We all know that eating better will help us achieve our goals—be they fitness goals, health goals, and even scholastic goals. Sometimes, though, the munchies hit and we are at the whim of whatever we have in our cupboard, fridge, and freezer. (Living with diabetes also means we have to always have “low food” around—precisely the kind of food we know isn’t healthy on its own.)
Where better to start out on our path to better eating than at the grocery store?
When I started on Weight Watchers, I noticed that my grocery trips changed. I now don’t hit every aisle every trip. I spend the majority of my grocery time in the produce section, and only rarely head down the cracker/chip aisle. (I love crackers. I love them a lot. A whole lot.)
I now skip buying meat every trip. I find the protein my body needs in nuts and beans instead. (And cheese; see above. I adore crackers and cheese, and missed them terribly when I had to stop them for a while so I could lose 45 pounds.) Meat is pretty expensive; a lot more expensive than green beans!
I also set aside $2-5 each trip in case I see something new I’ve never tried. I figure that there is no better way to find out if I like a vegetable or fruit than trying it. It’s kind of fun to come home with a treasure each week. We are encouraged to eat a rainbow of foods and trying new things is a fun way to brighten some of those colors.
I have staples that I try to always keep in my fridge and pantry. (Hard boiled eggs, canned garbanzo beans, red onions, etc.) I know I can make a number of different dishes to have on hand for lunch throughout the week to keep myself fueled for my workouts and to keep the hunger demons at bay.
I sometimes go to a different grocery store, just to check out what they have in their aisles. It is usually the same types of food, of course, but seeing it on a different shelf in a different part of the store keeps my eyes open and my mind thinking of how I could prepare whatever food I see.
I try to avoid eating out of boxes, as only food someone else has concocted will come in a box. I want to control the chemicals in my body as best I can, so produce always seems the closest I can come to that. If I make it, I can control what goes into the food and into my body… if someone else made it on the other side of the country with ingredients I can’t pronounce or understand and then packed it in a box, how am I to know what it really is??
These are only a couple ways my grocery trips changed when I started to focus on my health and weight. How have you made your grocery trips interesting and healthy?
I had a nutritionist tell me once that the best change to make when shopping is to do 90% of your shopping along the walls. That is where they keep the produce, the meats, the dairy products. It is the interior of the store where we get into trouble with processed and packaged foods.
Although, the bakery and the cold beer is often found along the walls too….
Since Diagnosis, I am almost positive that 10% of the weight I have gained is from “emergency sugar”… I’m not a soda drinker, or a sweet tooth, but having sugary juices, sports drinks and candies (which I find SO much more effective than glucose tabs) really undermine my diet… and my general rule of “if you shouldn’t be eating it, it shouldn’t be in your house!”