It's spring, and that means spring cleaning! I talked to Jennifer Gorman, Wellness Manager for the United Family of Stores, who stressed the importance of also spring cleaning your pantry.

I took Jennifer's challenge and proceeded to weed out foods on her list of "gotta gos," such as foods with trans-fats (AKA partially hydrogenated oils). Recent studies show that women who had a diet high in trans-fats were 50 percent more likely to have heart attacks and heart disease. Other studies link trans-fats to diabetes.

She also advises to toss out the extra sugar. So many of our foods and drinks contain high levels of sugar, especially if they are low in fat. In that case, food makers often substitute more sugar as flavor and a preservative. If sugar is within the top 5 ingredients on a label, toss it out, says Gorman.

Gorman also recommends throwing out anything with more than 500mg of sodium per serving. Not only will this benefit your heart health and decrease your blood pressure, it will also take a lot of unnecessary bloating out of your body.

Restock your pantry with canned fruits and veggies that are "no salt added' and are packaged in their own juices.

Replace the sugary, salty snacks with almonds, walnuts, olive oil, healthy peanut butter and other nut butters. Make sure the only ingredients in the nut butters are the nuts themselves; no added sugar or salt. Natural popcorn, whole grains like quinoa and brown rice and tea are excellent substitutions.

And lastly, check your spices! They have a shelf life. Check the "best by" date on the neck of the spice bottle. Ground spices are good for 2 to 3 years. Whole spices stay good 3 to 4 years; seasoning blends have a shelf life of only 1 to 2 years; dried herbs last 1 to 3 years; and extracts are OK for 4 years -- except pure vanilla extract, which lasts indefinitely.

Check out the video and you will see that if I can Spring Clean my pantry, which was a nightmare, then you can, too.


About the Sponsor

Untied Supermarket
Untied Supermarket
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The United Supermarket Family is making healthy shopping easier by helping you build a better basket. Find out more at United Supermarkets’ official website.


 

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