Eating out less frequently and having more meals at home is a good way to make your diet more healthy. Restaurant and take-out meals tend to be high in calories due to large portion sizes and high fat and sugar content. With a little effort, preparing meals at home allows you to include healthier foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and limit processed foods with added fats and sugars.
Of course, this assumes that you are purchasing healthy foods when you shop. But are you? This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week. In it, I cite a report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service which offers some insight into what the average American buys at the market. The following figures tell pretty much the whole story:
What we are buying (but shouldn’t):
You can access the full USDA report here: Assessing the Healthfulness of Consumers’ Grocery Purchases
You can learn more about what we should be eating and tips for making healthy choices in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Dr Parr Says... 