#175 - Don't Grocery Shop Hungry: Health Tips for Weight Loss
Weight loss tip number 75 is for dieters who are just getting started. Coach Tadris Parker has personally tested this recommendation and a hundred other health tips commonly shared in the running and fitness world. Listen to the audio clip below to hear his take on this tip: eat more fresh produce. Learn all about this at Keep Calm and Run To The Best You!
There is truth to this old weight loss tip. Never go food shopping on an empty stomach because you’ll find things in your cart that you didn’t intend to take home. If you tend to overbuy, consider ordering online for pickup or delivery so you can work down a list without temptations. (plus, it’s much more convenient!)
Tip 75. Don't Grocery Shop Hungry: (Weight Loss)
Shopping while hungry leads to unhealthy selections and overspending. This is a known fact since people tend to overdo it with shopping and serving food when they’re feeling hungry. As the saying goes, “Your eyes will be bigger than your belly” if you are motivated by hunger pangs.
If weight loss and health is your goal, don’t shop while hungry
Why do we instinctively gravitate towards fattening foods when we’re hungry? If you want to fill your kitchen with healthy items, do yourself a favor: don’t shop while hungry. Reuters reported their findings in a field study where the grocery shopping orders of hungry people were compared to those who had recently eaten. The participants went without food for five hours, but half of them were given a plate of crackers to eat right before shopping for food. Those who were allowed to have a snack purchased fewer high calorie items than those who were shopping on an empty stomach. So if you’re full and satisfied when you visit the grocery store, you’re going to make better food choices.
Trick your hunger with a piece of gum
Knowing this, it’s fair to say that food shopping is not a good chore to do while you practice intermittent fasting. If you must visit the grocery store on an empty stomach, chew on a piece of gum while you’re walking through the aisles to help offset the feeling of hunger. It’s a simple but effective trick. Chewing gum can reduce snack consumption by 10%. Overall, chewing gum for at least 45 minutes is likely to suppress hunger, appetite and cravings for snacks and promote fullness, temporarily. This will buy you enough time to get in, buy your groceries, and get out, before you start impulse shopping while hungry.
Another take away from the field study is the timing. Within the hours of 4-7pm, shoppers selected more high calorie snacks than those who were food shopping earlier in the day, between the hours of 1-4pm. That could indicate that humans gravitate toward more fattening foods in the evening, so it's best to do the bulk of your eating earlier in the day and opt for a lighter dinner or evening snack.
Don’t shop while hungry if you’re shopping on a budget
The cost of groceries has spiked this year, far beyond the normal rate of inflation. The best thing you can do to stay on budget is to shop when you’re not hungry and follow a list. While at the grocery store, be disciplined to stick to your list and ignore the sales and promos advertised. Often, those Buy One Get One Free deals are a trap that leads to overspending.
Stick to the meal plan and use what you have
Meal planning is key to eating better and spending less. Instead of purchasing a cart full of convenient frozen foods, look up recipes that use some items that you already have on hand and make a list of needed ingredients. AllRecipes.com allows you to sort and filter through recipes based on a specific ingredient. This website has a helpful tool where you can type in the ingredients you want to use, and it will pull up all of the recipes that include those ingredients. Likewise, you can exclude the ingredients that you want to avoid. If you’re trying to lose weight, follow the Whole 30 Diet to cut out those six inflammatory foods: soy, sugar, dairy, alcohol, legumes, and grains.
Put your money where your mouth is
If you’re serious about losing weight and prioritizing your health, you’d better be prepared to buy more expensive food items. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to break your budget but you may need to scale back on other items so that you can afford to buy higher quality groceries. It’s a well known fact that junk food costs less than whole foods and highly processed foods costs less than fresh produce.
That fact aside, grocery shopping in general is more expensive than it used to be and the average American has taken notice. According to the Consumer Price Index, the average cost of eating food at home has risen 10.9% over the past 12 months. Nowadays, it will cost a family of four anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 a month just to put food on the table. That’s comparable to paying rent or a mortgage on a single family home. What is your health really worth to you?
This week’s podcast features Luz Ramirez as she talks about her incredible weight loss journey
following the Keep Calm And Run To The Best You Method. Take a listen.
At Keep Calm and Run To The Best You, we are actively helping people from all walks of life to get healthier and happier in the body they’ve got! We’ve collected advice from professionals, combed through archives, and gathered insights from our group members. Click here to see the rest of our 101 health tips about running, intermittent fasting, and weight loss.
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Coach Tadris Parker educates and motivates people at all levels of intermittent fasting and mindful eating.
Email coachtadris@gmail.com with questions about our Run/Walk Club, running events, or health programs.
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Photo Of The Week
Members of Keep Calm was happy to return to Stockton University track! Stockton resurfaced their track and it is beautiful. We had two visitors, Sarah and Donna! Great work everyone and thanks for a great meet-up. If you like to come check us out then feel free to contact me to find out where our next meet-up will be.