The easy-to-spot Eat Right with Rouses logo makes it easy to choose healthy.
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Imagine having your own personal dietitian with you when you shop. Our Rouses registered dietitian, April, has handpicked more than 500 grocery items that have lower sodium, saturated fat, healthier fats, more fiber and less sugar. Just look for the Eat Right logo on the shelf tag or package. We also offer an extensive selection of organic, natural, gluten-free, sugar-free, paleo and special diet groceries.
Eat Right with Rouses is not about giving up our local favorites like Gumbo, Jambalaya, or even boiled crawfish! It’s about making wise choices and keeping our cultural favorite food.
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EAT RIGHT FLAVOR FEST
Our health fairs are fun and educational and a great way to learn how healthy can taste good, too. Our fairs include healthy cooking demonstrations and free food and product samples. Most fairs also feature free health screenings from a local health facility. No registration required.
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I’m a Cajun girl through and through. I’m from Houma! As a dietitian, I’m not going to tell somebody they can’t have white rice. Just be mindful of your portions. – April, Rouses Registered Dietitian
Check Out April’s 5 Steps to Eat Right with Rouses
Step 1: Goal Setting
- Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve your cholesterol or blood pressure, set goals for long term and short term. When you are setting goals this way, you will have small increments of success to keep you motivated to get to your long term goal. It’s not how long it takes, it’s achieving something that you can maintain for your lifetime. Studies show that the most successful weight loss, is gradual weight loss. Changing habits that you have had for a long time will take time for you to get comfortable. It often takes time to develop a habit, so it will take time to form a new healthy habit. Before beginning any lifestyle changes, always check with your physician to be sure it is appropriate for you.
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Step 2: On Your Mark, Get Set, STOP and Make Your List
- Let’s get your list together. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or exciting, just jot it down, and do some planning ahead. That will help keep you focused on your goal. There are many temptations in the grocery store that will have you spontaneously grabbing the ice cream, cookies, and candy. Try to arrange your list in categories to prevent you from zig zagging around the store.
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Step 3: Slow and Steady – Choose Wisely
- When looking for canned goods, consider the sodium content. Look for no salt added. Some of the veggies that you may normally get in the canned goods aisle may also be located in the frozen foods section. Frozen veggies often have less sodium than canned.
- Condiments and seasonings are often a source of sodium. With these we are looking at milligrams per serving (often condiments and dressings are 1-2 tablespoons per serving). Look for items that have less than 150 mg per serving, especially if you are adding other ingredients that may contain sodium.
- Salad dressing often gets overlooked as a major source of calories. Look for dressings that are low in saturated fat, especially those that use olive oil and healthy oils as their base. Remember, you need to be aware of how much we are putting on our salad. If you put too much dressing, it can often turn into the amount of calories of a cheeseburger.
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Step 4: Look at the Label
- Wow, labels can be overwhelming at times with claims on the front and back of the package, nutrition facts label, and ingredient label. And the deciding factors on labels can vary from category to category – let’s face it, we are not looking for the same things on yogurt as we are for a canned good. So here are a few tips to help:
- Produce – Did you ever notice that fresh produce does not have a nutrition facts label? The USDA is looking to improve our intake of fruits and veggies through myplate.gov. The USDA recommends “5 a day.” What is 5 a day? 5 half cup servings of fruits and or veggies total per day. Of course, you should have a variety – vary the color, type of fruit or veggie, some starchy and some non-starchy vegetables.
- Meat – This is a tough one because fresh meat does not have a label either! You can look at the meat itself and the type of meat. For beef and pork, think about where you would find the leaner muscle – loin and round cuts are generally leaner cuts. For chicken, all of the fat is between the skin and the muscle, so remove the skin prior to cooking. Fish and shellfish are considered lean proteins, although salmon does contain unsaturated fat , it is high in omega fatty acids, which is great for heart health.
- Dairy products – look for less added sugar and less saturated fat in items such as yogurt and specialty milks.
- Non-perishable items – for these you want to look at saturated fat, sodium and fiber.
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Step 5: Swap for Success
- Learn how to swap less healthy foods for healthier options. Here are a few items that you can swap in your recipe to improve the health factors in the dish.
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Advice from April:
I’m often asked about popular diets. There’s a lot of buzz about the ketogenic diet, which is very low in carbohydrates and very high in fat. Remember, just because the ketogenic diet is popular, that doesn’t mean most people need to, or should, do it. It’s very important to talk to your doctor before you start any weight loss program. Here’s a list of keto items we sell in stores: