7 rules that will help you stay on your diet plan while grocery shopping

A supermarket is like the adult version of a toy store, and definitely the easiest place to lose track of your diet. While you might walk in to buy just one thing, it’s ridiculously easy to get lured into shopping for an entire cartful of groceries you don’t necessarily need. After all, how often has a trip down the aisles led your initial shopping list of whole foods, meats and veggies to extend towards frozen pizza, chocolates and that 12 pack of fizzy sodas you vow to only open when you have a party at home? And why is it that certain people can simply buy their healthy foods and walk out the door, while others find it extremely hard to avoid the lure of junk food? While this does have a lot to do with self-control (and the restrictions of a diet, especially one where a nutritionist is following up on your progress), there are a couple of other factors that can take your grocery shopping from unhealthy to healthy. We spoke to two experts—a celebrity nutritionist and a food strategist at a leading supermarket—for their views on how to stay on the track when shopping for groceries. Here’s what they had to say.

Look at the ingredient list on the packet

“Lesser ingredients at the back of a product means lesser preservatives and chemicals,” says Swasti Aggarwal, food strategist, Foodhall. Aggarwal is responsible for creating healthy food recipes for the stores and their in-house cafe. What’s the easiest way to make sense of what you read on the list? “Ingredients that sound like non-food stuff or numbers and alphabets are usually not natural,” she says. Luke Coutinho, a holistic lifestyle coach, agrees with her. “As said by Jamie Oliver, ‘Real food does not have ingredients, real food is ingredients.’ Try to choose foods with a shorter ingredient list because longer lists may hide things that your body does not need. Foods with a short list tend to be closer to nature (healthier with more natural ingredients),” says Coutinho.

It also pays to beware of those food packages you add to cart simply because you find them amusing. “Bright packaging, lot of graphics, cartoons, superhero pictures, glitters? Get suspicious! Most companies use these tricks to draw your attention, and you get so carried away that you forget flipping the cover to read the contents,” he says. His tips on analysing the ingredient list: “The first ingredient on the package is what the product is primarily comprised of. So if the first ingredient is sugar, the product is majorly made up or sugar. The same goes for refined wheat flour. If you are confused about what to look at while reading labels [to know what to avoid], look for keywords like artificial flavours/colouring, partially hydrogenated oil, trans fat, MSG (or hydrolysed vegetable protein) and high fructose corn syrup. [Beware of these] because our body just doesn’t know how to break down and metabolise these synthetic ingredients.”

Keep in mind that sugar can be masked under many other names

Coutinho shares a long list of ingredients that are actually just sugar—look out for these when you go shopping. This includes terms like sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, corn syrup, caramel, fruit juice concentrate, ethyl maltol and maple syrup.

Stay away foods that say ‘fat-free’, ‘sugar-free’, ‘oil-free’, ‘diet’ and ‘lite’ on their labels

There’s almost always a catch when a usually unhealthy food comes with a ‘fat-free’ or ‘diet’ label. While it might actually be free of fat, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy. “Fat-free anything usually means it has some sugar, salt or preservatives to balance the fat content,” informs Aggarwal. “A sugar-free biscuit doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy,” adds Coutinho. “It may have artificial sweeteners (which are more dangerous) to show the total sugar content as zero. Also, since fat has flavour, in order to makeup for the taste, companies pump the product with excess salt and sugar. Gluten-free flour doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy either. They often contain starchy substitutes, fillers and additives like transglutaminase, which can create havoc in the gut. Instead, choose naturally gluten-free grains like amaranth and millets.”

Go local as much as possible

“Buy local produce—chances are they are not from a cold storage and haven’t been preserved for a while,” advises Aggarwal. “You may be feeling happy about buying a box of blueberries, but is that really a healthy choice?” asks Coutinho. “Blueberries are not local to India and are transported miles away, coated in preservatives, to increase shelf life. This leaves no nutrition in them. Have a preference for buying what grows locally and seasonally, because [these foods] give you nutrition and worth every penny. It is actually fun and easy because we save a lot of time from deciding what to cook and eat. We just decide based on what the land and season gives us.”

Follow ‘the fresher, the better’ mantra

“Buy fresh fresh fruit, veggies, meat etc. Avoid packaged and frozen products,” says Aggarwal. “Go to a trusted store that believes in great ingredients and quality.” Coutinho talks about the benefits of shopping from a farmers’ market. “By the time spinach leaves are plucked from the farm, transported and displayed on the shelf [of a supermarket], they lose a majority of their nutrition. It is always a good choice to buy easily perishable foods like fruits and vegetables from farmers’ markets instead of supermarkets, because they come from farms that are close by and fresh. The fruits and vegetables from farmers’ market may not look pretty, but they are real and that’s how food should look.”

Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry

“[If you’re hungry when you head to a grocery store] you always end up buying more! It’s similar to how you order more at a restaurant if you are very hungry,” says Aggarwal. According to her, the appeal for indulgence and the fact that you shouldn’t eat certain foods makes you want to eat them more. “Foods that are high in salt and sugar are more addictive than healthy foods, which can divert your attention to them.” Coutinho adds, “Offers, sales or free gifts and flashy banners or packaging can also make you choose unhealthy food options. You do end up buying the wrong kind of food when you’re hungry and grocery shopping. It is called impulsive buying. When we are hungry, our ability to make healthier decisions diminishes. Chances are that you will reach out for ready-to-eat stuff more than raw ingredients because you will have no patience to get home and cook a meal. Also, when we feel hungry and our energy levels start to dip, chances of reaching out for something sugary and salty are higher, because these food items give us a high almost instantly.”

Go shopping with a recipe in mind

“If you want specific products, go in with a recipe in mind [and you’ll find yourself looking at only those aisles]. Entering a store without a recipe or plan in mind is what makes you overspend,” says Aggarwal. According to Coutinho, “ carrying a recipe does result in focused buying but it is not always practical, because most of us go for weekly shopping. However, if one manages to keep a simple menu for a week, this strategy helps and that is how it should be. Humans are spoilt for variety and need a different menu for every meal. Having a plan or list prevents multiple trips to the store, and saves time too.”

Also read:

6 keto diet-friendly recipes that are perfect for when you’re on the go

The secret to Padma Lakshmi’s amazing skin is her green juice recipe

What makes the Mediterranean diet one of the healthiest in the world?