Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution - Couverture souple

Zinczenko, David; Goulding, Matt

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1605298387 ISBN 13 : 9781605298382

Editeur : Rodale Books, 2008

Synopsis

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Roll your cart down the aisle and you’ll be assaulted by bright lights, enticing smells, and row upon row of shameless hucksterism (“9 vitamins and minerals! Everyone’s a winner!”). That’s fine when the stakes are low, but going home with a 5-foot-tall Kung Fu Panda is far less important than going home with a trunk filled with food that will slim down that grizzly bear of a belly.
 
The truth is, the grocery store is your first stop in building a healthy lifestyle for you and your family. But it’s also a business. Supermarkets are designed to make you spend as much money as possible, often on high-margin products loaded with cheap ingredients and non-nutritive calories. Major food conglomerates are far more concerned with their bottom lines than your waistline, and as a result, their foods are filled out with cheap, nutritionally sparse ingredients like refined white flour, hydrogenated oils, and hundreds of additives, preservatives, and sweeteners derived from staple crops like corn and soy.
 
The key to any good offense is a solid defense. You may be a well-meaning shopper, but without a thoroughly planned attack, an innocent weekly grocery run can turn into an all-out assault on your health and your finances. Thankfully, mastering the supermarket is far easier than outsmarting a carny. Smart shoppers share a set of characteristics, and by pawing through the research and spending countless hours in supermarkets, we’ve finally managed to crack the code. Adopt these 7 Habits of Highly Effective Shoppers and you’ll be well on your way to being a master of the modern-day market.
 
1 Make Cash King
 
A 2010 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research tracked the grocery-shopping habits of 1,000 households over 6 months and found that shoppers who paid with cash bought fewer processed foods and more nutritious items than those who opted to use credit. The credit users not only bought more junk, they also spent an average of 59 to 78 percent more on their grocery bills. The explanation: Credit and debit cards are more abstract forms of payment, so you don’t use them as carefully as you do cash. The $4 price tag on a box of cheese crackers doesn’t mean much when you don’t have to think about the money that’s about to leave your wallet, and as such, credit-card users are far more likely to make impulsive decisions in the aisles. Plan to drop by the ATM before your next supermarket trip.
 
2 Snack Before Spending
 
It’s a no-brainer that an empty belly leads to increased food cravings, but hunger may also affect your decision-making skills more generally. In a 2010 study, researchers at University College London discovered that hungry participants made riskier gambling decisions than those who were satiated, leading the investigators to argue that the hormones your body releases when you’re hungry influence your ability to think rationally. That means you’re more likely to risk your health on bonbons than you are to invest in bananas, and once you get home, you’re forced to live with the repercussions of that decision. The bottom line: An empty stomach is the enemy of rational shopping. Plan your market trips to fall right after meals, or fortify yourself by eating a handful of fiber-rich nuts just before shopping.
 
3 Enable your grocery GPS
 
Before you get in your car to drive some-where you’ve never been, what do you do? You write down directions. Okay, you probably tap the address into an iPhone or an onboard GPS, but the objective is the same: You’re trying to make all the right turns that will lead you to your destination. Similarly, if your destination is a healthy body and an affordable grocery tab, you need directions. The supermarket is a highly complex thoroughfare, and every turn brings you closer to or further from the body you want. Creating a grocery list helps you stay focused on what you want to buy, leaving you less susceptible to marketing tactics and impulse purchases.
 
4 Shop on Wednesdays
 
Most people leave their grocery shopping for Saturday or Sunday mornings, when the supermarket looks more like a ravaged battlefield than a center of commerce. Consider making midweek evening runs, instead. According to Progressive Grocer, only 11 percent of Americans shop on Wednesdays, and on any given day, only 4 percent shop after 9:00 p.m. So if you’re shopping at, say, 9:00 p.m. on a Wednesday, you’re able to get in and out quickly, which means you’ll spend less time fighting impulse items in both the aisles and at the checkout line. As a bonus, you’ll free up your Saturday morning for something more enjoyable, like cooking a healthy breakfast.
 
5 Take your cart for a stroll
 
Pushing a shopping cart instead of carrying a basket may help you make smarter supermarket choices. A study published in the Journal of Marketing Research found that, all other things being equal, the strain of carrying a basket made shoppers more likely to reach for quick-grab impulse items—like the crackers and chips concentrated at eye level in the aisle. If you’re lugging around a heavy basket, you’re not taking the time to read labels and reach for more nutritious foods.
 
6 Bring your reading glasses
 
With the exception of alcohol, every packaged food and beverage in the super-market has an ingredients statement. By law, the more of an ingredient a product contains according to weight, the higher it appears on that list, so effective shoppers learn to ignore front-of-label claims and read ingredients statements instead. Claims like “made with whole grain” and “reduced fat” can fool you into thinking you’re making healthy choices, but if your “reduced fat” food lists sugar as the first—or second or third—ingredient, then it’s not doing you any favors. A good general rule for label scanning: The fewer the ingredients, and the easier those ingredients are to pronounce, the better.
 
7 Live on the edge
 
For practical and economic reasons, most supermarkets in America live by the same organizational principles. Long-lasting boxed and bagged foods end up in the center aisles, while perishable, single-ingredient foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and dairy live along the outer walls. And that’s where you should live, too. Every time you enter the supermarket, make a full lap around the outer wall before making strategic inner-aisle strikes for things like oatmeal and whole-grain crackers. The more time you spend working the perimeter, the healthier you’ll be. To better understand the subtle ways supermarket organization can trick you into spending cash on empty calories, turn to an Anatomy of a Supermarket.
 
Are Healthy Food Stores Making You Fat?
 
One supermarket trend we really like: It’s easier than ever to buy better-tasting food— that’s also better for you. Case in point: the wide selection of all-natural, organic products and high-quality specialty items at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, and the Fresh Market. We say kudos to them. And to the patrons who seek them out. But beware: These 21st-century “health food” stores can actually trick you into eating less healthfully. How? By making bad-for-you food even more appealing. Your best defense: knowledge. That’s why we uncovered the secret ways these supermarkets supersize your stomach.
 
1.     THEY DRIVE YOUR SENSES SENSELESS.Those delicious in-store product samples that you find in every specialty supermarket? They not only whet your appetite for the product, but also encourage you to buy more food overall, according to a study from Arizona State University. In fact, the research indicates that even the smell of cooking food might contribute to this effect. The stores are well aware of this. In fact, the Fresh Market invites you to “help yourself to a sample of freshly brewed coffee” and brags that “fragrant smells fill the atmosphere.”
 
2.     THEY DRIVE CALORIE COUNTS UNDERGROUND. When you buy a package of cookies, the complete nutrition information is listed. But when you buy cookies made at an in-store bakery, you won’t find calorie counts. That goes for all the bakery items, from the “gourmet muffins” at the Fresh Market, to the “bakery fresh chocolate chip cookies” at Trader Joe’s, to the “gluten-free vanilla cupcakes” at Whole Foods. For perspective, just one of those Whole Foods cupcakes packs 480 calories. (The calorie count is listed online, but not in the store.) Knowing those numbers is critical: University of Missis-sippi researchers found that unhappy people —who are more likely to overindulge in comfort foods—ate 69 percent fewer calories when they checked the calorie content before digging in.
 
3.     THEY MAKE THE JUNK LOOK GOURMET. Ever notice that more-expensive products tend to come in fancier packages? Researchers at the University of Michigan recently found that food purveyors may actually use fancy fonts and labels to help justify higher prices. The scientists theorize that attractive fonts and labels give people the perception that they are getting more value for the higher cost.
 
4.     THEY BASK IN THE HEALTH HALO. Do you consider products from specialty supermarkets to be healthier than those from other grocery stores? If the answer is yes, you could be doing your waistline a disservice. When people guess the number of calories in a sandwich coming from a “healthy” restaurant, they estimate that it has, on average, 35 percent fewer calories than they do when it comes from an “unhealthy” restaurant, according to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research. Remember that the next time you reach for that package of Whole Foods’ Organic Fruit & Nut Granola. One cup of this “healthy” product contains almost 500 calories.
 
 
5.     THEY BULK YOU UP “IN BULK.” On the Fresh Market Web site, the store claims to have the largest bulk snack selection “in town.” But be careful what you buy in this bulk section: It may cause you to look like you fit in there. Why? By filling your own bag with a big scoop, you’ll likely underestimate how much you’ve served yourself. Case in point: A Cornell University study found that nutritionists who were asked to serve themselves ice cream with large bowls and spoons dished out about 57 percent more than those given smaller bowls and spoons. Buy basic staples like spices, grains, and legumes in bulk, but make sure your snacks always come with serving sizes and calorie counts.
 
6.     THEY BUFFET YOUR BELLY WITH BUFFETS. If you’re watching your weight, don’t step near the Whole Foods buffet. Cornell University researchers found heavier diners tend to overindulge in buffet settings. (Surprise!) Our real beef: While Whole Foods lists selections’ ingredients on the buffet’s ID labels, it doesn’t provide nutrition information for any of them. And yes, one of the items is macaroni and cheese—or “pasta and cheese” as the chain calls it.

Présentation de l'éditeur :

You can burn fat and sculpt the body you've always wanted-and even save money in the process-without dieting. All you need is the insider's guide to smart, healthy, low-cost food choices. And now, the right choices are simple!

From the produce section to the frozen-food aisle, the modern supermarket is loaded with 50,000 food choices, all vying for your hard-earned money. N wonder it's hard to know what to buy. But with Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, the smart answers are right in your hands. No more fake "healthy" foods. No more rip-off supermarket "bargains." No more disappointing meals. And most important of all, no more extra pounds!

Did you know:

- A cup of Quaker 100% Natural Granola Oats, Honey, and Raisins contains more calories than 8 chicken wings? (Save 280 calories a day by switching to our preferred choice)

- Choosing Rice Krispies Treats over Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars will cut your sugar and calorie intake nearly in half? (With this switch, you could lose a pound every 7 weeks!)

- Regular bacon is actually better for you than turkey bacon? (Find other deceptive "healthy" foods and the delicious ones you should be eating instead.

With this simple illustrated guide to thousands of foods-along with the nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss-you'll make the smartest choice for you and your family, every time!

Additional features in Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide include:

- 6 Supermarket Shopping Strategies
- 11 Secrets the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
- The 20 Worst Packaged Foods in America
- Master the Produce Aisle: Your Guide to Greens (and other colors)
- Your Organic Primer
- The Pantry Label Decoder
- And more!

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Rodale Books
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1605298387
• ISBN 13: 9781605298382
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 336