As nutrition is the most important factor which determines whether you will lose weight or not it’s important that you have the right food in your home. This is why healthy shopping skills are so important. What you put in your supermarket cart will end up in your fridge or pantry, and eventually in your mouth.
To make sure that you purchase food which is good for your waistline and your health, I’ve compiled the following healthy grocery shopping tips
Use a List
Supermarkets are built to tempt you into buying things you don’t need and may not even want. If you go into the market without a clear and definite idea of what it is that you plan on buying, you’re likely to end up with too many products in your cart. These will include a number of food items that you simply shouldn’t eat if your health and figure mean anything to you.
Before you go grocery shopping, go through your kitchen and see what you need to buy. Write everything down in a clear list. Take this list with you to the store and have it in your hand as you walk in. Buy what’s on the list and don’t be tempted to supplement it.
Shop Hungry and End Up Fat
Sin begins with temptation. Eating bad food begins with cravings and hunger. If you go into a supermarket feeling hungry, you are much more likely to be tempted by fattening, sugar rich foods. You would also end up spending a lot more money than you would have done had you gone to the market when full.
If you shop hungry you’re likely to end up fat. Simply don’t do it.
Work The Perimeter
As Vic Magary, author of the 31 Day Fat Loss Cure, told me in a recent interview, the perimeter of the supermarket is where most of the good and healthy food is located. The processed foods are usually placed in the central aisles of the store where they can attract more shoppers. The meat, fish, and fresh produce is usually found in the outer aisles. This is where you need to get your food from.
Buy In Bulk
As far as I’m concerned, the more you visit the grocery store, the more chances you have of buying something you shouldn’t. Apart from fresh food such as vegetables and fruits, which you can get at specialized stores, there is simply no reason to visit the grocery store more than twice each week.
Plan a weekly menu for your meals and shop in bulk. Buy whatever you need for the week and freeze it until you’re ready to cook it.
Support Local Farms
One of the tips which Antonio Valladares, author of the Healthy Urban Kitchen told me when I recently interviewed him is that he does a lot of his shopping in local food markets in which meat, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables are sold.
Local farms will often provide you with animal products which have a higher nutritional value than those found in big supermarkets. The reason is that animals which are grown in pasture and not industrially often provide better meat, milk, and eggs. If you can afford to buy local sustainable food, do it.
Stick To Fresh food
One of the worst things you can do if you want to lose weight is to buy process, ready-made food. These products often contain a variety of chemicals and preservatives. Your body doesn’t need these things. In some cases they can be quite unhealthy. I recommend to stick to fresh food as much as possible and to cook your own meals. Your shopping should be for ingredients and not for the meal itself.
Read Product Labels
Knowing how to read product labels is an art in itself. Sometimes you can’t make heads or tails from what you read. It can be quite confusing. However, you can still learn a lot about a product and it’s suitability by seeing how many calories it contains, how much fat, sugar, and nitrate it has. If you see a lot of ingredients which you simply don’t recognize, it’s likely that this is a product filled with chemicals and you should be wary of it.
Frankly, I want products with as few ingredients as possible because I want simple, unrefined, unprocessed foods. So, I prefer a short ingredients list over a long one. Less, in this case, is more.
In Conclusion
Healthy grocery shopping is crucial for fat loss. You have to go into the supermarket with a clear idea of what to buy and realize that it is the goal of the owners to get you to buy as much as possible. Be wary of temptation, stick to fresh and simple foods, and buy what you need and no more. This will help you lose or maintain your weight and the only thing which will be fat is your wallet.
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