Shopping Tips Can Help Keep Weight Off

The grocery store -- with all those aisles devoted entirely to cookies and crackers, not to mention the candy calling out to you at the checkout stand -- may seem like the perfect place to ruin your diet.

But you can shop yourself skinny with a few simple ideas.

Shopping skinny starts with planning what you'll eat in a week.

"Some people don't want to do a list because they don't want to make a menu," said Alice Henneman, a registered dietitian and extension educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But making a week's menu will keep you from making impulse buys once you're in the store.

"The time you take to plan your meals before heading to the store will pay for itself in results at the end of the week. First, make a list of healthy meals that fit your diet and are highly appealing," Ann MacDonald wrote for Essortment.com.

Avoid Temptation Entirely

If you just can't push your cart past the bakery without buying something loaded with icing, consider shopping for groceries from home. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity found that study participants who ordered groceries from online retailers stocked their cupboards with 28 percent less high-fat foods than those who shopped in grocery stores.

Study co-author Amy Gorin, an assistant professor in the Psychology Center for Health Intervention and Prevention at the University of Connecticut, said there was no weight-loss difference in the study groups, but there was far less temptation in the kitchens of people who shopped online.

"The participants who did the online ordering said it helped them stop impulse purchases and make healthier choices," Gorin said.

Gorin said participants ordered food from Peapod.com. The site allows shoppers to compare nutrition labels for the foods.

Sites including Amazon.com and NetGrocer.com also offer online grocery stores. Gorin said the prices shouldn't be much more expensive than a brick-and-mortar store, though you will have to pay shipping.

Still, online grocery shopping can save money in other ways.

"You actually order less because you go look in the cupboard and make sure you don't have three boxes of rice already," she said.

Gorin is now in the middle of an 18-month study to expand understanding of the first. Results are expected in about a year.

Shop Smarter

Your weekly menu should mix up four food groups for each planned lunch and supper, according to Omaha Hy-Vee grocery dietitian Shelly Asplin.

Asplin said to think about visually dividing your dinner plate: half will be filled with non-starchy vegetables, such as squash, cauliflower or greens; a quarter of the plate holds lean protein, such as fish, chicken or lean beef; and a quarter is for a starch, such as potatoes or pasta. Leave just 5 percent of your meal's calories for healthy fat, such as olive oil or avocado.

"It's going to help (you) fill up more without the high calories on the main entree. Fruits and veggies fill your stomach without loading up calories," Asplin said.

Fiber is a good way to fill your stomach, Asplin said, so consider adding beans and high-fiber cereals to your shopping list. She also likes whole eggs -- yolk and all.

"Skip the bagel in the morning and fuel up with protein. It's going to stick with you longer," Asplin said. "I really believe in eating the whole egg because there are some valuable nutrients in the yolk that you don't get other places so easily."

Shop The Edges

Have you ever noticed how the packaged, processed foods stack up on grocery shelves? You can avoid a lot of empty calories by shopping a store's periphery, where the produce, meat and dairy are located, Michael Pollan writes in his book "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto."

The other thing you find much less of on the periphery is health claims, since fresh foods don't have a label.

"Consider that the healthiest foods in the supermarket -- the fresh produce -- are the ones that don't make FDA-approved health claims, which typically festoon the packages of the most highly processed foods," Pollan wrote in an article for Time magazine.

If you do venture down the aisles, scan above and below eye level. Manufacturers pay big money to get their newest products on the center shelves. That could bump less-trendy but still healthy items to the top or bottom shelf. To know for sure, read labels. "The food label can be a consumer's best shopping tool," according to the American Dietetic Association. "You can compare nutrients and ingredients between similar products, determine which nutrients the food contributes to your total diet, safe preparation methods and much more."

Asplin said there's room in every diet for a splurge. She suggests that you strive to be good with 80 percent of your grocery choices, and save 20 percent for cookies or cake or whatever your high-fat, high-sugar weakness food is. You can add those fun foods if you're smart.

"Avoid portion distortion. A muffin that you make at home would have 210 calories, but the size you get in a bakery is 500-plus calories," Asplin said.

In the snack aisle, baked chips may seem virtuous compared to fried, but there are better choices. Asplin said walnuts pack a serving of omega-3 fatty acids, which lower risk for heart disease, or low-fat or air-popped popcorn count as whole grains.