Smart Shopping for Smart Weight Loss

Posted: Jan 17 in Obesity and your Health, Weight Loss Blog, Weight Loss Surgery by Staff

When it comes to developing a healthier lifestyle, the grocery store can easily become a battleground between temptation and discipline. Food companies know what you like, and they do a rather incredible job at marketing directly to your sweet tooth. If you aren’t prepared when you walk into the grocery store, you could wind up with a bag full of unhealthy foods, and this can make staying healthy at home especially difficult.

Surrounding yourself with healthy foods is the best form of support you can find when it comes to making better eating choices. This starts with shopping smart.

Before entering the food store, develop a strategy:

• If you head into a food store thinking only of the sugary sweets that you aren’t going to buy, you are probably going to end up splurging on something from an impulse aisle. Instead of thinking of what you can’t have, focus on what you want to get.
• Bring a list with you to the food store and only purchase what is on the list.
• When you are at the store, stick to the perimeter aisles and don’t go wandering down the cookie and ice cream rows.
• Plan recipes for the week ahead of time so you know exactly what you are going to get and most importantly, go to the store when you have eaten a healthy meal.

Going food shopping hungry can lead even the most disciplined shopper down a road of unhealthy decisions. After weight loss surgery, you don’t have room in your diet for the types of snacks that food stores are going to try to trick you into buying. You need to make smart and careful choices to ensure that your diet is as nutrient-dense as possible, and this means sticking to your weight loss surgeon’s guidelines every time you head to the store.

Once you purchase unhealthy foods and they are easily accessible in your home, it becomes much more difficult to stave off the temptation of eating them. The most helpful thing you can do for yourself is to keep those snacks out of your home. Talk with your family members about the trouble you have with keeping favorite snacks in the house, and ask them to please respect your needs to keep your kitchen as a place where healthy foods can be easily found.

Weight loss surgery is a life-changing experience, but you’ll find more and more that your ability to be successful after weight loss surgery largely comes down to your ability to stay focused and on track with your personal wellness goals. If you need a bit of help determining what foods are the best to purchase for a healthy diet plan, then meet with your weight loss surgeon for nutritional guidance.