Did you know that grocery stores strategically place their products?
Supermarkets are intended to make you spend more money and time inside. They conceal the healthy things on the obscure shelves in the sections no one visits in order to create food traffic and lure people into purchasing things they don’t need.
To shop smarter you need to know what to look for when you go grocery shopping and know where to find it. Doing this will keep you on the right path toward healthy, less toxic living.
Use these tips to shop smarter:
#1: Look high and low.
Sections are divided as follows from the bottom to top: bulk – lower profit yielding and obscure products – kid appealing foods and packaging – adult foods – and healthy foods ALL the way at the top.
This puts the kid-friendly, sugary products at kid eye level and the expensive branded products at your level. The food that doesn’t earn the store much money will be passed over for stuff that doesn’t need too much bending or stretching to reach.
More often than not, you will find the products with the least amount of sugar or sodium on the bottom and top shelves. Bend and stretch to get the most bang for your buck and healthier choices for your body.
#2: Make a scouting trip.
One crucial step in the process of changing your shopping habits is to make a quick scouting trip, at your own pace, and explore where things are. If you have moved to a new town and are about to hit that super stocked store, go for one particular thing, take your time searching for it, and get out. Once you are inside the store, you can walk at an unhurried pace and take a mental note how the supermarket store is sectioned off. This will prevent those hurried impulse buys of less healthy choices when you are pressed for time.
#3: Ask questions.
If you are lost, or the store moved something since your first scouting trip, do not be afraid to ask the sales assistant for directions. Asking them will often result in a faster route through the store that avoids all of those unnecessary, unhealthy items.
#4: Be cautious of healthy labels.
Remember specific products are placed at eye-level for a reason. Even those advertised as healthy choices that may be chock full of other ingredients. Do some research online first for truly “good-for-you” brands and find out what retailers carry them.
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