Don’t let issues with grocery shopping be the reason for not getting that hard body you’ve been training for. Jefit has put together a list of their best shopping tips to help you become the best version of you. For this to really work you need challenging gym workouts, for sure. Just as important, though, is eating healthy, and this needs to be part of your overall health equation. Start using some, if not all, of these tips and, in turn, improve your health and performance.
1. Shop Outer Food Aisles First
A good friend who also happens to be a great nutritionist gave me this smart tip when food shopping, “hug the perimeter.” The best thing about this? It always works. When you visit the grocery store walk the entire outer perimeter first. This is where all the fresh foods are, like fruits and vegetables, dairy, lean meats and fish. Then hit a few select aisles to get your dried beans, frozen fruit or oatmeal. This will help you save time and money because you avoid many of those “unhealthy” aisles with mostly highly processed foods and snacks.
2. Get in the Habit of Reading Food Labels
Very rarely do you see anyone reading food labels while grocery shopping. Talk to any physician or nutritionist and they’ll tell you it’s a must. Always choose items with the lowest (or no) added sugar, saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium. Most food items in boxes and cans are typically very high in sodium and added sugar. Another thing to keep an eye on is the number of ingredients listed on that food label. The fewer the better, if there are a bunch of ingredients you can’t even pronounce, why would you eat it? put it back! If you don’t read food labels you’re not making the most of your time and money spent at that grocery store.
With the Fooducate app, you can scan an item’s barcode, and the app will show you precisely what’s contained in the item. Fooducate also gives the item a grade so you can judge just how healthy (or unhealthy) it is.
3. Consider Canned and Frozen Options
It is great to buy fresh foods but at times they can go bad if not eaten by a certain time period. Mix it up buying fresh, canned and frozen to avoid food waste. When you buy anything in a can look for items labeled no salt added or low sodium. Before cooking anything from a can, make sure you soak them first especially beans or vegetables. Canned products are usually budget friendly too. Make sure you avoid canned products that are in sugary syrup or salty water. Finally, avoid any items that have been processed with sugar, sodium and any preservatives.
4. Buy in Bulk Whenever You Can
Buying in bulk can be an excellent budget-friendly way to fill your freezer and pantry with your favorite healthy foods. This is where having a membership at stores like BJ’s and Costco can really help. The key though is to buy foods you like and eat often versus something that may be jumbo size and you have never tried it. Then you end up not liking it and it goes to waste. Consider purchasing at times generic or store brands rather than the similar brand-name items on your shopping list.
5. Tips for Buying Snacks
We saved the best for last. Many people can handle the items mentioned here today but lose big time when it comes to snacking. This is where the extra calories sneak in and can really ruin a diet. Weight gain for many comes from (1) too much snacking and (2) too much drinking. This typically comes in the form of alcohol, sports drinks and soda. The average American consumes approximately 450 calories a day from various forms of these types of “empty calorie” drinks.
- Don’t go shopping or buy snack when you are hungry!
- Buy single servings of snacks instead of bulk.
- Shop with a game plan in mind for food and snack. This begins with a shopping list in hand every time you go food shopping.
- Watch for fewer snack ingredients
- Look for snack with a minimum of 3 grams of fiber. The higher the better.
- Avoid snack with more than a few grams of added sugar. Preferably, that number should be 0 grams of added sugar. Keep in mind, men should eat less than 38 grams/day of added sugar and women should eat less than 25 grams/day of added sugar.
- Whenever possible, order your food products online ahead of time. Makes life a lot easier and you definitely save time and money. You don’t buy “extra” food and you save time not going in buying everything. Just pull-up to one the designated parking spots at your grocery store and they even load the groceries for you.
Final Thoughts
This may seem like a lot of extra work or too much to think about when food shopping. Write each of the five tips down on paper or put them in the notes section of your phone to refer back to them when you want to buy something unhealthy. The five tips mentioned here can work well and many people have used them. You can also have more success when it comes to making informed decisions about the food you and your family eat.
Stay Strong Together
Try the award-winning Jefit app for your next workout. Take advantage of Jefit’s exercise database for planning & tracking your strength workouts. Named best app for 2022 and 2023 by PC Magazine, Men’s Health, The Manual, the Greatist and many others. The app comes equipped with a customizable workout planner and training log. The app also has ability to track data, offer audio cues, and has a feature to share workouts with friends. Visit our members-only Facebook group. Connect with like-minded people, share tips, and advice to help get closer to reaching your fitness goals. Try one of the new interval-based workouts and add it to your weekly training schedule.
