[printfriendly]The biggest hurdle for me when I started eating clean and low carb, was figuring out the parameters within which I had to shop. Changing the way you eat is never an easy thing, but it becomes much easier when you have a well planned shopping list. Because lets face it, it’s tough to eat something that isn’t in the fridge already.
So I put together a comprehensive list of what I buy at the store each week or each month. To save money, you can always shop Costco or clip coupons. But in general, I find that eating this way actually saves me money. Particularly if I pay attention to sales and such.
Proteins
Please know that in selecting any type of meats or proteins in general, you should always look for quality. If you can’t afford the best, buy the best you can afford. But always buy the best you can because our general meat supply in this country, including seafood, is pretty appalling.
That being said, if you can’t afford anything more than the cheapest of meats, you are still doing okay and can still totally follow this way of eating. No judgements here. I’m just trying to impress the fact that you not only want to start paying attention to the types of foods you eat, but their quality as well in order to give your health a boost in the right direction.
Fats
There are good fats and bad fats, as we should all know by now, and since most low carb eating plans include eating a higher percentage of fats, make sure they are the best quality fats you can afford. Your heart health depends on it! Fortunately, good quality fats don’t have to break the bank.
You will also want to consider how you cook and prepare meals. If you eat salads regularly (which we all should), make sure you have some good olive oil for those salads.
If you tend to fry a lot or use your skillet a lot, opt for oils like coconut oil. Any oil that has a high “smoke point” and is a healthy oil is what you want to opt for for cooking.
An excellent resource for learning more about healthy oils: Click
Carbohydrates
This will be the smallest part of your shopping list. Please know that carbs still have their place in a low carb diet. they are actually pretty important for several reasons. I know there are a few “zero carb” bloggers out there, and if that’s what works for them, great! But for most people, carbs will remain an important part of a balanced diet. Just not in the quantities that the general American public is used to consuming them in.
Low Carb Shopping List
I made it downloadable so you can easily save it to your computer and print whenever you need it. And if you lose it or have an issue with the download itself, feel free to click the link here to download again. You have access to this list, for free, always, cause I love ya. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your list! One point I wanted to address is using olive oil to cook with, it’s perfectly safe. Here’s just one article addressing this point if you’d like to check it out:
http://chriskresser.com/is-it-safe-to-cook-with-olive-oil/
Diane – Thanks! 🙂