• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Strategies to help when shopping.

MissMuffett

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,254
Location
Lincolnshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I'm a failure at resisting bad things when I shop. I usually shop online for groceries and I have no problem sticking to low carb food but occasionally have to nip to the shop and it always ends in disaster. Yesterday I had to go and get a couple of items and whilst there I bought a nice beef ribeye steak. BUT I also bought a large bar of chocolate The whole time my brain was screaming NO! NO! NO! but I bought it anyway, came home and ate the lot.
How do you resist doing this or are you strong willed that it never happens?
 
It can and does happen to me, Especially with bread based items. I try to avoid going down the isles that contain those foods, but it's not always practical, especially in smaller stores, or if I'm treating myself to so dark chocolate
 
I found remembering an image of how type 2 could possibly go, deterred a lot of that early on for me.

Once I got more ok with it, I just avoided most of the food aisles in a Supermarket.

Harder in smaller units admittedly.

However, rib eye steak...nom nom
Dark chocolate for afters..mmhh

Could have been much worse .
 
@MissMuffett do you have butchers and green grocers nearby?
Although I like @lessci idea of avoiding the aisles in supermarkets that sell food you are trying not eat, it may be easier to go to shops that don't sell them in the first place.
This has the added advantage of supporting local businesses and often getting better quality foods.

Small local businesses do not have the "buying power" of supermarkets so you may find they are more expensive. But, if you can afford it, they come with the peace of mind that the farmer is getting a fair price for their meat.
 
I also do my best to avoid the aisles of temptation, but I find making a list of the things I want beforehand is the best policy.
I don't spend any time looking round, just go in get what I need and get out of there. If something is not on my list it's not going in my basket, I use the same few shops all of the time so I know where the things I want are.
 
catinahat said:
I find making a list of the things I want beforehand is the best policy.
I don't spend any time looking round, just go in get what I need
Click to expand...
This is what I've been doing. I prepare a shopping list online for the supermarket, and when I get there the app directs me to the aisle for each item. Usually I'm not buying anything in the confectionary aisle so it's easier to avoid temptation.

Sometimes it takes so long to find an item I'm looking for (even though the aisle is the right one) that I can't wait to finish the shopping and get out of there.

The only problem is the supermarket gives me a freebie each month. Last month it was Cheezels, this month it's a small slab of milk chocolate. The Cheezels were from before I started on a pre-diabetic diet - I ate them all in one go! I don't know if I'll resist the free chocolate bar later this week or justify it as part of my blood glucose/food experiment - ha ha.
 
Just know what would be good alternatives that still feel like a treat... Extra dark chocolate bars would be nice, a decent cheese, pork scratchings, olives, little sausages (if they're not too stuffed with fillers, mind you), you know.... The good stuff. Still decadent, still a treat, just not about to make you stumble. Condition yourself to have go-to's. Or... Someone who'll let you have a nibble-for-taste, while they dutifully eat the rest.
 
MimT said:
I don't know if I'll resist the free chocolate bar later this week
Click to expand...
Everyone loves a freebie, you could make it part of your plan, only eat chocolate if it's free.
I think it would be a brilliant way to cut down, after all, who gives away chocolate, not something that happens everyday
 
If it's "free" it doesn't necessarily mean we have to have it especially if it is going to make us ill. That isn't "free" that's costly in health terms. We deserve better - as others have said, buy things you love that aren't going to poison you. See the unsuitable freebies as a nice dose of strychnine.
 
Unfortunately we don't have a greengrocer in my (reasonably sized) town, so veg has to come from the supermarket, I try to get meat from the butchers, as it's generally of a higher quality, but I'm also a "yellow label" shopper
 
A bar of chocolate is not bad - as long as it is the right chocolate, but ordinary chocolate and then fewer carbs for the next 24 hours is also a good idea.
These days I can buy 4 bars of the highest cocoa chocolate on offer and then eat them a little at a time over some months - I don't believe it, but apparently belief is not required, I just do it.
 
Thank you for all of your suggestions. Unfortunately on a Sunday afternoon there are no butchers open and we don’t have a green grocer, all veg has to come from the supermarkets. Even on the drive into town, which takes about 10 minutes, I’m planning what bad thing to buy, cake or chocolate. I have to get into the mind set of not adding anything that I shouldn’t eat. Actually I’ve stopped making keto treats so maybe I should carry on doing that as it would stop me buy the things I shouldn’.t.
 
This has been posted just as I am struggling too!
I've been in none diabetic numbers for over three years now, but a week ago I came down with the worst cold I've had in decades and all I wanted to eat was comfort food. I really couldn't stomach the idea of all my usual healthy foods. So I've lived on porrige as well as a few small sized bars of my daughter's chocolate from her cupboard.
I've just felt so unwell what with intense sore throat, sickly headache and legs like jelly for a week now.
I have no idea why my appetite diminshed for my usually healthy meals the way it has!
Maybe it's an emotional response to feeling so poorly.
I know it's not worth getting upset about though, and do feel that ... as soon as I start to feel well, then I will be able to get back on track and I hope you find that too xx
 
With the price increases lately I find I am quite concerned about the cost of groceries.
So I load a store gift card with a set amount, calculated to be just right for the essential items I need. I make a list, once it is written down I don’t deviate from that list. Tough if I have forgotten to add something to list. I don’t buy it. I use the hand held scanners, that tot up the cost as I go. I challenge myself to spend no more than is on the gift card.. There is no leeway for something not on the list, so I would need to remove something if I sneaked something in that wasn’t on the list. I don’t allow myself to top up with cash or debit card at the checkout.

I never go to supermarket when I haven’t eaten, and I clean my teeth immediately before going to the shop, so I don’t feel like eating for a few hours.
I know this must seem weird, but challenges get me through life.

I would add that this strategy doesn’t work if Mr Pipp is with me, as he wonders off and comes back with all sorts of items that are not on my list.
 
@MissMuffett
I think you'll find this blog relevant

Does the fear of missing out (FOMO) get to you?

Does the fear of missing out (FOMO) get to you? FOMO can play with our minds and get in our way, especially if our goal is to choose good food and lose weight. Emotional eating can wreak havoc with our health goals. However, it is totally possible to overcome emotional eating, including FOMO.
www.rlmedicine.com
They have others too, search for failure and see how to reframe your brain

And I'm the same too, some days those bad for us things call out so damned loud
 
Yeah - having images of what awful things could happen if I went the sweeties/cake/biscuits/desserts etc route again, and yeah, there at the supermarket, and in those aisles and fridges, for sure.

Major deterrent.

Especially have to use it this time of the year with Easter goodies everywhere on display.

Then I go home and make myself LCHF substitutes for high-carb high-sugar goodies. Have my tried and trues, in terms of shop bought alternatively sweetened desserts, and, fave recipes for goodies substitutes.
 
Resurgam said:
A bar of chocolate is not bad - as long as it is the right chocolate, but ordinary chocolate and then fewer carbs for the next 24 hours is also a good idea.
Click to expand...
I did the supermarket shop and picked up the freebie dairy milk chocolate bar (50g). After a very tiring day I ate the chocolate for dessert after supper this evening (comfort food).

Two things. Firstly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Secondly, it didn't spike my glucose level as much as I thought it would. Not that I could differentiate it from the rest of the meal. Still, the spike was not as high as when I had a banana after eating a cheese sandwich a few days ago.

And yes, I'll have fewer carbs tomorrow to make up. Edit: And no, I won't be eating chocolate again, or not for a long time (not even dark chocolate).
 
Last edited:
I find when I am poorly, that is all I want comfort food. I try and refrain, but its not easy but have been known to pinch a few oven chips and a few Maltesers. They are so nice!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…