Small Steps to Health

Grocery Shopping with Structure

February 24th, 2008 by asithi · No Comments

The person that has the most influence on a family’s diet is the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is the one that does most of the grocery shopping and the meal preparation. If you want success in your weight loss goal, you should pay more attention to what the gatekeeper is bringing into the house. If you are the gatekeeper, then you should be more mindful of what you bring into your home.

How many times have you come home with junk food that ends up sabotaging your intentions for weight loss? Sure, the chips are for the husband and the cupcakes are for the kids, but doesn’t it make more sense to minimize the temptation to over eat in your own home? Here are some tips that might help with your next grocery shopping trip:

Do not shop while you are hungry.
Anything in the store will look good when you are hungry, especially the junk food that you are trying to minimize in your house. If you are not sure whether you are hungry, eat a small granola bar (100 calories or less) and drink some water before starting. If you are like me, sometimes I cannot tell when my body is hungry anymore because of all these years of mindless eating and not paying attention to my body’s hunger cues.

Beware of the bargain size.
You are not saving money at all if you have to buy bigger clothes because you want to save money by buying that larger bottle of mayo. It is no bargain when you feel compel to eat something because you purchase too much of a food item in order to save $2. Purchase food according to the needs of your family, but do not stock your house as if you are expecting a natural disaster.

Buy food in units that will help you eat less.
People eat less when presented with individualized servings. For example, people will eat one ice cream bar because one serving is packaged as one bar. However, when scooping ice cream from a half gallon container, how many of us actually measure our half a cup (the serving size for most ice cream)? I sure don’t.

Don’t clip coupons.
Don’t be tempted to buy food just because you have a coupon for it or want to try it out. The aggressively marketed food items are usually high in fat or are junk food that you don’t need in your diet. If you have read any of my previous posts, you will know that I have a weakness for a good coupon. I am trying to at least make myself aware that if I choose to use the coupon, I am making a conscious decision to wear those calories on my waist. Sometimes it works and I can resist. And sometimes it doesn’t.

Stick to your shopping list.
Always shop with a grocery list. You don’t always need a food just because it is on sale. Stores are designed to make you stay a little longer and wander a little longer in order to get you to buy a little more. Grocery stores are no exception. The objective is to go in, buy what you need, and get out before you become tempted to add more items into your cart.

Don’t buy food for others in your house that you have a history of abusing.
A family should all stick together to help the person in need of weight loss. Sometimes that means they will have to give up their favorite junk food in exchange for something else (something else that you are not tempted with). I came to the conclusion that I cannot have a container of ice cream in my house. That is a food that I have a history of abusing. Instead of eating the half cup serving size in one sitting, it usually ends up being 2-3 cups, every night until the ice cream is gone. I make it difficult to have instant access to ice cream for myself. When I want this treat, I have to put in more effort to obtain it than just walking into my kitchen.

Or you can do what I do. I make a list and hand it to my husband. I make sure the healthy stuff is on the list, such as yogurt and fruits. He buys his favorite junk food, but since I do not have a history of abusing oatmeal cookies or chips, I am usually not tempted by having them in the house. Just as long as he does not buy ice cream, this plan works most of the time. When I mention wanting ice cream long enough, usually a few times in a one week period, he would throw in a box of ice cream bar and I will be satisfy for the next month or two.

Until next time and thanks for stopping by.

Tagged Healthy Eating

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