Smart Shopper

Smart Shopper - Getting the most out of your groceries.

Unless you shop smartly, you won’t eat right. And if you don’t eat right, your efforts in the gym are likely to go unnoticed, your health will regress, and, as a result, your overall quality of life will be lowered. That's why it's so important to know how to shop for the foods that will best serve your body and health.  Trying to improve poor dietary habits without knowing which foods to stack in your fridge is where most people fail in their quest for a healthier diet. Having a proper selection of food available to you on a daily basis is fundamental to health and body composition enhancement, but shopping smartly isn't as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of seemingly healthy products on the market that  won't do you any good, and others that you may not be aware of, that will help you achieve your goals (body comp, health, athletic performance). Follow these guidelines to  get the most out of your grocery choices.

Have a plan!
Attempting to shop without an end goal and a plan in mind is akin to getting in your car and driving without a destination. There's no purpose to it. It’s important to know exactly what foods you need to purchase, and why, before leaving your home. And once you’re in the store, stick to the plan! Grocery store operators are masters of marketing, and employ all kinds of methods to sway you from your list. Don't be fooled!

Get to Know Your Store!
Pick one or two locations where you can get everything you need, including herbs, supplements, etc.  Get to know where all the 'super-foods' such as veggies, fruits, meats, produce, nuts, and spices are located within the store so that you don’t have to waste time walking around looking for them.  Next time you’re in a store, just get what you need, pay for it and get out!

Beware the Perimetre Too!
'Shop the perimetre' is advice often given to people wanting to make better food choices. But that doesn't mean you can stop paying attention to what you're buying. Not all foods located around the perimetre of the store are actually ‘healthy’, as some ‘experts’ may have led you to believe.  Although it's true that most of the stuff you’ll need is located around the perimetre, there are foods there that will hinder your weight loss goals and health improvements. Watch out for:

• Cold Cuts – get actual meat instead

• Breads – as I have mentioned in previous articles, not many of us are gifted to handle grain products well.  Only 25% of the world’s population is ‘carb tolerant’.  If you’re serious about your goals then you MUST remove bread, even whole  grain-omega 3-fibre plus type breads. You can get fibre from other food sources like veggies and fruits.

• Pastries – if you don’t want to look like the Pillsbury dough boy, try to avoid these types of foods completely.

• Ice Cream  – only on a hot summer day.

• Dairy Products – dairy products are one of the most common sources of food intolerances that we consume on daily basis.  I recommend for all my clients to stay clear of products like yogurt, especially when fat loss is a goal. Yogurt is very high in ‘insulin load’, and when consumed, creates an insulin response that will make your body want to store fat.  An easy way to spot potential food allergies or sensitivities is when you start to sniff during your meal. If you notice your nose running or itching, a loss of energy within 30 minutes of a meal, gas, bloating, stomach discomfort, etc., you may be sensitive to that product. My suggestion is to remove all dairy products from your diet for a minimum of eight weeks, and then slowly re-introduce them back into your diet. Your body will let you know how it does on these foods.

Fresh Produce Only!
'You are what you eat,' is a well-known phrase, which was popularized by nutrition pioneer Adelle Davis in the mid-20th century.  This statement speaks volumes.  Every single thing that you consume needs to be processed and used by the body as a rebuilding material and for energy.  Since the Industrial Revolution, the quality of our food has declined dramatically.  We don’t even think of what we consume on a daily basis. We consume foods that people only a few decades ago had never heard of.  Were your grandparents eating Pop Tarts  for breakfast? Or other chemically altered and manufactured 'foods' created by companies who care about profit rather than the health of you and your family.

Stick to foods that our ancestors, thousands of years ago, had access to: whatever could be picked, plucked, hunted and gathered. I call these foods the 'living & thriving' foods; they, too, need water, oxygen, minerals and vitamins to survive. They grow and die just like we do; they don’t have a long shelf life; and they weren’t designed and manufactured by men. They're good for us!

Avoid foods that come in boxes or that are otherwise packaged. I call these ‘foods with bar codes’ or ‘man-made foods’.    Most, if not all, man-made foods are just as dangerous to our health as smoking is. Years ago, no one thought that smoking could cause serious health damage, when we now know that isn't true.  I believe that years from now, we’ll have warning signs on our foods. Imagine cereal boxes and bread bags with warnings on them like those found on cigarette packages.

Avoid Foods with Health Claims
I’ll be honest with you, it amuses me to see foods such as Pop Tarts and cereals that are high in fiber, Coke plus with vitamins and minerals, flavored water with vitamins, and, of course, chocolate bars with added protein! I think that the food industry is doing a phenomenal job at marketing its products and we’re too oblivious to see what is actually happening here. We fall victim to slick advertising meant to trick us into believing we're making healthy choices when we're not.  Many diseases known to mankind today were not around 100 years ago when foods were simpler and better.  Many experts will also agree that some of the most devastating and common diseases are all, in fact, preventable.

Get to know a local butcher Find the best butcher in your town and get to know him or her.  See if they can hook you up with some grass-fed, free-range, organic meats like bison and ostrich.  Make sure to consume a good variety of proteins for best health. Exposing yourself to as little as three or four different meats over the next few years can cause a cascade of problems.  Think about the kinds of protein-rich foods you’ve been eating since you where a child.    Chicken, beef and salmon are probably among the most common foods, and as healthy as these choices may be, if they are something you consume very regularly, then your chances of actually being intolerant to these healthy foods are very high!  Vary and rotate your foods frequently for optimal health and body composition improvements.

Shopping Frequency Americans tend to shop for food once or twice a week. By contrast, in Europe, some people will go to the store once a day or once every two days, which is a much healthier habit. This is because live and thriving foods cannot survive a very long time on a shelf or in the fridge, and they must be consumed shortly after they’ve been purchased.  Of course frozen and canned goods can survive longer, but fresh veggies, other produce and meats cannot – and their nutritional value deteriorates the longer they sit.

I recommend shopping with a small basket instead of a cart. Doing so leaves no extra space for crap: if you take enough meats, veggies, nuts and fruits for the next two days, your basket will be full.  Of course if you're shopping for a large family, you'll want a cart, but you can still follow the same principle and pretend there's no room for extra junk.

Pick a time
One of the arguments against shopping more frequently is the time it takes to do so. But if you look at your daily activities, you can find time. What can you exchange during the week for another shopping trip?  An example may be saving time over your lunch hour by bringing your own food. Since you'll have what you need with you, eliminating going out, waiting for your food to be prepared, waiting in line to pay and returning to work, you can use that 'extra' time to get your work done sooner, therefore freeing you to go shopping after work. Be creative, and you will find the time.

Leave the Kids at Home! Last but not least, if you want to keep your shopping quick and productive, you must not bring your kids with you.  Marketing companies specialize in attracting a child's eye and are very good at exposing kids to big boxes with bright colors and surprise toys inside.  Save yourself a headache by shopping alone. Buy what you need, and what your kids will grow healthy and strong on, and not what the marketing gurus try to sell to you that can make your family sick.

Conclusion
Shopping should be done quickly and without any headaches.  I get really irritated whenever I go to a big wholesale store like Coscto and I see people walking around and tasting all the sample foods there. Of course it takes them more then an hour to shop and therefore they do it once a week! Be a smart shopper and you’ll not only save time, energy and money, but you will do your body a lot of good!