5 grocery store tricks that influence your nutrition!
FOOD!!! NOMS!!! EATS!!! We all love to eat. I mean who doesn’t right?
There are veggies, meat, fish, poultry, bread, sweets, desserts, chips, and salsa, and the always-present feeling of happiness when grocery shopping. But there are secrets that a lot of folks don’t know about their local grocery store.
The following five tips and tricks could save you either headache with food going bad or with overpriced food that is not as healthy for you as you think.
Tip #1:
Understand the majority of healthy, whole food options are on the edges of the store.
If you look at the store layout from a distance you will find the perimeter (outside edge) to have the vegetables and fruit up from as you walk in the door. Follow along the edge and you might find the meat and poultry with either seafood or possibly a sushi bar. Move along more of the edge and there are the lunchmeats and then dairy and cheese in the back of the store.
Understand this tip as the edges of the store have actually what you should be eating, NOT what you want to eat. That is usually in the center of aisles are bread, snack, candies, baking goods, laundry soaps, chips, and cookies.
Tip #2:
Understand the Need to shop around the store first and get essentials and not non-essential or “junk food” that has too many calories per serving or you will be tempted to eat the entire bag of chips or cookies. Even junk for has a serving size. Heed it by reading the label.
Tip #3:
Most bread is color-coded by the twisty tie or the tab that holds it closed. Look up the brand you are looking to purchase and find out the twisty tie color codes for that bread. that will tell you if it’s fresh or not.
Here is the Secret color-coding Monday – blue, Tuesday – green, Thursday – red, Friday – white, and Saturday – yellow. This will give you a great start to fresher loaves of bread and longer-lasting as well.
Tip #4:
Be aware that some store brands are actually made by big-name manufacturers. Brands like Great Value By Walmart in particular the cereals and loaves of bread.
Tip #5:
Finally, if you are not sure about an item turn the item around, and find the Nutrition label.
Here you are looking at three things. Protein, carbs, and fats per serving. Be very aware of claims to be Fat-FREE or have X amount of protein. these claims may be true but there is a dark side they don’t tell you about on the front. That Fat-FREE item may have a ton of artificial ingredients or worse a lot of sodium. That Protein-rich item has twice the carbs and about the same amount of fat plus sodium tossed in to boot. Read carefully. Then look around and see where you are. Yup, in the center aisles of the store.
Shopping smart and sensible in the grocery store will lead to better nutrition choices and a healthier lifestyle. Take five minutes to plan your route, stick to it and be saving money and be healthy as well.
Till next time,
Roland Lamothe
Elite trainer, nutrition coach, tactical program designer
