Grocery List

What is on your grocery list?  Does it include fruits and vegetables?  Would you be able to walk past the candy/junk food/potato chip/soda aisle without making a purchase? 

When you go to the store, have a grocery list of the things that you NEED and only buy the items on your list.  Don't make an impulse purchase unless it is in the produce section. 

Know your grocery store layout.  Most of the soda, chips, candy and junk food are in their own aisles, so just avoid walking down them.     Start your grocery store experience in the produce section, acquire most of your groceries there and then move on to the other areas of the store that have the rest of the items on your list.  Also, never buy anything at the checkout area.

Don't be intimidated by the produce area.  What you should be intimidated by is the list of unrecognizable and unpronounceable ingredients in most of the junk food out there.  Learn how to read food labels and make it a habit to look at the food label before you make a purchase.  There are many items out there that advertise how healthy the product is or it is assumed that the item is healthy, but in reality the sugar, salt and fat content makes it quite unhealthy.   Don't be deceived by what is on the front of the box of the item you are considering buying.

Make your food choices by what is on the side/back of the box (ingredient list and nutritional list) and not what the front of the box advertises.  If your food item doesn't have an ingredient list, that usually is a good thing, because that means you are buying something that isn't in a box and it is it's own ingredient, like a banana, spinach or kiwi.  Compare that to a bag of potato chips, a box of cookies or a cereal box.  Look at those labels and ask yourself if you really want all those unknown ingredients in your body. 

Check the labels on the items you have at home and all your potential purchases in the store.  Not only will you become a wiser consumer, but you will cut your sodium, sugar and fat intake by a great amount once you started realizing what is in the food......that you are no longer going to be eating.