More healthy shopping tips

• Read food labels. The nutrition label printed on food packages provide nutrition facts -- from the amount of calories, fiber, total fat to the food's ingredients -- which enable you to compare foods and make a healthier decision.
• Buy lean cuts of meat. For leaner meat, look for the words "round" or "loin" for beef and "loin" or "leg" for pork. Opt for skinless poultry or remove the skin before cooking.
• Choose whole-wheat over white bread. White bread has too little fiber and too few nutrients for the calories. Instead, look for 100 percent whole-wheat breads, with whole-wheat flour listed as the first ingredient on the label, and 2 grams of fiber per ounce.
• Buy 100% fruit juices instead of fruit drinks or fruit punch which have extra sugar added for flavoring and no additional vitamins or minerals.
• Look for nonfat or low-fat and low-sodium varieties of snack foods.
• Limit the amount of baked desserts and crackers. Many of these are made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil -- a source of trans fat.
• Watch out for the amount of sodium in frozen dinners, canned foods, and prepackaged foods. Some of these are very high in sodium, and can contain well over 1,000mg per serving. As a guide, aim for less than 400mg of sodium per serving in canned foods, and less than 700mg of sodium per serving in frozen dinners.