Healthy eating starts at the supermarket. After all, it's much easier to stick to a diet when your kitchen is stocked with good-for-you food. But it can be hard to resist filling your cart with chips, candy, and cookies especially when grocery stores are designed to make you buy (and eat!) more.
So how can you stay on track? You probably already know to avoid the supermarket when you're hungry, shop from your list and try to stick to the store's perimeter as much as possible.
But even with the best intentions all the temptations can be hard to resist...
- Tantalizing smells from the bakery.
- End caps filled with bargain priced sodas and chips.
- Check outs lined with buy one get one snickers bars and peanut butter cups.
- Not to mention the freshly baked bread—right there by the checkout line.
So the easiest way to resist the temptation of discounts, displays, enticing bakery smells, and free samples may be to just skip the store altogether. Many stores now offer the option to order online and pick up in-store or have your items delivered.
It is a convenience I had never really considered until recently, when at my weekly weight loss support meeting, Christine shared how excited she was about Clicklist, our local Fry's online shopping/pickup service. She said it was helping her stay on track with both her budget and healthy eating goals. She followed up a few days later with this email...
"We are just getting ready to pickup our 2nd order on Clicklist via Internet. It is so convenient to buy the items we bought already before at Fry’s, basically sitting on the couch and not getting tempted to buy items that are not really needed…."~ Christine
Advantages of Online Shopping When You Are Trying to Eat Better and Lose Weight
Online grocery shopping is one of the most convenient things ever. All you need to do is click "add to cart" and you're one step closer to getting your weekly meal prep done.
You can avoid the olfactory cues of freshly baked goods like doughnuts and bread. Somehow buying bread online is much less appealing than buying it warm and fresh from the bakery.
You are less likely to toss a package of chocolate chip cookies into your virtual shopping cart.
According to this Huffington Post article,
A small study from the University of Connecticut monitored 28 women who bought groceries online from Peapod’s service for eight weeks, and found that they were much more likely to stick to their shopping list and lose weight in the process.
“We found by using the online service people were really able to cut back on the amount of high fat foods they had in their home, reduced it by up to 40 percent,” lead study author Amy Gorin told NBC Connecticut. “We also found the more times people used the ordering service the better their weight losses were, so there was an association there.”
More About Fry's ClickList® Online Grocery Shopping/Pickup Service
ClickList® is an online grocery ordering service from Fry's. Now you can shop online for the products you need and pick up your order at the store from the convenience of your car! Our associates will even bring out your order and load it into your car.
Videos About ClickList Grocery PickUp...
In this video Melea shows her experience with using Clicklist..
Comments from ClickList On Line Shopping Users:
"I have used Clicklist several times, even a few times when my kids were sick, so that was awesome. I love it because obviously it saves me time, but also so much money! I'm such an impulse buyer. I'll remember random things we need or find things that sound good or are on sale and I'll just get them. If I go to the store I typically spend about $120. When I do clicklist, it's more like $60-70. It's a huge savings for me!! Plus I make my list through the week since it saves my cart. Huge fan of it."
"I use clicklist all the time and I love it! It was literally a life saver when I just had my baby! I was able to order online and have my husband pick it up on his way back from work."
"I have used the ClickList option several times! I like how they track items you frequently purchase and you can click to add those to your cart without searching for them. I like the substitutions if they do not have the right item or quantity of products you are requesting in your online cart. Definite time saver!!!??"
I love it!! It's a life changer! I love seeing my total online as I'm adding groceries to my cart so I can stay within my budget. I also love that I can order same day now. It's amazing!?
"I recently had back surgery so this was a perfect time to try click List. I thought the choices were great as was all of our quality on the produce. My husband loved it as it saved him a ton of time!!! It is awesome."
Sources:
Fitness Magazine
Huffington Post
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CyndiM
I have been doing this for several years. We have Harris Teeter locally, which charges a small fee for shopping. Also, our local Walmart has started doing it, and it's free! I wish more grocery stores offered this service. Just drive up to the designated area at your scheduled time and they load the car for you and take care of payment right at the driver's seat. They do a decent job with shopping produce. HT also allows you to make notes on each item (for example, I want bananas that are green on the top, or I want small chicken breasts, not big ones), and also calls you if they don't have what you want, to find out what you'd like to do -- WM makes substitutions without notifying you until you pick up. In both cases, they make price accommodations on substitutions, giving you the better deal. I'm not convinced that it takes any less time to shop online than physically in the store, because the online ordering process can be awkward (and you can't always see the labels clearly if you're trying to buy a product you're not familiar with), but the other benefits outweigh that part. I remember sitting in a Weight Watchers meeting a couple years ago talking about it, and someone called me LAZY for shopping this way! That really upset me. I don't go to the grocery store to count steps. It's easier to stay on budget, you still get all the sale prices, and there is ZERO impulse shopping, making food choices more mindful and healthier. This is honestly one thing that makes our weight loss efforts easier. Lazy? I think not. Smart, definitely!
Martha McKinnon
Cyndi,
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences with online shopping. I agree that online grocery shopping is not the least bit LAZY, but very SMART when your intention is to avoid the temptations and impulse purchases lurking throughout the store and stay on track with your health & weight loss goals!