Kickbuttmama's Top 10 Shopping Tips

Believe it or not the first steps to failing your Wellness plan begin at the grocery store. You spend untold hours, sweating away at the gym. You buy cook books and throw out half the food in your pantry, to get rid of temptations. Then you go grocery shopping and don't even realize the amount of junk that you subconsciously selected to purchase. Thus putting temptation back in your cabinets. There are several tips I use as a personal trainer when guiding the neophyte to selecting good food choices at the grocery store.

Kickbuttmama's Top 10 Grocery Tips

1) Plan Ahead: You're a busy person, I'm a busy person. Saying you're going to sit down to home-cooked meals every day is fabulous in theory - but for a person used to the instant gratification of pre-packaged or fast foods it can be a bit daunting. Plan out your weekly meals before you hit the store. Make sure you take cooking time and hassle into account. Even if you have to spend the weekend preparing individual containers of the meals - precooked and prepped for the microwave, you'll be much less likely to stop for a bagel at the coffee shop.

2) Know Your Weaknesses: So many are setting themselves up for failure by planning to cut out every one of their enjoyable foods. The goal should be to create a healthy respect for food as a fuel source only. It really won't make you a happier person. That being said we all have that one make it or break it food. For me it's brownies. If I didn't have a small square of brownie each night...well...lets just say everyone would suffer. So, I plan ahead. I have my brownies on hand and I plan on an extra 30 minutes of Cardio-Respiratory exercise for each brownie I consume. That way I'm canceling out the sugar and superfluous calories. If you have a vice, don't try to just go "cold turkey" or you'll fail before you begin. Find a cardio time to equal those calories, and don't count them into your daily nutritional intake, or normal exercise routine - both the consumption of this one vice, and the exercise required to not set you on a plateau need to be entirely separate from your usual rutine. Plan for that one food item to be in your pantry, try to eat a little less each week until you can eliminate it entirely.

3) Make a list: Using the ingredients from the above two steps make a detailed grocery shopping list. Try to arrange it isle by isle. This will keep you from the "oh and I'll need this, and that and that and oooh that looks good" trap many fall into. Stick to this list like glue. If you get home and realize you've forgotten an ingredient, go the next day - with a new detailed list.

4) Shop Each Day: This is a bit more difficult for those with extremely busy lives. But, it is worth it to get those very ripe, fresh ingredients that should make up the majority of your diet. (see step 6). With this tip you can grab a hand-held basket instead of a large cart, this will help you to keep those add-ins to a minimum.

5) Start at the Frozen Foods: Why? Well, at the beginning of your shopping adventure you'll stick to your list easier then by the end. The snackier foods - ice cream, cookies, etc - generally are near the frozen foods section of the store so you'll find it easier to avoid temptation.

6) Produce and Natural Whole Foods:: Eating processed foods is horrible for your metabolism. Your body will waste energy trying to digest them, when that energy could be used instead to burn fat. Furthermore, it's very difficult to consume all the vitamins and minerals our body needs in a given day. Eating more natural foods and produce will help you keep your vitamin and mineral consumption high. I always say think of your vitamin and mineral intake as equivalent to putting oil in your car. When the car gets low on oil, it will run hotter and less efficiently. This is the same for the body. Keeping up the vitamin and mineral intake will feed the body the necessary nutrients it needs to run more efficiently - making the sweating hours at the gym more effective.

7) Eat Before Shopping: Many people still don't realize the temptation to snack when they are hungry and faced with the immense ease and variety of junk in the store. Making sure you're full prior to shopping will aide you in sticking to your healthy shopping list.

8) Park Far Away: Believe it or not, pushing a carriage through a store is a good cardio workout. You can even wear ankle weights (2-5 lbs) and up the caloric burn while doing something practical. Also, the thought of having to push that over-loaded carriage all the way back to your car is another deterrent for bulking the list with junk.

9) Completely Avoid Junk Isles: There is no need to torment yourself with the cookie or candy isles. Again this has to do with sticking to your list - making a bee-line directly to the foods on that list. There's no need to stroll along the isles that will pester yourself with temptation.

10) Bring a Bottle of Water: Many people also don't realize the confusion we receive from our body. We interpret a call for snack foods when in fact the body is calling for water. We've forgotten what the signals are. Furthermore, stocking up on fluids will also keep your mind away from the snack things you could be putting into your mouth, helping you to stay focused. Besides you should have a bottle with you wherever you go as virtually no one drinks enough in any given day.

As you can see, many of the tips are just plain common sense. With a little preparation and honest soul-searching, you too can fill your home with proper food choices.