Can you guess what place I’m talking about?  It’s the grocery store – a mecca of temptation and a cathedral to all that is filled with fat.  We walk into the grocery store and, like clockwork, we emerge an hour later our shopping cart overflowing with deli meats, processed foods and that chocolate cake we just couldn’t say no to in the bakery.  Not to mention the chips, candy bars and Ho-Ho’s we managed to slide into the cart as well – after all, they were on sale!

Good grief – is it no wonder we as a nation are fat?  It’s not like fattening, unhealthy food is all the grocery store sells.  It’s just that we have this big shopping cart, and the displays are so tempting.  I’ve always said its too bad the produce department can’t get some of the folks who market the Ding Dong’s to help them come up with an ad campaign sometime.  The sale of asparagus would go through the roof!

If I’ve learned anything over the years is that when it comes to the grocery store you have to know how to play the game.  We all know by now that the healthiest foods are normally found on the perimeter of the store – and that the processed, bad stuff is usually found in the middle.  Of course, the grocery stores know that we know, so they have started to rearrange a few things.  Notice how the bakery is now to the right of the front door?  And those frozen food displays, they someone managed to go from the middle of the store to along the wall.  How convenient.

The good news is you can win at this battle in the grocery store.  You can not only eat right, but you can also get in a mini-workout at the same time.  It’s simple – just say “no thanks” to the shopping cart and pick up a shopping basket!  With this one move you’ve made it a lot harder to pile up on the bad stuff, and a lot easier to burn a few calories while shopping. 

Think about it for a moment.  When you go to the grocery store you usually go because you need something.  Maybe you need some tomatoes, flour, some bread.  The problem is when you leave you have piled your cart full of other stuff, and in the process you forgot all about the tomatoes, flour and bread!  I was terrible at this – the local grocery stores used to love to see me coming because they knew their profits were going to be up the day!  So that’s when I decided to ditch the cart, pick up a basket and take matters into my own hands – literally!

With a basket I tend to focus on what I came into the store for.  There simply isn’t enough room in that basket to load it down with junk food or impulse purchases.  Of course this means I make more shopping trips per month than most, but that is OK.  I look at them as a time to get in a little mini-workout carrying my basket around, walking through the store.  Who would have thought it – eating right and getting some exercise all at the same time!

My friend Randy Pickard, who has been involved in retail for many years and is what one might call an expert in shopping baskets, told me that on average shopping baskets have went from something that was an afterthought in many stores to now being scattered around the store, ready for you to grab at a moment’s notice, and they are getting bigger!  I guess the stores figured if they couldn’t force us to take a cart, they might as well make the basket a bit bigger to encourage us to shop!

Give it a shot next time; skip the cart and pick up the basket.  Then when you get home take a look at what you bought.  I’ll guarantee your shopping mix is going to be healthier than what you would have brought home before.  Instead of chips, boxed foods and the sort you’ll probably find you stuck more to the fresh foods, cooking staples and healthy meats. 

So what are you waiting for?  Let’s go Krogering!

Yet, I don’t feel guilty.  Not one bit.

I know a lot of people who just beat themselves up when they indulge on something – especially when they are trying to lose weight or get in shape.  Often times they will indulge for whatever reason (maybe they went to a friend’s house or out on the town for a night, or maybe they just felt like ice cream) and that is the breaking point for their fitness goals.  They throw up their hands in the air the next day and just say “I can’t do it!” 

It’s easy to give up, but I have found it’s even easier to say “Yeah, I ate it – so what?” and move on.  Let’s face it folks if you try to take away all the foods that are bad for you, or take away all the foods you love the most you are just setting yourself up for failure.  That’s a primary reason why I never believed in any type of diet – take away the food people enjoy and they are already 99% of the way to failure.

I subscribe to the fact that as a general rule you should include a wide variety of foods in your diet.  Make your meals well-balanced and include fruits and vegetables aplenty in your daily intake.  Personally, I just love steamed broccoli on the vegetable side and apples on the fruit side.  Mix it up – but don’t run away from food.

Now before you think I’m saying to just eat anything you want, in whatever quantities you want let me stop you right there.  I’m not saying sit down everyday and just stuff yourself or run to McDonald’s or Burger King and think you are going to lose weight.  What I am saying is that McDonald’s and Burger King are OK once or twice a month.  The other 28 days in the month you have to practice self-control and know that these are “treats” and not everyday meals.  Have a craving for a hamburger?  Instead of the the calorie-rich, fat-laden Double Whopper w/ Cheese, why not make a turkey burger at home with some avocado on a wheat bun, or how about cooking up a lean hamburger and dressing it up with some salsa, lettuce and even a few olives thrown on for good measure?  Not only are you going to cut your calorie consumption by 66%, these burgers are going to be so good and so delicious that you may swear of Burger King forever! 

I always give myself one “indulge” day a week.  I know this is my day to have a special treat for myself, or maybe to eat a little unhealthy.  The great part about it is when it’s all said and done – I don’t beat myself up over it!  In fact, I usually feel pretty good about myself because I know overall I’m still zooming right along towards my goal.

In fact, today, the day after my Cheetos episode, I planned my day around my indulgence.  I added an extra apple as a snack, and ate a very low-fat lunch.  For breakfast I had my usual banana and toast with a little bit of peanut butter.  Here it is 6:00PM and I’m not starving at all – I’ll have some chicken and other vegetables and a salad for dinner and be fine.

So stop beating yourself up and enjoy food like Julia Child told us to do.  As long as you are making steady progress towards your goals it is all good.  Just make sure that your indulgences don’t turn into an everyday affair and you will be just fine. 

We all need some McDonald’s fries at least once every few months!

Photo courtesy of Apple Blossom Photography on Flickr