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VIV Advisory Board member Melina Jampolis, M.D., a board-certified internist and physician nutrition specialist, gave us a sneak peak at her personal smart-supermarket-shopping list featured in her book The No-Time-to-Lose Diet: The Busy Person’s Guide to Permanent Weight Loss (Thomas Nelson, 2007).

Heed Jampolis’s expert advice and you’re bound to drop a few extra pounds by adding the following healthy staples to your grocery cart.

• Eggs
• Fresh and frozen fruit
• Pre-cut vegetables and tasty lowfat dips such as hummus
• Lean protein (lowfat deli slices, canned chicken or tuna, cooked or frozen chicken and turkey breasts, frozen fish and shrimp)
• Low-sugar, lowfat yogurt (for breakfast, snacks, dessert)
• Lowfat cottage cheese (for breakfast or snacks)
• High-fiber cereal (aim for a minimum of 5 grams of fiber per serving)
• Frozen vegetables — get a variety of several bags for easy dinners
• Pre-made sauces (for quick and tasty vegetable or lean-protein toppings)
• Low-carbohydrate tortillas (“These are incredible,” says Jampolis. “You can wrap almost anything in them and they taste great!”)
• Dijon mustard (for a quick dip or dressing)
• Oil (olive, canola) and balsamic vinegar
• Nuts (choose tree nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts and walnuts, which contain mostly unsaturated fat)
• Canned beans (for quick and easy salads and toppings)
• Salsa (“It’s great for easy recipes, healthy toppings, and quick, full-flavored salad dressings,” says Jampolis.)
• Cooking spray (“Use this to coat your pan for lower-fat stir fries, omelets and more,” recommends Jampolis.)
• lowfat, low-calorie salad dressing (“It’s better tasting than fat-free and research shows that a little fat may help increase nutrient absorption in vegetables,” says Jampolis.
• Reduced-salt chicken broth (for quick soups or sautés)
• Reduced-salt soy sauce (for sautés or dressings)