Processed foods are often among the products withlowest prices in American supermarkets. But processed foods often havehigh levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat. Too much of those ingredientscan cause obesity -- meaning the person gains too much body fat. Peoplecan also become sick with disease if they eat a lot of processed foods withhigh levels of salt, sugar and fat.

Many poor families buy processed foods because they seem to cost less thanfresh vegetables, fruits and whole wheat products.

But a national group is showing families that they can buy healthy foods forabout the same amount of money as manufactured foods. The group, calledShare Our Strength, was set up to fight hunger and poverty in the UnitedStates and worldwide. It offers a number of free programs to help Americansliving on a budget eat a much better, healthier diet.

“How many of us like to look at sales when we shop? I want you to ignore thesales…”

Nutrition educator Lindsey Seegers is leading this tour at a store in SilverSpring, Maryland. She says people should make meal plans before they go to a store because it helps them eat healthier meals. She warns that if no plansare made, you might buy something that is not as healthy.

“...but there is the pizza, there is the ice cream on sale. A lot of times, thosesales are sometimes going to be driving us to buy things that were (not) onour list, were not on our budget and, most important from my perspective, not the healthiest things. Absolutely, right?”

Lindsey Seegers says the people she teaches at the store do not have a lot ofmoney so they need to spend it wisely.

“So how to come to the store with $10 and be able to get food for more than aday, for more than two days, especially when you have a family?”

The grocery store tour is offered several times a week. The class is part ofCooking Matters, which is a program of Share Our Strength. It begins in thefresh fruit and vegetable area of the store. People learn to compare prices andhow to find the best value. And they learn that frozen fruits and vegetables canbe a good choice. Many people believe that frozen foods do not have as manyvitamins as fresh foods, but that is not always true.

“Why? Why do we want whole grains?”

“Fiber?”

“Fiber. Absolutely! Anything else?”

Lindsey Seegers is telling her students about the benefits of whole wheatfoods. She then shows them how to find and carefully read information onfood packages. The boxes or bags often tell about the product inside,including how much salt, sugar and fat they have. She says people shouldavoid foods with high amounts of those ingredients. She says it is important toread the nutrition information.

“People are very confused looking at the front of the label. Something thatmight say ‘multigrain’ or ‘contains whole grain’ is, in fact, an item that’sprimarily white flour. For someone who is diabetic, that difference makes ahuge difference to their health. And this tour really allows people to look, turnthe package over, to look at the ingredients, and see what’s crucial and what’s really in the food and how it impacts their health.”

Tia Taylor says she is happy she signed up for the program.

“This is a free program that’s offered that can help you live better, somethingthat will have a long-term benefit. One of the main things I learned was theunit price, like really paying attention to the unit price on a sticker. So that was really reinforced today and also frozen foods. I use a lot of frozen foods.So I was glad to hear Lindsey talk about that and the nutritional value in thefrozen foods.”

Tina Pawlik said the information she learned helped her change the way sheeats.

“I was eating a lot of pasta, but I found that you don’t have to eat pasta to saveon a budget. I was eating pasta because it was cheap. I thought it wasimpossible to get healthy food on a small budget.”

But after learning about how to shop more effectively, she and others learnedthat it is possible if they make better choices at the grocery store.

I’m George Grow.

VOA’s Faiza Elmasry reported this story from Silver Spring, Maryland.Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

ingredient– n. one of the things that are used to make a food or product

grocery – n. food

tour – n. a trip or visit

perspective – n. a way of thinking about and understanding something

benefit – n. a good or helpful result or effect

label– n. a piece of paper that identifies and describes a product

primarily – adv. mainly

diabetic – adj. relating to or affected with diabetes

crucial– adj. extremely important

impact– v. to have an effect on (something or someone)

unit price – n. identification and labeling of items for sale with the cost perunit,

pasta– n. a food made from a mixture of flour, water and sometimes eggs

cheap – adj. not costing a lot of money; low-cost