The way I eat, and consequently the way I grocery shop, has revolutionized over the past year. I don’t think I ever ate terribly – it’s not been too painful for me to give up fast food, for example – but I definitely had some bad habits and definitely had issues with portion size. Ha, I use the past tense… of course I still have these tendencies.
But I’ve found that the key for me is not to buy certain things at the grocery store during my regular shopping. If I have a craving for something and I decide to give in to it, that makes it so I have to get in my car or walk to the store to get it. Often it’s not worth the hassle, or once I purchase my craveable item I’m able to resist overeating because of the time it took to get to it (allowing me to think more about what’s really behind that craving).
I got irritated last night while watching Biggest Loser because of their product placement for Cheerios. I can’t buy Cheerios. I mean, I won’t buy Cheerios, because I will eat the whole box in a day or two. If I get the honey nut kind, I guarantee you I’d find myself sitting on the couch after a trip to the grocery store and throwing handfuls of the cereal in my mouth.
Maybe someday I’ll be able to exercise more self-control, but right now my solution is, like I said, just DON’T BUY IT. Like anything else, it’s a habit that takes effort and practice, but I’ve gotten to be pretty aware of my danger foods and I know what it takes to resist putting them into my basket. I mean, sometimes I do put them in – I’ve walked around the grocery store with a carton of ice cream in my cart and had to go around and around the store until I finally talk myself out of it – but I also put them back. It’s hard. But it’s worth it, because putting that little safety measure in place has absolutely prevented me from overeating or indulging sometimes, and in turn I know that has aided in my weight loss and development of healthy habits for my future.
Here’s my list of things I do not buy, or try my best not to buy, at the grocery store (and it’s an ever-changing list! these are the standards):
any kind of candy
any kind of baked good
any kind of white bread product
any kind of chips
ice cream, sorbet, popsicles
white pasta
Goldfish crackers, Ritz crackers, Club crackers
any kind of “non-healthy” cereal
or, apparently, any kind of cereal (recent incidents with Puffins)
most dried fruit (esp. mango)
pepperoni or salami
marshmallows
granola bars (like the Chewy kind, not Larabars and such)
sweetened coconut
frozen pizza
whipped cream or any kind of whipped topping
frozen fries or tater tots
beer
soda
What’s on yours?
Rachel Wilson 