Healthy shopping requires critical thinking.

It is important for every consumer to understand a basic premise about the food industry.

It is driven by economic interests, not health. And like most other industries, there are some major players (Coca Cola, Kraft, Nestle are a few familiar names) that are publicly traded and need to increase their profit margins every quarter. How do they do that? By selling us more food or by making it cheaper.

Supermarkets are designed down to the detail, based on multitudes of studies and years of research on what gets consumers to spend more money in their stores.

Then there are the government bodies, the medical industry and the associations who are supposed to be there to educate and protect the people. They are constantly lobbied to by the industry players who promise money and support to those who support them.

Bottom line is don’t trust the food industry who is marketing to you as your source of information for what is healthy. Be a critical thinker and a critical shopper.

If you want to explore more, check out nutritionist Marion Nestle’s site, www.foodpolitics.com

Also watch for my upcoming guide, Navigating the Grocery Store.