Healthy Weight Loss Diets

Planning Ahead

Planning ahead is one of the most powerful tools you can use to control impulse buying (which leads to impulse eating!). Now at Personal Dietitian you can develop a Personalized Grocery List to go along with your personalized diet and meal plan. Simply click on the box next to the items you need to buy, and hit the submit button. This will display your items chosen in a list form that you can print and take to your grocery store. Use Plan-A-Meal (or your Family Grocery List tool)
as a guide to stock your kitchen with a good balance of basic, healthy foods.
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The Weight Wise Shopper
Today's grocery stores are filled with endless decisions to make. A person could spend fifteen minutes just picking out a salad dressing! Add the time you might spend reading labels for fat, sodium, sugar, and other ingredients, and you've got an all day event. No wonder so many people find it easier to buy packaged meals and eat out three or four times a week! Make it a little easier by filling out your grocery list ahead of time and sticking to the items you plan to buy, unless you've got some time to spend. Here are some some short cuts to selecting healthy foods and getting home in time to actually eat dinner!

Print out an unchecked grocery list and place it in your kitchen. As you notice you need certain items, make the check marks as needed so you won't have to do "kitchen inventory" each time you shop.
"Team shop" - if you've got a willing housemate or partner, split the list and cut your grocery time in half!
Leave the kids at home if you can! As you know, kids can double your grocery bill with special requests and impulse buys. The ice cream that you planned to avoid is difficult to pass up when the pleading for treats begins, and their requests are a good way to rationale the extra treats that tempt at home. If you need to bring your kids, try to occupy them with books or small games. Or, give your kids part of your list and have them "help" you find some of your list items.
Of course, a useful shopping list begins with some pre-planning on what you want to eat in the days or week ahead. You don't need to plan every single meal, but have at least three meals and their recipes planned so that you can buy all the items you need. I usually write the three recipes at the top of the list - it helps to jog my memory of what I need in case I don't have time to make a complete list before I shop.
If you are new to buying foods based upon healthy guidelines, there's a lot to learn about nutrition labels and this can take some time (an upfront investment - it does get easier). Use your eating guidelines as a guide for choosing leaner meats, low fat dairy products, and the right type of fats.Look for these words on labels:
"Low fat", "healthy", "skim", "fat-free", "light", "reduced fat", "high in fiber", "heart-healthy" - these are usually good signs.

The Outside Square
For the most part, grocery stores are designed so that the basic foods that you need (fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products and dairy substitutes, meat, seafood and poultry, fats, eggs, and dried beans) are located on the outside aisles of the store. Spend most of your time there, especially in the produce area, where the green stuff is! Once you've made the circle, venture into the middle aisles and use your list to get in and out of there quickly!

A Quick Check Out
As you approach the check out stand, take a quick look at the items in your cart. Do you see the right colors and shapes? Check for dark green leafy vegetables, deep orange root vegetables, purple, blue, red, orange and yellow fruits. Are there a lot of boxes and cans? Mixes, frozen dinners, canned and packaged foods, if you use them, should be supplemented with fresh or frozen veggies (less salt), fresh fruits, whole grains and beans. Look for a balance of these items and try to add a few new vegetables or fruits to have just to make life interesting. You might find a new favorite!

If you take the time to use a shopping list, stick to it, and buy some good foods, half of the weight control battle is won: your kitchen will be full of the right foods and so will you!

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