If you’re looking to experience fat-loss results, or simply want to boost your overall health, one of the best decisions you can make is to only keep healthy foods in the house. If you keep unhealthy snacks and convenience meals on hand, the chances you’ll consume them are far greater.
Use smart grocery shopping strategies to help you resist temptation. Learning how to shop for your health in the grocery store is the first step to succeeding with your diet plan; yet, most people feel lost when making the switch in their grocery routine and fall back into well-worn patterns of buying potato chips and cookies.
Follow these tips as you wander the grocery store to shop with health in mind.
The Details:
• Shop the edges of the store. Always try and stick to the perimeter of the grocery store as much as possible. This is where you’ll find all the fresh produce, low-fat dairy, and lean meats.
• Avoid the bakery section. The only area you want to dodge on the outskirts is the bakery section. Bakery food is full of empty calories from white flour, butter, hydrogenated oils, and sugar.
• Don’t go near the processed foods. Aisles with unhealthy snacks, sodas, and packaged convenience meals like ramen and high-sodium canned goods are kept in the middle. These are the main foods you do not want to bring into your home.
• Always read food labels. If you venture into the inner section of the grocery store, make sure you read the nutrition labels of all foods before placing them in your cart.
• Check the labels. Make sure the food you take home doesn’t contain high amounts of sugar, trans fats, or a number of chemical-based ingredients and artificial sweeteners that you can’t even pronounce.
• Be wary of the frozen food section. The frozen cases hold many items you want to avoid such as ice cream, frozen pizza, pastries, and high-sodium frozen meals.
• Stock up on frozen whole foods. Pick up whole foods like vegetables, fruits, peas, and beans in the frozen section for fast meal preparation. Check ingredients to ensure what your buying isn’t packed with preservatives.
• Consider purchasing in bulk. Bulk bins can be the most affordable place to pick up foods such as oats, nuts, dry beans, rice, seeds, and spices.
• Don’t shop when starving. You’re far more likely to put guilty-pleasure foods into your cart when your stomach is growling.
• Stock up when sales are on. Consider purchasing in bulk when healthy pantry goods are discounted. You can also freeze fresh produce that you bought on sale. This way you’ll reduce your grocery costs while ensuring you always have healthy food on hand.
The Bottom Line:
It’s imperative that you are navigating the grocery store properly and thinking about every single food item you place in your cart.
If it doesn’t belong in your diet plan, don’t even let it enter that cart, or the chances that you do eat it will be 99.9%. Even if you think you’re buying a box of cookies for another member of your household, will you be able to resist having one or two as well? Be honest with yourself, and remove all temptations.
Stick to the most natural food products when shopping in the grocery store by visiting the vegetables, fruit, and dry-food sections, and you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
