This week we offer you the first in a series of blog posts that give you practical weight loss tools. We start with demonstrating how to keep your pantry stocked when you go grocery shopping so you can lose weight and keep it off. Emma O’Connor created this video for our Sweet Loss Wellness, Inc. clients as part of her Nutrition Internship with Sweet Life Wellness, Inc. and final project for her masters degree in nutrition from North Carolina Central University. Emma offers her insights in the accompanying video to help you make the most of grocery shopping to make the most of your time and energy as you lose weight and keep it off. Here’s what Emma had to share with you during her recent grocery shopping trip.
Emma: Here I am at my local Harris Teeter starting in the produce section. I always start my list and shopping with produce because it is always to the right or left of me in the front of the store. This saves me time and knocks off a bunch of things from my list as soon as I get there. I like to go when I know it won’t be crowded, but that is not always the case on weekends. So on days when it is crowded, I will bring my headphones, or even get myself a cup of coffee before I shop. I don’t know if you saw, but there’s a little Starbucks right at the front of the store as well. I just make it a point to be in a good headspace before I begin shopping. My produce this trip includes broccoli, brussel sprouts, leafy greens, onions, garlic, celery, cabbage, bell peppers, lemons and limes, snap peas, mushrooms, and cilantro. I also picked up some oranges because they looked beautiful and they were on sale.
I do see a fresh salsa that is also on my list, but I am looking for one in the chip aisle. But if they don’t end up having it, I will circle back at the end. Then I go into the canned food section, and in this section, I will pick up chickpeas, canned tomatoes, which is one of things from my staples list, canned coconut milk to go with the cabbage I bought so I can try out a new recipe. And I look for a low-fat coconut milk to lower the amount of saturated fats I consume, but that is my only alteration for the recipe that I’m going to try out.
Next I tackle is the snack aisle, everyone’s favorite aisle. For this aisle, I already know the brands I love and trust, which can eliminate any mindless time spent in this aisle. I get the Siesta chips because they are made with avocado oil, which is a healthy alternative to some other brands. And I love dark chocolate, and so does my partner, so I make sure to stock up on that. We prefer dark chocolate, which is great because it has more antioxidants and less fat than when compared to milk chocolate or white chocolate. I also grabbed some of these Dove chocolates, which are good to pack for lunches. Just a good, quick treat on the go. Then I move on to granola and cereals. It is important to spend some time in this aisle if you don’t know what you already want or the brands that you love and trust. Read the ingredients and try to pick something with less added sugars and ones made with maybe a healthy oil.
And lastly, and this goes for every trip, I end with dairy and meats. This trip, I only needed cottage cheese and some cheddar, but normally, I get milk and yogurt. And then I head back to get meat, which worked out for this trip because they didn’t have the jar salsa I wanted. So I was able to pop back over to the produce section and grabbed the one I saw there first. And for meats, I got ground and lean turkey and some frozen Mahi Mahi. With this food, I plan to make some veggie fajitas and rice, meatballs with rice and broccoli, that coconut cabbage, veggie and chickpeas stew recipe I was going to try. I saw it while Googling cabbage recipes, because I love cabbage. We will also have Mahi Mahi tacos with some of that pineapple mango salsa I got, fresh cilantro and a homemade pizza with leftover meatballs and vegetables. On Sunday, I like to keep those pre-made cauliflower crusts, or the Whole Foods has a whole wheat crusts that are really good, so I like to keep those in my house.
And for breakfast, I like to have avocado toast, eggs and toast, smoothie, oatmeal, yogurt and granola. There are always a lot of good options for breakfast in my home. I also always like to keep the fixings for a salad, lots of dark leafy greens, veggies and beans to add. Putting fresh citrus on the leafy greens will help you absorb that iron, and cutting up all the veggies before, right after you go shopping can help you eliminate spending that time during the week. So with those cut up veggies, I will add them to either my salads. I like to use them for dipping, and this is actually a tip I got, to put ranch powder in the cottage cheese, and then I’ll dip my veggies in there, and it’s just such a treat.
And then, so again, the layout is super important at a grocery store. And think of it as a U. All the cold, frozen and refrigerated things are going be on the perimeter of the store, making that U. And all the aisles inside that U are the canned goods and groceries that won’t spoil. Knowing this layout can help you avoid aisles you don’t need to go down and put you, the shopper, back in control. Well, I hope that this helps you navigate your way around the store a bit better. And next time, I’ll show you how I used up all of these groceries throughout my week. Thank you so much.
How does having the right food in the house help with your weight loss journey? When you have healthier, lower calorie food options at home you’ll be less likely to go out to eat or order carry out. You’ll likely be eating a fraction of the calories, salt, fat, and sugar as you would when you dine out or carry out.
Click here for nutrient packed foods to add to your shopping list.
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- Click here to watch the Latest Sweet Life Wellness Podcast Episode on How to Enjoy Mindful Eating.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
Emma O’Connor, Nutrition Intern
Student, Master’s degree program in Nutrition
North Carolina Central University
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