I read a Nerd Fitness article  and there is good stuff.

In a supermarket, the Matrix put a lot of traps to buy some junk foods. Here some tricks to avoid the Matrix’s traps.

The plan

You need a plan to succeed, it’s the basis. Create a list ! I use Evernote  to do my supermarket’s list but you can use a piece of paper or something else.

My list :

• Rice

• Pasta

• Olive oil

• Chicken

• Tuna

• Alaska pollock

• Vegetables

• Fruits

• Green tea

• Eggs

• Legumes

• Vitamines pills

May be it can help you to do your own list.

Don’t go to the supermarket with your stomack empty. It’s the best way to fall into all the Matrix’s traps to buy junk foods. Supermarkets put chemical odors intentionally to make you buy and with a full stomack, you avoid this trap like a champion.

Nutrition Label

Now we learn ingredients, we need to have a good judgment about nutrition lable. Luckily the most of healthy foods don’t have nutrition label like meat, fruits and vegetables.

If you buy something in bags and boxes, take 30 seconds to read the nutrition label. It’s crazy what you can find in foods today.

Here somethings you need to know about nutrition label :

• Don’t be scammed by the food’s name – « healthy food », « natural » shouldn’t blind you. Be sure it’s not a scam like Nestle’s Fitness or Kellogg’s Special K.

• Scan ingredients list – The first ingredient in the list make up the most of the product. Usually, the fewer ingredients, the better. Don’t be scammed by ingredients name with the mention « all natural ».

• This is not because it’s not written sugar that there aren’t inside – You know these cereals bars named « healthy » like Nestle Fitness cereal bars or Kellogg’s Special K cereals bars.

• Avoid high fructose corn syrup – Take whole grain bread and in some whole grain bread you will see in the first five ingredients « high frutose corn syrup ». Shit.

Your body is the only one you have, so take care about the foods you put inside.

Vegetables and fruits

A challenge ? Everytimes you go to the supermarket buy a new vegetable or fruit and learn to prepare it. If you don’t know the vegetable or you don’t know how to prepare it, use Google or DuckDuckGo  or you can ask to an employee. There is a lot of choice of vegetables and fruits in the world and we should take advantage of it.

Fish and meat

Don’t be afraid about meat’s fatty curs to save money. The enemy isn’t fat.

Select meats based on your goals. Beef’s fatty cuts is excellent to try to increase calorie levels to gain weight,. chicken breast’s boneless and skinless cuts is excellent to try to keep calories down to be lean.

You can buy bacon.

Tricks

• Frozen vegetables are excellent – If you hesitat between fresh vegetables and frozen vegetables, select frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables are good because they’re not bad, they’re easy to prepare and they’re cheap.
• Check weekly coupons – You can save some money on foods you usually buy because you can have a discount with another brand. It’s a exemple.
• Don’t be scammed by the sale price – Even if it’s « 10 for 10.- » usually you don’t need to buy 10 so don’t be scammed by the Matrix. Often, you can bu 3 and have access to the sale price.
• Have supermarket’s member card – It’s free and you can have huge discounts.
• Go to the supermarket next to your house – Vegetables and fruits can spoil quickly if you do a big trip so go to the supermarket next to your house.
• Buy in bulk – Very convenient to have a stock of fruits, vegetables, legumes, tuna can or peanut butter. All these things can be keep longtime, it’s cool.

Do you have some questions about supermarket ?

-Steph