Weight loss meal Planner and grocery list

Stocking up on lowfat, high-fiber healthy foods is key to any weight loss plans.

When nutrient-rich food is easily accessible, you're likely to actually use what's on hand to create meals, and to nosh on healthy foods too. To wit: If you don't keep Doritos in your cupboard, you'll probably reach for the whole-grain crackers and reduced-fat peanut butter instead.

Grab a cart. Here's how to load your cabinets, refrigerator and freezer with the best choices your grocery store has to offer. After you return home to unload, you'll be just one step away from weight loss and good health.

Healthy grocery list for a week’s worth of groceries

Listed under each food group you'll find: "Why" you need to buy (and eat) these foods and your "Best Picks, " a grocery list for the healthy foods (including the brand names to look for) you'll need for your weight loss plans.

Grocery shopping for a healthy, more plant-based diet is often less expensive than loading up on traditional American staples like red meat, butter, cheese, high-sugar cereals and snacks. One simple dinner consisting of a 3-ounce sirloin steak, a baked potato and 1 cup of broccoli costs approximately $7.66. The cost of the first dinner in our meal plan on page 162 (Kasha and Pasta With Lemon Pesto served with a spinach and tomato salad) is a much more frugal $3.89 per serving.

Aisle for healthy whole grains: breads, cereals and grains

Why When you opt for healthy whole grains over refined products (such as white rice and white flour), you get more:

fiber
folic acid
magnesium
vitamins E and B6
copper
zinc
dozens of phytochemicals

These all help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Become an avid label-reader to make sure you're getting healthy whole grains (just because bread is brown doesn't make it whole grain). The product is whole grain if the first ingredient is whole grain, whole wheat or rye (plain wheat flour is not whole grain). Opt for breads with 2 or more grams of fiber per slice (most slices range from 70-90 calories).

[header = Healthy grocery list: purchase these healthy whole grains, produce and more.]

Best picks of healthy foods: breakfast cereals

1 box Kellogg's All-Bran

1 box General Mills Total

1 container Quaker Oats (original or quick-cooking)

Best picks of healthy whole grains

1 box quick-cooking brown rice

1 box buckwheat groats (kasha)

1 box quinoa

1 pack corn tortillas

1 pack whole-wheat tortillas

1 box reduced-fat Triscuits

1 box whole-wheat pasta spirals (or any pasta shape)

Best picks of healthy foods: bread

1 loaf Pepperidge Farm Natural Whole-Grain

Healthy grocery list for the produce section

Why There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables, all of which help prevent cancer, heart disease, macular degeneration (age-related blindness), neural-tube birth defects, diabetes and obesity. Research has shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help manage your weight.