Clean Eating Shopping List

Grocery Shopping is a crucial part of your health and fitness success! Nutrition is the key to getting into the best shape of your life, in addition to working out. But you can't outrun a bad diet - meaning you can't workout and eat fast food every day and expect to carve some six pack abs.

Before you head to the grocery store, remember the following 3 shopping rules:

1. Never shop on an empty stomach
2. Make a list and stick to it
3. Shop the perimeter as much as possible

Whole grains:

• 100% Whole wheat flour 
• 100% Whole-wheat or whole-grain bread
• 100% Whole-wheat pasta
• 100% Whole-wheat pitas or tortillas (the sprouted variety is also wonderful)
• Amaranth
• Barley
• Brown rice
• Buckwheat – hot cereal or flour
• Bulgur
• Quinoa (technically a seed, but treated as a grain)
• Rye
• Spelt
• Steel cut oatmeal
• Whole-grain breakfast cereal like millet or Whole Grain Buckwheat Cereal
• Wild rice

Canned/Jarred items:


• Canned beans with no added sugar and little to no added sodium
• Canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• Light coconut milk
• Marinara, no sugar added, low sodium
• Olives
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Tomato sauce
/paste, no sugar added and little to no added sodium
• Tuna packed in water
• Unsweetened fruit
• Vegetable or chicken stock/broth
, no sugar or dextrose added, and little to no added sodium 

Note that acidic products like tomatoes or pineapple are better purchased in glass jars whenever possible.

Dried fruits and nuts:

• Almonds
, pistachios
 and walnuts, to name just a few
• Dried cranberries, fruit juice sweetened
• Raisins
 and other dried fruits such as apricots
 with no added sugar

Condiments and spices:

• 
Balsamic vinegar
• Herbs and spices of all varieties (not the spice mixes like taco seasoning, just the pure herbs.)
• Mustard with no added sugar
• Naturally sweetened ketchup 
• Non-fat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream or mayo
• Safflower oil
, grape seed oil, walnut oil and extra virgin olive oil
• Unsweetened cocoa powder

Vegetables (fresh or frozen):

• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Avocados (technically a fruit)
• Beets
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage (all kinds)
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Garlic
• Green beans
• Greens such as spinach, chard, collard or kale
• Leeks
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Parsnips
• Radishes
• Rutabagas
• Shallots
• Squash of all kinds (such as butternut, spaghetti squash and sugar pie pumpkins)
• Sweet potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Turnips

Fruits (fresh or frozen with no added sugar):

• Apples
• Apricots
• Bananas
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherries
• Grapefruits
• Grapes
• Kiwi
• Lemons
• Mangoes
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Pineapple
• Plums
• Plutos
• Pomegranates
• Raspberries
• Star fruit
• Strawberries
• Watermelon

Lean Meats (buy organic when you can)

• Fish of all kinds
• Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• Whole chicken (more cost effective)
• Turkey
• Bison or venison (in place of beef)
• Eggs

Beans & Legumes (dry or canned)

• Adzuki beans
• Black beans
• Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• Kidney beans
• Lentils (all types)
• Navy beans
• Pinto beans
• Split peas
• White beans
• The bulk section

If your local health food store offers a bulk section, be sure to check it out. The items there are typically very healthy and you save money when you shop in bulk. 

My local "fancy" Kroger (Kroger Marketplace) has a great bulk section that comes close to what Whole Foods has to offer. 

Use this list as a starting point for your clean eating lifestyle!