I am not actually talking about the oligopoly that makes up the structure of the market here in Australia in regards to supermarkets. No, today I am going to give you some more useful advice when you have to go and do battle in the aisles of Colesworth, Aldi, etc.
I know that trying to eat to suit your goals can be difficult. While it can be simple, it is by no means easy.
Food and snack companies fight for your attention at every turn. They use colours, slogans, and sometimes downright bullshit to get you to buy their products.
Think of some of those things:
Baked not Fried!
99% Fat free
No added sugar!
No artificial colours or flavours!
All natural ingredients!
Not too heavy, not too light, Just Right!
Active Energy!
Preservative free!
All of these sound amazing, and at times we have all gone for one product over another because of things like it being baked, not fried. I see you pizza Shapes!!!!
And then we go to the other extreme I have heard:
‘If it comes in a package, it isn’t food!’
‘If your great great grandmother couldn’t recognise it, don’t eat it!’
To me, these aren’t helpful either.
Because there are foods that are perfectly healthy that are packaged, ie frozen veggies and canned veg and fish etc.
And well, I don’t think my great great grandmother would know what a poke bowl was, but she could bake me some foods in lard I am sure.
So after all that how am I going to simplify it for you?
There are a couple of extreme ways, that aren’t that extreme really. And then there is the lesser extreme.
We will go extreme first.
Living here in Armidale we have a great fruit and vegetable shop. That can be your first calling point for your grocery shop. They do have some treats and such there, but if you go there with a list of fresh fruit and veg that you need and want, you can usually find it all here fresh and quite possibly very local.
Loading up with veggies is a great start to eating well and stocking your house with foods that are going to support good health and wellbeing.
The next call on your shop can be the butcher.
There are three excellent butchers in town and they all do things a little bit different to each other. Grabbing lean proteins here at any of them is an easy task and if there is something particular that you want, I know from personal experience they are all more than happy to help you out. Also in Uralla we have an excellent butcher that looks after people with gluten and dairy issues, so if you have those particular issues you can always go for a drive and grab some things there.
Now I said it was extreme because so many of us just rush into Colesworth and/or Aldi to do the whole shop.
If you want to go less extreme, cut left as you go into these places.
All the fresh fruit and vegetables are right there. Load up your trolley here and make your way around the edge for the meats and fish etc. Followed by frozen goods.
If you need canned goods, then simply head down that aisle. You can actually completely avoid the aisles with the treat type foods in them.
BUT, if you desire a treat here and there, then stick to just going and grabbing that one treat. Don’t linger in that aisle.
Now I have given you a couple of pretty quick ways to shop well there are a couple of other things.
Make a list. And stick to it.
If you go in blind you could end up just wandering through each and every aisle picking up this and that. Also a good idea to avoid the middle aisle at Aldi in this case as well. You could end up coming home with a mig welder, telescope and a lilo you have absolutely no need for.
DO NOT GO DO THE SHOPPING HUNGRY!!!
Always have something to eat before going shopping.
Food companies do a lot of marketing research to figure out how to get you to buy their wares especially when you are vulnerable! Ie hungry!
It might seem like a no brainer, but we have all gone and done the shopping with or without our list in an empty stomach and come out with enough small goods to feed everyone at a 60th birthday party, more bags of chips than anyone could consume in a year and enough cheese to sink a battleship!
So eat something before you go, because you are not you when you are hungry! (see what I did there? haha)
I am not going to talk about planning meals today, that will be for another day. Because today I want to give you something you can do today, without much thought at all and have you going in the right direction immediately, with the least effort.
So there it is, a simple plan of attack for the next time you need to go battle the supermarket and try to eat as well as you can.