Fitness and Nutrition Tip of the Day: Shopping the Perimeter!

Rule: Nearly all foods we need to maintain a healthy and balanced nutrition plan can be found on the perimeter of the grocery store.

A couple more rules before we get into it: 1. NEVER go food shopping hungry. 2. Never go food shopping hungry right after a workout. 3. Just don't go food shopping if you haven't eaten in the past hour! :)

Let us really think about our past shopping experiences for a minute.

http://www.sun-prairie-wisconsin.com

When we walk into any major grocery store, the first things we see are colorful aggregates of many different shapes and sizes and textures: reds, yellows, whites, deep purples, loads of different shades of greens, orange, round, long, egg-shaped, tapered, smooth, rough, hard, soft... I can go on forever. I may have already done so!

Sometimes we are bombarded by a sudden mist of fog! Sometimes, if we're extra special, we hear the sounds of a rain forest (this literally cracks me up when I'm in the store!). We find ourselves in the fresh produce section! It doesn't take a genius to sort out that this may be the healthiest place on earth! If we crammed our carts to maximum capacity with items found in the fresh produce section, we could easily maintain a healthy and balanced nutrition plan without having to shop anywhere else. Keep in mind that tofu and nuts are also found in the fresh produce section in most stores. How convenient for vegetarians!

Next up, we have the bakery. I like to call this the Starchy Carbohydrate Peer Mediator between carnivores and herbivores. Hey, vegetarians and meat-eaters! You have something in common! Bread! Vegans will typically be checking out by now, but most likely shop elsewhere. After extreme, fad, quick-fix diets like The Atkins, Southbeach and Zone diets, this area of the grocery store is probably the most diverse when it comes to the people who visit or pass right on by. People fall somewhere in the spectrum between being anti-bread and pro-bread. I imagine those of us at opposite ends of said spectrum to be silently judging one another and envision the bakery as someday being behind a curtain like the adult section of a video store (am I dating myself? Really, V? VIDEO store!?). Anyway, whether we pass on by or pick up a giant loaf of sliced starch-patties is really our own business, right?

When we leave the bakery, we find ourselves in the deli and meat section of the store. The deli is home to processed meats and the butcher's area is divided into lean meats, red meats and seafood. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about this section. It's pretty self-explanatory. This section is packed with protein! Some people prefer non-animal protein and pass on by. The fact is, the human body needs proteins and their amino acids to maintain cells, growth and to be able to repair itself when necessary. Proteins make up most of the human body and come in second to what we are mostly made up of: water. If we are meat-eaters, this is one of the best places to get our sources of protein.

Moving along, we make our way into the dairy section. Here we will find eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. Fresh eggs are amazing sources of protein, whether you ditch the yolk or not. Milk is a wonderful source of calcium. Blah blah blah! We know the drill, right? The dairy section is packed with so many vitamins our body requires on a daily basis that it's hard to not stop by here when we shop. Plus, dairy products are delicious, no?! The problem with this section of the store is in the processing and preservation of these products. Notice how I use the word "product?" Reading labels in this section is key. We have to really scrutinize these products and understand what has been added to them to make them what they are. I can touch base on this at another time, but a quick example would be looking for the best greek yogurt for our nutrition plan. Greek yogurt is jam-packed with protein. We'll see containers boasting that they are fat free. Remember that negative connotation that "fat" has acquired over the years? Be careful! Most "fat free" products are crammed with sugar. I'll take a healthy fat over added sugar any day! But that's just me!

The frozen section was created out of convenience. This is where the quality of food can take a fast decline. Bagel bites? Probably not the best choice for dinner. Frozen green veggies? A great second option to its raw brothers and sisters in the fresh produce section! Frozen veggies keep a lot longer than fresh ones and mean less trips to the grocery store or farmers market! Convenience, again! Technically, the frozen foods are in aisles. Red flag! Obviously frozen veggies take a close second to fresh, but we still opt to save time and food from going to waste by digging into the bulk, frozen varieties. Not a major "no-no," but it is smart to know why foods are presented to us in all different forms for sale.

The rest of the store is teeming with packaged, canned, bottled, processed, jarred and bagged goodies. This is where we find our soft drinks, crackers, potato chips, condiments, cereals, cookies, etc. Okay.. so maybe I focused on the obvious evil-doers. I'm biased! But there are a couple of exceptions that can be made. Peanut butter, canned fishes in water, brown rice, beans, pickles, canned veggies (they come in third behind fresh and frozen, mind you), olive oil and various condiments that are not packed with preservatives and other icky substitutes and additives are all examples of pretty healthy buys! Just remember to check your labels in these aisles with even more scrutiny than on the perimeter! There are loads of hidden devils in these items.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

If we take a look at the food pyramid, we see that we've covered almost all tiers in providing ourselves with a healthy lifestyle. We are missing vitamins/supplements, which can also be found in grocery stores. We are also missing alcohol, apparently. I won't argue that, but won't force it either. And we are missing one of the most important parts of living a healthy lifestyle: EXERCISE! Which brings me to the...

Corresponding fitness tip for the day!

As I said before... do NOT workout and go food shopping on an empty stomach. Our bodies are going to not only tell us to buy more than we need, but we'll probably make poorer choices.

Grocery shopping, in itself, burns calories. Park that car at the farthest parking spot from the entrance. If you think you can carry all your bags to the car, please do! Pushing a heavy cart? Push it around the parking lot once. "That's ridiculous!" you say? So is driving everywhere. Besides, when are you going to see these people again? Get your bags home (please use reusable/recyclable bags) and haul them in the house. Take time to immediately prepare all your fresh produce and organize it in your fridge so it's a matter of grabbing and going. Food preparation is the key ingredient to maintaining any healthy nutrition plan.

Take a walk. Take a bike ride. Really. We are all busy people. Grocery shopping and food prep take a long time and it would be ridiculous of us to expect to spend just as much time in the gym on the same day. This is our Get Out Of Working Out Free card day. Use it. Shopping, hauling bags and food preparation all burn extra calories that our previous day had not. Doing something low intensity will help keep stress low and be a perfect exercise for a "recovery" day.

Now... stick to that perimeter! :)