Healthy Diet Tips: Transforming the Pantry

As I change my diet from unhealthy (as is the diet of most people) to healthy, I find I have had to make some hard choices, and some not so hard choices. At this very moment, I am sure millions of Americans are trying to do the same. Often the biggest barrier to shopping healthy is the cost. As a card-carrying tightwad, I am offering to you some of the tips I have discovered to transform my pantry from unhealthy to healthy.

1. Look for sales whole grain healthy food products. To replace my white rice and spaghetti, I paid special attention when shopping lately. Whenever I saw a whole grain item marked down or on sale, I purchased it. The prices in many cases were actually cheaper than the refined version of the same food. (be careful not to buy more brown rice than will last 1 month as it more perishable) Your bread should be whole grain and heavy. 

2. Do not purchase unhealthy pre-made pasta sauce. It is full of sugar and fillers. Instead, at the local grocery warehouse, I purchased a case of each of the following: Tomato Paste, Tomato sauce, and stewed tomatoes. When cooked together for several hours or overnight in a crock-pot, this sauce (with your added seasonings) is more delicious and much healthier than pre-prepared sauce. 

3. Replace your white flour with nutritious whole grain flour. It cooks very much the same. If you normally use self-rising flour, you will have to learn how to add baking powder and baking soda instead. 

4. Replace refined, bleached white sugar with the following healthy items: raw honey, Stevia, raisins, which you can add to cooked food to sweeten it, molasses, and a small amount of raw, natural sugars, also called turbinado.