For all the women in the world who don't know what groceries to buy and what to watch for when going food shopping, you have landed on the right page. This is the smart food shopping guide to use on that dreaded day of the week you are exposed to all kinds of food; both good and bad. This guide will aid you in choosing the foods that will help you to attain that strong and sexy body you are trying to get.
After reading this article, you will be armed with the knowledge necessary to know what you should or shouldn't be getting from the supermarket and why.
Pre-Grocery Shopping Preparation
The first thing we are going to do is prepare you and set you up for success before your visit to the grocery store. "Why will I need to prepare?", you must be wondering. Because there are certain situations that dramatically increase your chances of ending up with a shopping cart full of the type of foods that end up stored in your butt and thighs.
Here are the two things that you must make sure of before a visit to the grocery store:
1. Eat A Nutritious Meal Before You Go Grocery Shopping
When you go to the store on an empty stomach and hungry, you will be very likely to subconsciously grab the worst foods for you. Typically these are the foods full of sugar that spike your insulin levels fast, or the ones that are laden with fats (and/or trans fats) that fill you up quickly but wreak havoc with your health.
We don't want that to happen! So what are we going to do? Right; we will make sure to have eaten properly before going to the store to do our grocery shopping. Have low glycemic index carbs like brown rice, yams or oatmeal combined with a lean protein like chicken, turkey or lean fish, and then some vegetables.
In this manner, you won't be hungry and there will be less temptation to grab the foods you need to fulfill that hunger, which will leave you with a refrigerator full of unhealthy groceries, and most likely leave your physique with a few pounds of fat added to it.
2. Do Not Go Grocery Shopping When You Are Feeling Down
Also, don't go grocery shopping when you are sad or emotional. If you do, you will be very likely to grab "comfort foods", as most people use food for comforting. Leave it to another day, when you are feeling better, or give someone else a grocery list and have them shop for you (good test to see how much your significant other cares for you).
If you follow this smart preparation before you are on your way to get those groceries, the problem of subconsciously getting unhealthy foods into your home is now solved!
Beware Of Food Labels!
Now, I am going to share with you the solution to one of the biggest reasons people gain weight in fat when they are trying to lose weight. How often do you hear that someone is trying to lose fat, but instead she gained fat and doesn't have a clue why that happened as she was "eating healthy"? I will tell you why. It is because labels are misleading!
The companies producing the foods are misleading you to think a food product is healthy, when it is really (absolutely) not. This is why they do it; the food production companies realized people are trying harder and harder to lose that stubborn fat.
With their unhealthy products, they noticed a decrease in sales, since people were looking for healthier alternatives. The solution to get an increase in sales again: show their food products to be healthier than before.
And this is how they do it; by the clever manipulation of words, and words only. They use words which are not lies, but that are absolutely misleading, to make their food products LOOK healthy, or healthier than before. Don't believe me? Not a problem, I will give you a few examples:
Example 1: Fat-Free, Preservative-Free Cookies
Did you see the boxes of cookies (even chocolate ones) lately? They will read: "Fat-free, gluten-free, no preservatives or artificial flavors". Is this true? Yes, it is. But, if we look on the back side of the package to read the ingredients ourselves, what does it say? Most probably the first word you'll find will be SUGAR, or high glucose-fructose corn syrup. So it's pretty much all sugar! Is this healthy; absolutely not.
Example 2: Low-Carb Cookies Or Candy Bars
This is the reverse of the first example. Here what they do is that there are fats in the cookies, but glycerine and maltitol are used to sweeten them. Though these two ingredients do not have an impact in blood sugar levels, they do have calories! However, the FDA allows such products to claim they are "low carb".
In addition, if you look at the fats contained in these foods, they are typically partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats)! This is neither healthy nor will it help you attain your fitness goals.
Tips To Making Sure That What You Are Buying Is Good
1. Look At The Ingredients!
The first ingredient on an ingredient list is the one which is most present in the food product; the last on the list is the one with the lowest percentage of all ingredients of the food products. This is the only way you can see exactly what is inside everything!
Even if the package reads "Trans fats free" if you read on the ingredients list that there is some "partially hydrogenated oil" then that means that each serving may have up to 0.4 grams of trans fats.
By law, companies can get away with that. The unfortunate situation is that if you have more than one serving then those trans fats can start adding up quickly and these fats wreak havoc on your health and your physique!
2. Focus On Choosing Natural Foods
Always try to use natural foods. Canned or pre-prepared foods usually contain too much fats, sodium and sugars. For example your typical deli meats are too high in fats (as we learned in the examples above), are way too high in sodium, and even are added with sugar to sweeten them!
How To Cook Your Food
You can have chicken breast, rice and vegetable as a meal, all in the right proportion, and still have a non-nutritious, unhealthy and even fattening meal. How is this possible? If you don't prepare foods the right way you can inadvertently add too many fats, sodium and sugars to what should be a healthy meal and this will have a counter effect on your body, instead of achieving the physique you would like to achieve for yourself.
The right way to cook your food is by grilling or steaming it, or by baking it in fat free Pam spray.
1. Grilling Your Food
By grilling your food, you don't need oil or butter to prevent the food from sticking to the pan, since in or on a grill, food doesn't stick.
2. Steaming Your Food
By steaming your food (think of vegetables), you are keeping as much nutrients in the food as you can. For example, after boiling broccoli in a pan with water, have you seen how the water turns green? Those are the nutrients that got lost in the water.
3. Baking Your Food
By baking food in a pan with fat free Pam spray, you can bake your food without the added calories and bad fats from heated oil or butter. This is also a great way to prepare your food.
How and When To Eat Which Foods and Why
It is very important, to know what kind of food is great or not good in the morning, before or after a workout or before going to bed. The time of the day does matter when it comes to eating.
Pre-Workout Meal Foods
A pre-workout meal for example can be very different than a post-workout meal. For example, it's OK to have good fats before a workout, but absolutely not immediately after a workout.
Good fats, such as extra virgin olive oil, fish oils or flax seed oil are good as they slow down the digestion and nutrient uptake in addition to providing you with essential fatty acids (EFAs) that not only provide multiple health benefits but also help you lose fat and gain muscle tone.
Post-Workout Meal Foods
However, immediately after a workout, you need to replenish your body with protein and some higher glycemic (fast released) carbs. So you don't need good fats to slow down the uptake of the nutrients as your body needs carbohydrates and proteins as fast as possible!
Morning And Evening Time Meal Foods
It's good to have medium carbs and medium-high protein in the morning, while it's better to have medium-high protein and none-very low simple carbs in the evening before going to bed.
Low good fats can be OK before going to bed, but absolutely not for breakfast. This is because, at night you don't need energy, since you'll be going to bed soon. The energy you don't burn gets stored as fat! Carbohydrates and good fats give you energy but because at night you don't need them, it is best to reserve them for the morning time and the other times I just described above.
Click Image To Enlarge. Author, Mercedes Khani.
Women Have To Eat Differently Than Men
You must have heard of the saying, "You are what you eat." There is a good point being made there. Imagine eating a little something in the morning, grab a snack later, have a sandwich at lunch, whatever you can find nearby in your lunch break, to snack a little until dinner, after which a few bites here and there won't be left out before going to bed. This way, there is no thought about the right food at the right time, the right preparation, quantities, etc.
There is no real plan about what to eat when. It is not under control. If you follow such a haphazard plan, then I guarantee you that your body will not be under your control.
Let's take a look at our "you are what you eat" rule. If you look at cows, they look strong and robust. Red meat has more fat than lean fish. Men typically have lower body fat than women. They also usually prefer the more robust, strong look. It sounds logical for men to have more red meat in their "diet" than fish.
Women usually prefer the lean, slender, curvaceous look. Lean fish has less fat than red meat, so it helps women to lose more of that body fat. It also contains essential fatty acids, which also help to break down body fat. Therefore, we can achieve this look better by eating more lean fish than red meat.
Apply This Knowledge!
It always takes some knowledge, willpower and discipline to know what you want and actually do it too. Now that you know some of the important knowledge to achieve the body of your dreams, it's up to you to add willpower and discipline in the mix, to have those results you are trying to achieve.
I wish you the best in health, and stay motivated!