We want to eat healthfully. We try to eat healthfully. Unfortunately, most of us fail to eat healthy for any significant period of time. Why is eating healthy so elusive for most people?
Simple: people lack a resource for "basic nutritional-truth" and clarity in food shopping!
Since I'm passionate about helping folks find a positive fitness end, and do to space restriction – I'll only cover 7 essential shopping tips," then cover supportive eating in a future article.

1) Spend most of your time on the perimeter of the store.
Most of the food you should be buying is on the outside, around the aisles. Of course there will be some foods you need to pick up in the aisles but most of your food is on the outside. For instance, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and low fat dairy are all on the perimeter.

2) Check all labels.
Labels can be misleading. You are going to have to be a detective and check calories, calories from fat, and serving size to name a few.

3) Plan your list.
Don't fail to plan. If you don't have a list with you, you might be more tempted to buy unhealthy foods. If they are not on your list you won't even think of them (hopefully). What I do is write out all my meals for the week. I then see what foods I need for the meals and buy accordingly.

4) Hit the store at least once per week.
If you are not grocery shopping at least once per week and perhaps more, you are not eating optimally. Of course some foods will last but many healthy foods that you should be eating will go bad so you have to consume them and then buy more.

5) Get in–Get out.
When i go shopping, I have my list, i put what's on the cart, and i check out. That's all i have time for. If I hang around too often I'll purchase things I may later regret.

6) Ease up on the drinks that have calories.
Most of your drinks should be calorie free such as water and green tee. Of course you can and should treat yourself in moderation. I have a "cheat day" every Sunday afternoon!

7) Buy only vegetable-base pasta.
Pasta is a source of carbohydrate, and it has been a favorite pre-event carb loading food for marathon runners, but it's refined which makes it more likely to convert to triglycerides and be stored as fat. In some lean or in the body of an endurance athlete, the carb calories will likely used for energy needs, so there is room for pasta, but if leanness is a primary goal, you'd do better using potatoes, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc as your starchy sources.

The more a food resembles its natural state (we don't grow pasta) the more nutritionally valuable it's going to be. Corn, peas and tomatoes are also very good starchy carb sources when integrated into supportive meals. With that said, If you can find a good natural market you can buy spinach pasta, tomato pastas, or whole wheat pastas. These are not ideal, but are more nutritionally valuable than the white super market pastas.