Exclusive Content

The next time you find yourself diving into a tub of high-fat ice cream — and devouring the entire thing — ask yourself how it even found its way into your freezer.

No matter how much you spend on weight-loss books, exercise machines and diet plans you are your own best friend and mortal enemy when it comes to stocking your fridge and cupboards, says Melina Jampolis, M.D., a board-certified internist and physician nutrition specialist. To make sure that the so-called bad stuff never makes it home, Jampolis, author of The No-Time-to-Lose Diet: The Busy Person’s Guide to Permanent Weight Loss (Thomas Nelson, 2007) offers her patients the following four smart supermarket-shopping strategies.
1. Eat first. “Never shop hungry,” says Jampolis. Fuel up pre-trip with a lean protein snack, such as turkey slices, fat-free cheese or an energy bar.

2. Don’t cut corners. “Shop the perimeter of the grocery store (fruits, vegetables, lean meats and dairy) and try to minimize time spent on the middle aisles filled with tempting snack foods,” says Jampolis. Choose apples over apple chips and deli-fresh fish or poultry rather than the frozen or TV dinner variety. (Click here for Jampolis’s personal shopping list.)

3. Read labels. Spend a little extra time comparing product labels. “There will always be nutrition trade-offs,” Jampolis says. For example, nuts are high in fat, but tree nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts and walnuts contain mostly unsaturated fat (the kind that actually decreases low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad” cholesterol) levels. They are loaded with protein, fiber, folic acid, niacin, vitamins E and B6, and minerals like magnesium, zinc, selenium and potassium. On the flipside, just because something is labeled “low-fat” or “fat-free” doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Such products are often loaded with high-calorie sweeteners and fillers like high-fructose corn syrup.

4. Choose readymade right. For those of us who don’t have time to cook and plan meals and snacks, Jampolis recommends stocking up on healthful ready-to-eat or heat-and-eat options like pre-sliced vegetables and hummus (rather than chips and dip), canned tuna (rather than fish sticks or patties) and frozen vegetables (rather than high-sodium canned).

Keep in mind, “What lands in your cart lands on your shelves and in your refrigerator,” says Jampolis. “When you come home exhausted, if you don’t have healthy, convenient foods on hand, you will be much more tempted to go for the cookies or order a pizza!”