Diet Tips for Grocery Shopping

Temptations. They are all around us. But when you are trying to diet or eat healthier where will you find the most temptation, in your grocery store. Yet, we can’t avoid the grocery store all together (unless you are rich enough to have a personal shopper). We have to shop so we can cook at home (getting out is not always the healthiest alternative). But if we go about grocery shopping in an intelligent way, we can avoid some of the trappings.

First, think about the lay out of your local grocery store. Most of the them, are similar. The typical store has most of the healthy foods stored around the perimeter of the store, along the walls. Here you can find the fruit and vegetables, the deli, the meat, and the diary sections. Within this perimeter (the center) of the store is where you will find the processed foods and the frozen foods. Try to do most of your shopping within this perimeter.

You should also watch the colorful, neat displays at the end of the aisles. These may be sale items. But they are usually unhealthy items such as those sinful cookies and chips.

Something you also need to watch out for are those friendly people who tries to coax us with samples. Those food samples looks small. But beware. Generally, those small portions can easily add up to 25 calories.

What else should you do? The top three grocery rules for buying healthy foods are easy and simple.

1. Never shop hungry. We all know this all ready, right?

2. Never shop without a list.

3. Try not to shop with your kids. You know they will want those sweets and chips.

Of course, there are still a few more tips, that can help us. For instance, if you have to buy frozen foods and you know they are sometimes cheaper and easier to prepare, there is a couple tips. When buying frozen fruits don’t buy the ones with added sugar or corn syrup. If you must sweeten them, do so yourself. You will be saving calories. As for frozen vegetables, stay away from the ones with added salt and sauces. Again, season them yourself.

Now we have to buy some breads. Just read the label. We all know that we should buy the wheat bread. But did you know the healthiest is the breads in which whole grains, wheat or flour is the first ingredient listed.

As for your milk purchase, try to stick with the skim milk. You will be saving 70 calories per glass versus the whole milk. If you find the taste of skim milk to thin, try skim milk plus. It is made with added non-fat milk solids. It has just a few more calories than the skim milk, but has added calcium as well. Plus, it tastes thicker.

Now we know we all have to give in to temptation, slightly. This is where those little individual bags of chips and cookies comes in handy. If those temptations are just too much for you to bear, reach for the individual packages. You can satisfy your temptation and you still will be making a wise choice.

Want more examples are how to handle the dreaded grocery shopping visit? Then you may want to invest in Joy Bauer’s new book, 90/10 Weight Loss Cookbook. It has lots of tips in there, plus recipes. It sells on amazon.com for $10.74.

As with anything in life, grocery shopping takes planning. You want to save money. But you should first think about saving calories and eating healthier.