Athletic Body Shopping List

You’d be surprised how much people in general know about nutrition and weight loss. The have read South Beach and Atkins and know about carbs, fats and proteins. Yet still they fail. Their weight yoyo’s and they never make any real progress. I used to get a little confused by this but then I realised its not their knowledge or their diet in general. It is their inability to do the shopping!

‘Huh? Shopping’s easy’. . that’s what I thought! But it turns out that people in their wisdom know what they should be buying and still they buy the opposite. They know they SHOULD buy veggies and lean meat and minimise grains and sugary processed foods. But still they persist in buying them! I think it is ingrained into people these days that when they go to the shop they must buy bread and milk. It must stem from childhood or something but it needs to stop if you really want improve your body, lose fat gain muscle whatever the case may be. In order to get real results your nutrition must be in order . . for your nutrition to be in order your SHOPPING list must be planned and arranged in advance. DON’T stray from it! If you buy junk you will eat junk. Simple as that!

Here’s an example of what an average shopping list looks like;

I’m going to have to write one as I don’t shop like this!

Bread

Milk

Eggs

Cereal

Cereal Bars

Yogurt

Biscuits

Rice

Pasta

Hamburger patties

Hamburger Buns

Coleslaw

Tomato Ketchup

Mayonnaise

Oven Fries

Chocolate

Ben and Jerrys ice cream

Total : $60 approx

Now Lets look at the healthy option!

Brown Bread

Low Fat Milk

Free range Eggs

Cereal

‘Low fat’ Cereal Bars

Low Fat Yogurt

Weight Watchers Biscuits

Brown Rice

Whole Wheat Pasta

100% beef Hamburger patties

Sesame Seed Hamburger Buns

Low Fat Coleslaw

Low Carb Tomato Ketchup

Reduced Fat Mayonnaise

‘Low Fat’ Oven Fries

‘only 100 calorie’ packets of Oreo Cookies

Small Tub of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream

Total: $85

It’s exactly the same just more expensive!! In order to get the point across I mad this generic shopping list but I’d say it looks awfully familiar to 90% of people! You have fallen into a trap set by the confectionary companies that’s literally costing you 100’s of dollars a month and costing you your health. Too many people think that the ‘low calorie option is the way forward! Think of it like this; if a product (I have chosen Oreos because the 100 calorie packet thing cracks me up) has ‘only 100 calories in each packet. You are definitely not going to feel as guilty. . and what is the result? you EAT 3 PACKETS!!! Its inevitable! And plus the fact is the product hasn’t changed. . IT’S STILL JUNK just in a smaller MORE EXPENSIVE packet! Ah I think it’s hilarious! Anyway back to the shopping lists!

Number 2 looks a lot better than list one yea? At a glance anyway! But when you really look into it you realise that everything is EXACTLY the same. The only difference in the products is

1) The packaging is more lightly coloured and labelled with ‘100 calorie’ claims

2) The packaging is smaller

3) You receive less of the product

4) It is more expensive

5) It may be ‘a little’ lower in fat but this is replaced with sugar! (which is worse)

Neither lists have anything lean and healthy in there (with the exception of the eggs).

1) No Lean Meat

2) No green Vegetables

3) Too many sources of processed carbohydrate

4) Too much carbohydrate period! (Unless this person is a marathon runner or a triathlete they definitely do need all of this FUEL)

5) Too much SUGAR

6) Sesame seed Buns? (Oh like thats your problem. . not enough sesame seeds in our diet)

7) Cereal bars (aka bars of sugar)

Garbage ‘low fat’ gimmicky products that will actually make you fatter than their ‘unhealthy’ counterparts.

Now here’s how a shopping list SHOULD look (its not perfect but its and improvement!

I have the actual shopping receipt attached below if you don’t believe me

J

Turkey Breasts

Turkey Mince

Steam Microwave Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower mix)

Roast chicken tikka pieces (diced fillet) (x3)

Cottage cheese (x 4)

Bacon bits (lean cuts for my omelettes)

Frikadellen meat balls

Peppers 3 pack (x 2)

Natural Yogurt

Cashews/ Salted nuts

Cashews/ Salted nuts

Total €27.42 ($35)

1) Plenty of lean meats

2) Plenty of fresh vegetables

3) Natural yogurt (if you must use artificial sweetener to sweeten it up)

4) Sides like cottage cheese (naturally high protein, low fat, low carb)

5) Nuts (buy small bags so you don’t eat them all !)

Now it is by no means perfect to look at and I did go to another store to get my

1) Blueberries

2) Inulin (fibre) rich sweetener

3) Spinach

4) Tuna

5) Salmon

6) Omega 3 eggs

This should give you a few ideas for your next shopping trip!