Change Your Shopping Habits & Change Your Life

Believe it or not deciding on a healthier lifestyle could start in the supermarket. I recently heard someone say that when they really looked at what they were buying, they were shocked by the amount of rubbish and (expensive rubbish at that) that ended up in their shopping trolley. I can see their point – take a look at your own and then sit down and think about it before you take another trip down the aisles.

Some things are easy and just plain common sense. First and foremost – don’t ever go shopping for food when you are hungry even if that means having a cup of tea before you get on with it. Most supermarkets have a cafe attached and it is no accident it is usually situated at a point furthest away from the front door. Our local one even has a notice saying empty trolleys cannot be left in the cafe trolley park, that they will be returned outside. They emphasis trolley parks are for full trolleys. In other words shop first while you are most vulnerable to the adverts and colorful packaging.

Don’t be fooled by supermarket hype like the way they use baking or cooking smells over the air conditioning to tempt your taste buds. (Yes dear, taste is closely associated with smell.)

I don’t know many people who enjoy food shopping. For most of us it’s a chore to get through as quickly as possible. However, what you put in your shopping trolley is what you are going to be putting in your body shortly so it is one of the most important tasks you ever do. Leave yourself plenty of time so you don’t just pick up the closest thing to get it over with.

Start with fresh fruit and vegetables. To give yourself the best possible advantage your body needs AT LEAST five portions of fruit and vegetables EVERY DAY – (no more than three of fruit but as many veggies as you can take.) Where possible pick organic produce – it may be slightly more expensive but it makes up for it in health.

Organic produce isn’t as pretty as ordinary mass produced stuff. For example, apples are shiny because they are waxed – chemical full wax is not something your body likes to deal with. Everything artificial you put in your body has to be processed and when it can’t be it, it turns into toxins. It is no accident that three quarters of our children have asthma, eczema and chronic digestive disorders.

Organic produce doesn’t keep as long as other produce. What stops foodstuffs spoiling? – chemicals that’s what! At what point did we decide it was better to have something manufactured to last forever rather than stick to the natural? There are whole generations growing up now who don’t remember the days when milk spoiled in days even when kept in the fridge.

Have more than just a vague idea of the meals you are going to prepare over the next few days and don’t buy anything just because you like the look of it and you think you can probably find something to do with it. It could well sit in the fridge until it goes on and you just throw it out. If you go once a week you don’t need to buy more than one weeks meals. I only buy for two or three days at a time and make up the rest for a local shop that sells fresh produce.

Avoid the sweets and crisps aisles altogether and leave your trolley at the end of the biscuit aisle and pick up one packet of plain biscuits. For snacks use fruit and fresh unsalted, unroasted nuts. Even dipping a carrot in low fat humus is better than a packet of crisps. If you must have some sweets or crisps don’t buy the big multi pack ones – you’ll only end up eating them all. Instead buy just one or two small packets and use them as a treat. It is cheaper and healthier in the end.

Soft drinks are probably the most unrewarding foodstuff ever invented. They give you nothing worthwhile are loaded with sugar or with artificial sweeteners with a reputation for destroying short term memory and often they don’t even quench your thirst. Acquire the taste of water – get a filter and keep a supply in the fridge. Don’t waste your money on those designer waters with added peach etc. If it isn’t just plain healthy water your body has to process it as a food product – more work – whereas water helps the body in all sorts of ways not least of which is in getting rid of all the toxins your unwitting added with your daily diet. (This paragraph alone is guaranteed to cut your shopping bill.)

Try to avoid ALL processed food which includes anything in tins. Think about it – processed means artificially produced – your body isn’t designed to cope with it. Myself included, we are the product of our times – we want tasty food on the table – fast. Processed meals are tasty – usually because they are loaded with salt and sugar – they keep forever because they contain preservatives and they are fast because they’ve been cooked at least once before. Try only one week without any processed food at all and see how your body feels. Take your reading glasses with you and read the labels – I’m willing to bet you won’t understand half the stuff that is written on it – do you really want to fill your body with endless e-numbers?

If you really must use cans pick organic ones, don’t pick anything with added salt or where sugar is high on the list of ingredients – the higher up the list, the more of that ingredient is in the product. Look at breakfast cereals – in most of them sugar is top of the list- they may well be advertised as low fat but most are loaded with sugar. Sugar is the one product we never have to add – your body produced even glucose for all its needs from other foods.

It may seem more of a hassle preparing food from scratch but most of that is just changing your habits. As a vegetarian I use a lot of beans for protein. Yes you can buy them in cans but they are usually preserved in brine (salt) or have added sugar. It isn’t really lot of work to buy a buy of dried beans, soak the whole lot overnight, boil as instructed they divide them into small portions and freeze them. It is easy then to just pull them out of the freezer and add them to soup or stew or whatever.

For all of us who are working stiffs what we want is a meal ready in minutes when we get home which is why so many people rely heavily on ready meals. But when you think about it, with just a tiny bit more organization you can still have a healthy meal ready in twenty minutes if you plan right. There are many things you can cook from scratch in that time and I’ve include a page of quick recipes later on. Or you can prepare something more complicated the evening before.

I make soups and vegetable stews the night before so I only have to heat them the next day. It also allows the herbs and flavors to blend so are even better than just made. It only involves a change of habit. And like most things it is usually the thought of doing something rather than the actual doing that is the biggest setback. Once you’ve started it is never as onerous as you had expected.