Supermarket Strategies to Better Nutrition

(Photo by J-P-F on Flickr>/a>)

Shopping habits are hard to get right. Not much about the modern supermarket seems to be designed for fantastic nutrition — if we’re in a rush, or we don’t consider ourselves great cooks, or we just don’t know where to start, the average supermarket seems to offer a massive amount of extremely unhealthy choices.

There are prepared meals everywhere, and the amount of processed food in any supermarket seems to be continuously on the rise. What’s more, the claims that those processed foods make are always more outlandish — 15 years ago, the cereal aisle was mostly full of bright colors designed to attract kids, whereas now you can’t look in any direction without seeing elaborate health claims all over the place. Omega-3s and green tea have been injected into every last product in sight.

You need a plan of attack. There are certain zones and categories of products you should just plain avoid in the supermarket, and going to do your shopping with these rules in mind can make things a lot easier.

Here are some strategies to try before your next visit.

What to Avoid

One of the general rules that gets thrown around is to avoid the inside aisles of the supermarket, since those ones get re-stocked the least and therefore have the least “perishable” goods. This is true to an extent, although there are some obvious exceptions (canned goods) that you’ll likely only find in the inside aisles.

So while this isn’t all set in stone, here are some of the big, obvious things to steer your shopping cart far away from:

1. Bread in Bags — Read the ingredients list, and then stay far away. Stick with the in-store bakery (but check their ingredients too), or go to an actual bakery. This includes buns, which almost always have sugar in them as well.
2. Cereal — Unless it’s pure grains or muesli or something not processed, avoid it.
3. Anything processed and ready-to-eat — There are just so many other options out there that there’s really no point in buying anything microwaveable, or something that can last in a box for months, or a frozen pizza, or any junk like that.

The Obvious Stuff

This always bears repeating. Here’s what you should be buying:

1. Fresh vegetables — Especially leafy greens, but really just as many vegetables as possible. All your meals should contain vegetables. You should be eating them constantly, in a variety of ways, and getting the absolute most out of them.
2. Fruit — Buy a lot of fruit and stack it up in a bowl on your table. Don’t bother with the fridge — avoid crappier snacks and just finish the fruit. Then get some more.

The Not-So-Obvious Stuff

Here are a few of the inner-aisle things you shouldn’t ignore either:

1. Canned vegetables like tomatoes — In the time it takes you to heat up the oven and bake a frozen pizza (which I would recommend not doing), you can boil some water, pop open a can of tomatoes, and make yourself a simple pasta dish. Go with that option instead.
2. Beans and grains — Sure, it’s nicer to make your own huge pots of beans and lentils and all the rest, but if you need something quick? There’s nothing like a container or jar of chickpeas or other beans to save your day.

More Nutrition Tips

There’s a million more things I can say on nutrition. These are just some basics to take with you to the supermarket — as I continue to post to my site, I’ll start giving you some sample shopping lists, for whatever your fitness level or preferences.

Being healthy and in shape is about working out, sure, but we can never underestimate nutrition. I don’t always love putting a percentage on things, but it’s certainly not 90% exercise, 10% diet here — each thing is basically as important as the other.

Tell Me About Your Own Strategies

Have you started doing things differently when shopping? Have you always been smart about nutrition? I want to know — what are the main things you avoid at the supermarket, and why? Leave a comment!