Everyone thinks they know how to grocery shop. However, when you really dive into it there are usually some holes in your list or plan. This can cause over buying, under buying, not buying whole nutritious foods, or spending far too much money. This cheat sheet will ultimately set you up for success when shopping.
Step 1: Go with a plan - Before shopping, sit down and plan out a few meals… you don't have to go crazy for this, just think about things such as meat for the week, veggies, some fruit, and little carbs and healthy fats. Meals don't have to be complicated, just think of eating whole foods.
Step 2: Do not go to the store hungry - If you shop hungry odds are you deviate from your list and end up getting yummy treats and snacks you wouldn't normally get and most likely do not need.
Step 3: Do most of your shopping on the perimeter of the store - The perimeter is where you will find your meat, veggies, fruits, and all-natural foods. You can do 90% of your shopping here. Look for deals such as if you have a certain grocery store card and you get that price over the wholesale price. In addition, once you get inside the isles a majority of the foods have preservatives added in, such as trans fats, to increase the shelf life. These preservatives are not good for your health. Also, understand that companies are going to package their foods to trick you…. Sugary cereal is not healthy because it has pictures of fruit on the front of the box.
Step 4: Pay attention to the packaging!!! - this goes hand in hand with step 3. Companies just want your money. A really common thing right now is a box with a ginormous label that says KETO or PROTEIN. Look at the nutrition label before you dive in. Keto can mean the food is really low in carbs but filled with fat overall, making it a caloric dense food than its normal counterpart. Next is the protein label, companies will add protein to the label and make it only a few more grams of protein than the “regular” product which does not really make it any better for you than the packaging makes it seem, yes protein is important but the difference between 4g of protein and 7g is not huge.
Grocery Shopping ideas:
Protein: Chicken, Ground Beef, Ground Turkey, Eggs, Steak, Non-fat Greek yogurt
Veggies: Think to eat the rainbow - each veggie provides different vitamins and health benefits - kale, spinach, carrots, bell peppers, squash, eggplant, and so on
Carbs: Brown Rice, Whole grain bread, Ezekiel bread, steel-cut oats
Fats: avocados, nuts, peanut butter, olive oil
As always, if you need any nutrition help or someone to help plan your grocery shopping, please schedule a FREE nutrition consultation.
