6 ways to immediately improve your grocery game!
- Don’t shop hungry!
When you’re hungry your ability to think is impaired. It becomes harder to critically think about your diet and your ability to resist temptation is severely reduced. Making you way more likely to purchase junk food!
- Avoid the center aisles
Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, where fresh foods like fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and fish are usually located. Avoid the center aisles where processed junk foods lurk. Avoid the chips and snacks aisles altogether.
- Be adventurous
Try a new vegetable or a preparation of a vegetable (Baked, Steamed, Fried, Pureed, Grilled, etc). Who knows, you may find your new favorite dish!
- Convenience: the good and the bad
Good types of convenient food
Prewashed and precut (diced onions, cauliflower rice, peeled garlic, etc)
Frozen whole fruits, vegetables, and grains
Nitrate free, organic deli meats
Rotisserie chicken and ground meat
Bad types of convenient food
Precooked meals (Frozen dinners, microwaveable burritos, chicken nuggets, etc)
Most Canned Food
Bottled protein shakes (typically include sugar, preservatives, and poor-quality protein)
- Start in the produce aisle and fill your cart as much as you can!
Make it a goal to fill your cart with as much produce (preferably vegetables) as possible before heading to any other section in the store.
- If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat it
When it comes to candy, snacks, and desserts such as ice cream, set the rule before it makes it into your shopping cart. It’s difficult to resist junk food when you see it every time you open your fridge or pantry. It’s impossible to eat junk food when you never buy it in the first place!
