this amount of calories, you’d have to push your trolley for an hour.
Save kilojoules by eating more fruit. A cup of strawberries contains 150 kilojoules. A small bunch of grapes has 350 kilojoules. And a medium banana has 365 kilojoules.
Processed meat
Processed meat is meat preserved through smoking, curing or salting. It may also include meats that have been added preservatives such as nitrites, nitrates or phosphates. These include bacon, hams, salamis, corned meat, chorizos, devons, fritzs, sausages, hotdogs, cabanossi, and kabana.
There is not a level of intake that’s completely safe for these foods. You are more likely to develop bowel cancer if you consume more processed meats over your lifetime.
Smoking, curing, or salting processed meat preserves it. Alpha/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA
When you have no other choice, only use processed meat. When possible, add tomatoes and mushrooms to your breakfast, and replace the bacon with an egg, baked beans, and mixed vegetables.
Buy a package of fresh chicken breast to use in sandwiches. You can also buy cheese with reduced fat, tuna, salmon, or small cans.
Replace chopped bacon in a recipe with browned diced onion and garlic mixed with two tablespoons of sunflower, pumpkin, or pine nuts.
By avoiding the five foods I’ve discussed and substituting them with my suggestions, you can live a healthy, long life. These foods should never be in your shopping cart as opposed to the five foods which you should always have with you when filling the trolley.
