Friday, February 20, 2015

Back to Fitness Basics: Becoming a Healthy Shopper

So what have you done this week? Have you, “developed a good accountability group”? What about, “starting a resistance training program”? By this point you must be doing well for yourself as you continue your journey to a healthier you. The next step we will discuss today is grocery shopping. The bulk of your health results will be actually what you consume in your daily diet. Specifically today, I will discuss what exactly you should do when you go grocery shopping in order to become a healthy shopper.
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A lot of times, my clients tell me the thing they struggle with the most is simply what to eat, or what not to eat. The best place to start is your grocery shopping habits. The first thing to consider when grocery shopping, is the layout of the building. “Grocery stores are strategically and systematically constructed.” Think for a minute about the store you most frequent for food shopping. There are the aisles and the perimeter of the store.  Along the perimeter is the fruits and vegetables; meats, dairy, and eggs.  In the aisles, all of the packaged, processed foods.” 1. As you change your eating habits, you will want to naturally purchase healthier foods to consume. By doing this you will want to stick to the perimeter within a grocery store to purchase your nutrient rich whole foods such as: meats, dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. Stay away from the middle aisles as they contain mostly processed foods that can hinder your health goals, because they have less nutrients available.
Next thing to consider when grocery shopping, is to develop a shopping list before you ever step into the grocery store. “Take the time to write down the items you need for the week, and try your best to not stray from your list.” 2. This method can become some security to your shopping plan, because it can keep you from purchasing unhealthy items that will not benefit your health goals along with helping to save precious time and money. We will discuss the importance of your shopping plan in a later Back to Fitness blog about meal prepping.
There you have it! I want you to develop a detailed grocery list this week and shop with a purpose while sticking to the perimeter of the grocery store. Doing this will ensure that you add more nutritious items to your meals and consume less products that are unhealthy. Fueling right is important on your journey to a healthier you, so make it a goal this week to start becoming a healthy shopper.

1.Surviving the Jungle Known as the Grocery Store. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/surviving-the-jungle-known-as-the-grocery-store/
2.Transform Your Grocery Shopping Experience. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/fitness-fact-article/3652/transform-your-grocery-shopping/

1 comment:

  1. Becoming a healthy shopper can be very difficult for the person who is used to eating processed foods. But it's a great idea to write down items needed, sometimes people who go grocery shopping without a list do tend to buy foods they don't need. Also another good tip would be not to go grocery shopping when you are hungry because then you buy more processed foods.

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