Supermarket Tips from THE WHOLE BODY RESET

Ever make a shopping list, then discover that what’s in your cart at checkout is about twice what you intended to buy? Or pop into the supermarket for milk and bread and come out with a box of weird chocolate doohickies?

 

Supermarkets are data-driven Venus flytraps, designed to lure us in and then envelop us in an inescapable embrace of consumerism. Their very layouts are cleverly designed to play with our minds.

 

Consider:

1. The produce is always right by the front door. Why? Because when you see it, you’re immediately given a boost of confidence in your health-focused shopping plan. In fact, you feel so good about those fruits and vegetables that you don’t mind piling a few extra boxes of snacks in your cart as you cruise the aisles.

 

2. The milk and eggs are always at the back. Don’t supermarkets realize that we all need to purchase dairy items on pretty much every trip? They do, which is why they want us to have to traverse a maze of brightly colored snackables before we find what we came for, all the better to tempt us with. You’ll also find the meat and seafood along the walls.

3. The middle of the store is a big waist-land. The perimeter of the store is where the most nutritious foods are found, while the center aisles—where it’s easy to get lost and confused— contain most of the refined foods. Here’s where a shopping list can really save you: When you dive into the middle passages, try to stick to what you’re there to buy, and read labels carefully.

 

4. The checkout aisle is the last temptation. Easy grab-and-go food is usually placed here, so even if you’ve stayed on-mission shopping healthy, you’ll be tempted to get a last-minute treat.