Where and what we shop for plays a key role in lowering your cholesterol.  Many times, neighborhood grocery stores do not have the food you need to prepare a balanced and healthy diet.  Since it’s there for convenience, you run the risk of purchasing items that are high in fat.

One of the best places to shop to ensure a better quality is a farmer’s market.  Some are indoors and other are outdoors.  Either way, you will find fresh and cholesterol-friendly foods with a variety of choices.  

Several benefits to shopping at farmer’s markets are:

• Healthier choices in foods
• Don’t find fast foods or convenience items filled with fats
• Friendly to the environment
• Lower prices
• Farmers benefit from you shopping there
• The food is fresh daily

Another place to shop for cholesterol-friendly food is farms.  Organic farms and other type of farms offer fresh foods that are in season.  The prices are reasonable, and believe it or not, you can actually get a workout by walking around.

Health food stores offer low-fat and vegan items. Health food stores also supply herbs, dried peas and lentils.  The benefit of health food stores is they offer items that you cannot readily find at a grocery store.  These items are cholesterol-friendly and essential for a healthy heart.

Even though grocery stores offer healthy foods, they also offer foods that are high in fat as well.  If you have to shop at a grocery store, make sure to select items that are cholesterol-friendly and heart healthy.

Don’t shop on an empty stomach.  You will be tempted to purchase items that you don’t need because you’re hungry.  Try shopping when the store is not crowded.  The beginning of the morning is one of the better times to shop.  During the week, most people are at work.  You wouldn’t be rushed to make hasty choices that you’ll regret later. 

Make a list of the items you need.  Plan your weekly meal menu.  Train yourself to buy only what’s on your list and nothing else.  Purchase food items that will make complete meals.   

Related posts:

1. Stop With The Fast Food For Lower Cholesterol

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Cholesterol Reducing Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.