Things Fit People Never Do At The Grocery Store

[caption id="attachment_832431" align="alignleft" width="1068"] Bigstockphoto.com/Woman Holding Digital Tablet In Grocery Store[/caption] If you are consciously trying to live a healthier life, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to make all of your food at home. You’ll be amazed at the actual size of an ounce or half of a cup, you’ll be stunned at the number of calories in two ounces of pasta, and you’ll be far more aware of what goes into everything you eat. So, you decide to cook all of your meals, which sends you to the grocery store. You go in with the greatest intentions, but the second you step inside, you feel like you’re faced with a hundred more challenges and temptations. You forgot the bakery would be immediately to your right when you walked in and that the check out line is essentially a candy aisle. Unfortunately, you won’t be cut any slack in the temptation department just because you start making all your meals from scratch. But there is a right and wrong way to grocery shop. Here are things fit people never do at the grocery store. [caption id="attachment_700175" align="alignleft" width="468"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Go without a list

Fit chicks don’t grocery shop without a list. A list holds them accountable to only buying the healthy items they thought up at home. When you make a list at home, you aren’t even aware of all the unhealthy products you’ll see at the store—and that’s a good thing because they don’t belong on your list. If you shop without a list, you’ll start to justify adding this bag of chips and that box of cupcakes.             [caption id="attachment_718993" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Shop without a budget

When you’re still at home, calculate how much you can afford to spend on groceries each week. Next, make a list of healthy foods that will take up that budget. That way, you don’t have any room to add the unhealthy items. When you shop without a budget in mind, you’ll start adding unhealthy foods because you aren’t technically overspending.           [caption id="attachment_702808" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Try the samples

Grocery stores don’t hand out samples of the organic oranges or the cage-free chicken. Grocery stores hand out samples of the cheese ravioli and the frozen pot-pie. You don’t need the temptation.               [caption id="attachment_715041" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Go hungry

Healthy shoppers don’t go to the store hungry. When you’re hungry, you can’t think straight. Furthermore, your senses are heightened, so the shiny bags of chips look brighter than ever and the muffins smell sweeter than ever.             [caption id="attachment_707615" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Buy veggie/fruit platters

The platters of pre-cut vegetables look convenient, but you actually get far fewer veggies per dollar spent than if you’d bought whole produce. That means you’ll spend your produce budget before you’ve purchased enough produce for the week.             [caption id="attachment_719139" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Go in a rush

If you’re going to make good choices, then you need time to think. Go grocery shopping when you have time. If you shop in a rush, then pre-made items and bulk buys will grab your attention more because you’ll be in the mindset of, “My life is stressful. These foods make it less stressful.”             [caption id="attachment_715035" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Wander aimlessly

Fit shoppers do not wander aimlessly around the grocery store. In fact, they mostly avoid the center aisles (that’s where you find chips, candy, packaged bread and frozen food). Healthy eaters tend to stick to the produce section, and the fresh meat and fish counters.               [caption id="attachment_713739" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Chat on the phone

Remember, you need to focus when you shop. So don’t call your best friend to chit chat. If you do this, you’ll likely slow down. When your call is over, you’ll realize you’re nearly out of time, and then you’ll be in a rush (which we know is not good).             [caption id="attachment_718719" align="alignleft" width="420"] Shutterstock[/caption]

Pass up on a produce sale

Conscious shoppers never say no to a produce sale! It’s almost impossible to bring home too many vegetables and the more veggies the eat, the less likely you are to gorge on other items. So fit shoppers get the “Buy two bags of carrots, get the third free” deal.             [caption id="attachment_715049" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Buy boasting labels

Healthy consumers know that the more a product claims to be healthy, the less likely it is healthy. For example, cereals that boast their whole grains and their gluten-free recipe tend to be high in sugar and lacking fiber.               [caption id="attachment_825107" align="alignleft" width="420"] Bigstockphoto.com/Nuts mix in a wooden plate[/caption]

Forget healthy snacks

You can’t afford to forget to grab healthy snacks. If you don’t have healthy snacks at your desk and in your car, you’ll run to vending machines. Healthy shoppers go to the by-the-pound bins of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.               [caption id="attachment_715037" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Walk through the frozen food aisle

The frozen aisle has little value to the healthy shopper. Sure, it has a few organic bean and rice bowls and salmon filets, but for each of those it has a hundred pizzas and chicken nuggets.             [caption id="attachment_713621" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Visit the bakery

The truly wholesome bread, like rye and flaxseed loaves, aren’t in the grocery. Those are in the bread aisle or the organic section. The bakery is all white bread, bagels, and donuts.               [caption id="attachment_717191" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Breeze through the produce

Fit shoppers spend the most time in the produce section. This section easily takes up 50 percent of their shopping minutes because the food found there takes up 50 percent of their diets.               [caption id="attachment_701290" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock.com[/caption]

Become too routine

It’s hard to keep up any healthy habit if it becomes boring, which is why healthy shoppers mix things up. They see what’s new in seasonal produce, rather than sticking to standard lettuce, tomatoes, apples and oranges. They try the new fish at the seafood counter. They experiment with different types of high-fiber pasta.             [caption id="attachment_717196" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Go with a friend

If you want to shop healthfully you cannot shop with a friend. When has bringing a friend along ever helped? When you shop for anything, you buy more than you need when you bring a friend. Shop solo.               [caption id="attachment_717632" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Buy anything without nutrition labels

Produce and fresh meat will, naturally, not have nutrition labels. You can simply look those items up online and find out about their nutrition. As for other things like bread and soup, healthy shoppers don’t buy it if they can’t find information on it.             [caption id="attachment_718711" align="alignleft" width="420"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Believe in words like “Fresh”

It doesn’t matter if food is fresh, local, or organic if it’s still a donut, ice cream or fried chicken.                 [caption id="attachment_720626" align="alignleft" width="490"] Shutterstock[/caption]

Follow any smell

Healthy shoppers know that the stronger something smells, the less healthy it is. So they don’t follow their noses. Their noses take them to the fried food counter, the bakery, and the candy.             [caption id="attachment_613295" align="alignleft" width="500"] Image Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Fail to scan, up and down

Conscious shoppers look shelves up and down. They know stores put the pricier, brand-name items at eye level. But the truly nutritious canned soup from the lesser-known brand may be near the floor or ceiling.

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