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Is smart shopping the answer?

This time of the year lends itself to fresh starts and moving on with positive changes. A makeover of your shopping pattern is a great place to start.

This time of the year lends itself to fresh starts and moving on with positive changes.   A makeover of your shopping pattern is a great place to start. Good food choices need to be supported with a suitable shopping routine that gives you easy access to the right food.  How you shop and of course what you buy are significant factors in determining the path your weight will take over the years.

  • Aim to shop on a regular basis – make a point of setting that time aside as if it was an appointment.   You’ll probably have to do a quick ‘top up’ mid-week for fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • It’s helpful to use the same supermarket. Take the time to set up a shopping list that follows the flow of your ‘local’. That way you’ll become familiar with the layout and become super-efficient with your shopping time.
  • Keep to a policy of only buying what’s on the shopping list, as products on special may seem like a bargain, but they’re probably just a distraction to weight loss.
  • The shopping list can put portion control in place for you. Work with ‘buy less, cook less and eat less’ – except of course with your green and unrestricted vegetables!
  • Ideally you want to be at the supermarket soon after a meal.   A hungry shopper may well find all sorts of unplanned items dropping into the trolley!
  • Think about the layout of your supermarket. Your fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables, meat, chicken and fish, dairy items and breads are found around the outer walls as this allows for daily deliveries and regular restocking.  You want to be spending most of your time shopping in these outer areas. Centre aisles are where you’ll find processed and refined foods often with high levels of sugar or fat, so be careful with your  purchases from these aisles.

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