7 Tips for Healthier Grocery Shopping Habits

Setting yourself up for success with having healthier eating habits or losing weight will create a winning scenario for you.

Part of setting yourself up for success is being intentional about what you’re purchasing at the grocery store. That way, you can have confidence that you’ll create an environment at home that supports your eating habit or weight loss journey.

So, in this blog post, I’m sharing 7 tips for healthier grocery shopping habits.

And just a note, I said, “healthier” not “100% healthy.” This is an important distinction, because it’s much easier for you to eat healthier than go full-on healthy if you’re not used to that.

Prepare a List Ahead of Time After You’ve Eaten

Preparing a list of what you’ll buy ahead of time means that you’re using your pre-frontal cortex, which is the more future-focused part of the brain that has your goals in mind.

When make decisions in the moment (at the grocery store), you’re using the more primitive part of the brain, which is more concerned with instant gratification and pleasure. This part of the brain doesn’t keep your future goals in mind nearly as much as the pre-frontal cortex does.

So, prepare a list ahead of time (ideally 24 hours in advance) and do so AFTER you’ve eaten. That way, nothing going on in your body will affect your decision of what to put on that list.

And perhaps most importantly, make sure you don’t forget that shopping list when you go to the grocery store. Put it in your purse, in an app on your phone, or take a picture of it with your phone.

• LISTEN OR READ: Food Craving vs. True Hunger (Podcast Episode)

Make a Standing Date Each Week

The best way to ensure you get in the habit of always having food in the house you need, is to choose a day of the week that works best for grocery shopping.

You can then make a standing date with yourself to do the grocery shopping that week every week. It’ll become an easier task if it becomes more automatic.

When it’s consistent, it makes it less likely you’ll find yourself with no food in the house and ordering takeout instead. It makes it more likely you’ll stick with the healthier options you’ve chosen.

I personally find this to be one of my favorites of the 7 tips for healthier grocery shopping habits, because I don’t have to make a decision every week, we just go.

• LISTEN OR READ: 8 Time-Saving Tips for Healthier Eating Habits (Podcast Episode)

Go Grocery Shopping AFTER You’ve Eaten

You’ve probably heard this one before. Do NOT go to the grocery store hungry.

Your brain will focus on the most satisfying foods, which tend to be the less healthy ones. Your stomach will end up guiding your decisions and you want to stick with the list you already prepared.

So make it easier on yourself and go grocery shopping after you’ve eaten. That way, you’ll be less tempted by the foods that you’re trying to eat less of.

• READ: 7 Biggest Mistakes When Changing Your Eating Habits (Blog Post)

Shop the Perimeter of the Grocery Store

You’ll notice that all grocery stores have their produce, meats, poultry and dairy on the perimeter of the store, because that’s where the refrigeration systems are.

These foods tend to be on the healthier side (or at least most experts and research agrees, myself included). Whereas, the packaged foods like cookies, chips, crackers, are in the aisles. These tend to be the less healthy foods.

There are healthy foods in the aisles too, such as beans, grains, olives, olive oil, buts, and others. If you shop the perimeter of the grocery store first, you’ll fill your cart with produce, meat, poultry, yogurt, etc.

Hands down, this is my favorite of the 7 tips for healthier grocery shopping habits, because it makes the healthier foods the main focus.

When I had not-so-great eating habits all throughout my twenties, I went straight for the aisles with the breads, pasta, cereal, crackers and pretzels. Then I would grab some of the other stuff like peanut butter, tomato sauce and bananas as an afterthought.

• LISTEN OR READ: Why Willpower Fails to Change Eating Habits (Podcast Episode)

Skip the Aisles You Know Are Your Weakness

If you’re someone who is easily tempted by the candy section, then skip this aisle intentionally. Don’t even look down it. There’s no sense tempting yourself if you are REALLY trying to avoid the candy.

You’ll start getting in the habit of not even looking down the candy aisle if you start doing this now.

• LISTEN OR READ: Eating Behavior Triggers (Podcast Episode)

Make a Habit of Going the Same Route Each Time

When you enter the grocery store, go the same route each time. So, if you normally turn right to shop the perimeter first, then you go straight to the canned bean aisle, then to the nuts aisle, etc., go this same route as often as you can.

This helps streamline your grocery shopping trip and make it more likely you’ll stick with your list of items and not get distracted by the other temptations there.

My husband Paul and I do this and it makes our grocery shopping ridiculously quick. We stock up on all the veggies first, then hit the dairy, then meat, then two aisles for the rest. Done. Easy.

• LISTEN OR READ: Losing Weight and Saving Time (Podcast Episode)

Limit the Taste-Testing When You Get Home

If you’ve gone grocery shopping after you’ve already eaten, you probably won’t be as tempted to taste test when you get home. But if you find yourself doing it anyway, try limiting yourself to just one taste-test.

This can actually be more enjoyable than raiding several of the items, because you just have to choose one. Think of it like a kid in a candy shop who wants to try all the candy and mom says, “just pick one.”

That kid is going to have fun picking that special one. The one he or she thinks will taste the absolute best.

• FREE CONSULT: Get a personalized action plan to solve your eating habit challenges and reach your goals.

Final Notes (& More Tips)

These 7 tips for healthier grocery shopping habits are will help you more easily form healthier eating habits. They also just make grocery shopping quicker as well.

So even if the thought of taking a couple minutes to make an intentional grocery list ahead of times sounds like a chore, just think of all the time saved.

Plus, when you develop healthier eating habits by following these tips, you’ll save even more time by no longer worrying about your health and well-being as far as your eating habits goes.

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