We’re currently in Week 2 of The Whole Life Challenge.

A healthy lifestyle game with the intent of improving 7 different areas which are linked to better health when focus is brought to them…

Sleep, hydration, nutrition, daily gratitude, exercise and stretching are the daily habits we’re practicing. While the game focuses on all of these areas the most talked about topic is nutrition.

As you can imagine there is so much information out there it’s hard to tell the good from the bullshit. The all meat diet, keto and paleo are just a few.

What I do have though is some principles around the way you shop which will help you make better decisions...

1. Stick to the outside of the supermarket. Generally all the items you need can be found on the outskirts of the shop. Fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry can all be found here. Sure there might be a couple of items here and there you need to go down the aisles to get but if most of your trolley is full of items from the perimeter of the shop you’re off to a good start.

2. If buying something in a can, jar or packet read the ingredients list. Not just the bit that tells you how many carbs or how much protein is in the item. The list of actual ingredients inside the can, jar or packet. If there is sugar, a name you cannot pronounce, something which is identified by a number or has more than 4 or 5 total ingredients don’t put it in your trolley. Next time you’re in the shops as an experiment pick up a couple of different tins of tomatoes and look how many ingredients are in there, it will surprise you…   

3. Have a plan when you go shopping. Failing to plan is planning to fail. The amount of people I see wandering aimlessly through the aisles amazes me. If you know what you want to get for a meal you are preparing or a weeks shopping it will take less time and provides less opportunity for you to accidentally slip something into the trolley which doesn’t meet criteria 1 or 2 above.  

Sure there is plenty more to it but if you stick with these basic principles you are at least starting on the right path…

Shaun Diachkoff

@shaundiachkoff