Grocery Shopping Tip- Full vs Hungry

Healthy Grocery Shopping Tip-

SHOP AFTER YOU'VE EATEN!

If you shop when you're hungry, your body will want to eat EVERYTHING in sight and you will end up buying twice the foods that you would have bought if you were full.

Save money, save time, save space in your shopping cart :)

Shop Full.

Xox Brittany,

The Fitspirational Blonde.

10 Grocery Shopping Tips!

Good morning Lovelies!

It's a bright and beautiful Sunday morning and I like to get my grocery shopping for the week done on Sundays after Church! That way, when Monday comes my fridge is nice and stalked up and I'm ready for my healthy week :)

I decided to share my wonderful "grocery shopping tip list" with you, because it's easy to walk in the grocery store and feel like you're lost and have just entered a grocery Wonderland labyrinth.




Brittany's Grocery Shopping Tips:

1. Always go with a list!
2. Shop the perimeter! This typically contains the produce, dairy, meat, deli, and frozen section.
3. Inside the “perimeter” you are more likely to stray: the candy aisle, the juice/drinks aisle, and the snacks aisle are all bad places to buy the majority of your groceries
4. Look for what is on sale & stock up if it’s non-perishable. This will SAVE YOU MONEY!
5. When choosing packaged produce, look at the “Use by” date and choose the longest. Fresher items tend to get put in the back of shelves so customers buy the oldest items first. For example, when I'm buying milk, I always take the milk in the back because it has the newest expiration date.
6. Check all fruits & veggies for bruises, scratches, & mold. Yuck!
7. If you buy in bulk or have a big family, buy frozen petite peas, berries (for smoothies or baking), and bell peppers. They’re always cheaper & there isn’t much difference. I personally like to have fresh fruit in the house at all times, but when I'm a bit busy and haven't had time to the grocery store, I always have those frozen fruits and veggies to fall back on :)
8. Try to not over-buy, know how long each fruit/veggie will last & don’t waste it! Every time one of my avocado's goes bad, I feel like a pet died and I didn't have time to say goodbye (As you can tell, I'm very passionate about my avocados.)
9. Because produce goes off so quickly I try my best to go grocery shopping 1-2 times a week. This is usually what it takes to maintain a healthy lifestyle!
10. Shop at stores that are known for healthy living! My favorite's are Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Fresh and Easy, and as I said before your local Farmers Market.

Now it's up to you, these will REALLY help you if you actually APPLY them next time you're at the store!

To see my personal Grocery List, click here

Xox Brittany,

The Fitspirational Blonde

Eight Ingredients You Never Want to See on Your Nutrition Label.

These are REALLY good reasons to eat CLEAN!


This may seem like a lot to read, however it is ridiculously important to understand the dangerous ingredients that are in the foods you're eating so that you can do your best to avoid them.

Read it, memorize it or make it your computer back round for a few days. 

Next time you're shopping around at the grocery store, check out the ingredients on the back of your foods!I bet you'll be surprised. 

1. BHA
This preservative is used to prevent rancidity in foods that contain oils. Unfortunately, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) has been shown to cause cancer in rats, mice, and hamsters. The reason the FDA hasn’t banned it is largely technical—the cancers all occurred in the rodents’ forestomachs, an organ that humans don’t have. Nevertheless, the study, published in the Japanese Journal of Cancer Research, concluded that BHA was “reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen,” and as far as I’m concerned, that’s reason enough to eliminate it from your diet.

2. Parabens
These synthetic preservatives are used to inhibit mold and yeast in food. The problem is parabens may also disrupt your body’s hormonal balance. A study in Food Chemical Toxicology found that daily ingestion decreased sperm and testosterone production in rats, and parabens have been found present in breast cancer tissues.

3. Partially Hydrogenated Oil
I’ve harped on this before, but it bears repeating: Don’t confuse “0 g trans fat” with being trans fat-free. The FDA allows products to claim zero grams of trans fat as long as they have less than half a gram per serving. That means they can have 0.49 grams per serving and still be labeled a no-trans-fat food. Considering that two grams is the absolute most you ought to consume in a day, those fractions can quickly add up. The telltale sign that your snack is soiled with the stuff? Look for partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredient statement. If it’s anywhere on there, then you’re ingesting artery-clogging trans fat.

4. Sodium Nitrite
Nitrites and nitrates are used to inhibit botulism-causing bacteria and to maintain processed meats’ pink hues, which is why the FDA allows their use. Unfortunately, once ingested, nitrite can fuse with amino acids (of which meat is a prime source) to form nitrosamines, powerful carcinogenic compounds. Ascorbic and erythorbic acids—essentially vitamin C—have been shown to decrease the risk, and most manufacturers now add one or both to their products, which has helped. Still, the best way to reduce risk is to limit your intake.

5. Caramel Coloring
This additive wouldn’t be dangerous if you made it the old-fashioned way—with water and sugar, on top of a stove. But the food industry follows a different recipe: They treat sugar with ammonia, which can produce some nasty carcinogens. How carcinogenic are these compounds? A Center for Science in the Public Interest report asserted that the high levels of caramel color found in soda account for roughly 15,000 cancers in the U.S. annually. Another good reason to scrap soft drinks? They’re among The 20 Worst Drinks in America.

6. Castoreum
Castoreum is one of the many nebulous “natural ingredients” used to flavor food. Though it isn’t harmful, it is unsettling. Castoreum is a substance made from beavers’ castor sacs, or anal scent glands. These glands produce potent secretions that help the animals mark their territory in the wild. In the food industry, however, 1,000 pounds of the unsavory ingredient are used annually to imbue foods—usually vanilla or raspberry flavored—with a distinctive, musky flavor.

7. Food Dyes
Plenty of fruit-flavored candies and sugary cereals don’t contain a single gram of produce, but instead rely on artificial dyes and flavorings to suggest a relationship with nature. Not only do these dyes allow manufacturers to mask the drab colors of heavily processed foods, but certain hues have been linked to more serious ailments. A Journal of Pediatrics study linked Yellow 5 to hyperactivity in children, Canadian researchers found Yellow 6 and Red 40 to be contaminated with known carcinogens, and Red 3 is known to cause tumors. The bottom line? Avoid artificial dyes as much as possible.

8. Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, used as a flavor enhancer, is plant protein that has been chemically broken down into amino acids. One of these acids, glutamic acid, can release free glutamate. When this glutamate joins with free sodium in your body, they form monosodium glutamate (MSG), an additive known to cause adverse reactions—headaches, nausea, and weakness, among others—in sensitive individuals. When MSG is added to products directly, the FDA requires manufacturers to disclose its inclusion on the ingredient statement. But when it occurs as a byproduct of hydrolyzed protein, the FDA allows it to go unrecognized.

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

Your abs are made IN THE KITCHEN.

My mini trip to the grocery store today!!

I want to make a lesson about this in the nicest way possible...

FIRST take a good look at my section on the checkout stand. See all that green? It's what keeps my body healthy and energized throughout the day.

ABS and toned bodies are made 75% in the kitchen and 25% in the gym.

I had a question this morning in my inbox, from one of my followers who said she'd been "working out at the gym excessively and was showing very little results."

So when I asked her about the foods that she was eating, her answer was completely predictable.

She said:

1. she brings Sprite to the gym instead of water
2. has sugary TRIX cereal for breakfast everyday with a Capri sun
3. skips lunch completely and then feasts at dinner on whatever she can find in her pantry(ranging from fettuccine pasta to greasy frozen chicken nuggets.)

Bam, problem solved.

This is a question that I see floating around the health world very often. People think they can just go to the gym and then eat what ever they want and somehow magically the perfect body will just appear...

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

If you are having trouble earning that dream body of yours, work a bit harder at perfecting what you put in it.

Sidenote: guys I'm not telling you to not eat sweets ever again! Eat them in moderation. As you can see I bought a bottle of french vanilla creamer for my coffee when I drink it, but I only put about a tablespoon in, not fill it 1/2 with sugary creamer. You get the gist.

So next time you go to the grocery store try this out, only put foods in your shopping cart that you would't be embarrassed to put on a health blog!!

Join me, and make your body in the kitchen :)

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

Messy Buns, Tissues and Sweatpants....

Yes... it's happened.... I'M SICK!!!


*As I sneeze and accidentally knock over my water bottle*

Despite ALL my efforts to eat healthy, take vitamins, exercise daily, and avoid EVERYONE who is sick (or even thinks about coughing in my direction)... I still caught something!!! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?!

Maybe I have a weak immune system.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone dancing around in the rain this weekend pretending I was Gene Kelly in the movie "Singing in the Rain".

Or maybe this is bad Karma for taking up one two three parking spaces yesterday at Starbucks...

Well what ever the reason is; the "Flu God's" have officially found me hiding in my large luxurious closet, and have smacked me upside the head with a sore throat and fever.

5 boxes of tissues, 4 glasses of water, 3 trips to the grocery store (for Gatorade and more tissues), 2 angry/congested nostrils and 1 BIG FAT HAIRY MESSY BUN on the top of my little blonde head.
(sorry there will be no partridge in a pear tree in this post; he got to close to my window, caught my cold and flew away)


Not to be dramatic but.... I'M MISERABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF I HAVE TO EAT ONE MORE CUP OF SOUP, I'M GOING TO THROW SOMETHING OUT THE WINDOW!

Elle Woods can make anything better

Anyway, instead of doing what I usually do when I get sick (lounging around being grumpy watching legally blonde over and over while consuming ridiculously large quantities of chocolate) (while subconsciously  thinking about all the things I should be doing instead of lounging around being grumpy watching legally blonde over and over while consuming ridiculously large quantities of chocolate) This time I decided to push the tissues aside, and do some research on how to get better as fast as possible!!

So after 2 hours of messing around in other peoples blogs, and ripping Google to shreds, this is what I've found the most helpful.

REMEMBER THESE TIPS NEXT TIME YOU GET SICK!

In this midst of my research I got a kick out of stumbling upon a website that was literally called "www.howtogetridofacoldfast.org" No subtlety there, I love it!

This website had TONS of great tips on getting better fast, which was exactly what I was looking for!

1.) Drink TONS of water!!!! When your body is sick, it gets dehydrated really easily. Think about it like you're using the water to flush out all the gross sick germs inside of you. Better in then out right?!!
Side Note: Make sure you're going to be near a bathroom for a few hours when you do this one... you wouldn't want your body to miraculously turn into Niagara Falls when you're at the grocery store and can't find anyone with a key to the bathroom. It would be embarrassing to be the reason for the "Clean up on isle six!!" << Best to try and avoid that from happening.

2.) Eat Right! "When you are already afflicted with cold, it is imperative that you maintain a diet which is most easy on your system. This would include foods such as greens, salads and so on, and therefore, would NOT include foods which are way too oily or greasy. Remember that the more food you consume which is fatty and greasy, the more your body will have to work on digesting the same, taking away precious resources which have otherwise been working very hard on fending off the cold that you are already suffering from."  Eat like you're trying to fit into your wedding gown for next month that is just a little to small for you! Don't eat less, eat SMART! Also, Salads are known for cleansing your system, I'd stock up on some lovely greens :) Also maximize your intake of soups! If you're a vegetarian like me, get creative with your soups try vegetable soup there are TONS of alternatives out there for you.

Garlic is also known for helping get rid of colds! Italian anyone?! Yes please!

3.) Sleep a LOT! Pretend your a bear, hibernate! When you leep your body gets a chance to focus on healing itself. The more you sleep, the quicker you heal and the faster you're ready to get back to your "flu free" life.

4.) Zinc- One of the best things you can take to get rid of your cold quick; it has special anti-cold properties. Use it for a few days, it comes in tablets, nasal sprays (I don't recommend that one) as well as in liquid form. One time at my Grandmas house when I was younger, my grandma made my friend and I stick zinc nasal swabbs up our noses... it actually helped in the long run but I promised myself I'd NEVER do that again, being sick was better than sticking a swab up my nose! EW

5.) Tea- Chamomile tea is a pretty great tea to try out, it's a superlative agent for fighting off colds especially if you're already sick.

Ok guys that's it for today, i'm off to Whole Foods Market to grab some Zinc (BUT NOT THE NOSE SWABS) Tea and healthy foods :)

Hope everyone is staying healthy out there!

Xox Brittany