There are many benefits to online grocery shopping including placing orders at any time of day or night, opting for delivery versus curbside pick-up, online comparison shopping, avoiding checkout lines.
Think about it.
Did you make a list and stick to it? Did you have coupons at your finger-tips?
Or, rather, did you wander all over the store to find what you needed? If so, did you really make the best choices? Or were you drawn in by the snack aisles?
How much time do you spend trying to decipher small print on food labels?
So, you see, when it comes to your weight management, online grocery shopping can be a boon in three key ways:
Time • Meal Planning • Impulse Control
Time
We all want more time to do the things we want. So we can create that by being more efficient with the time spent on what we need to do. While you still need to make your grocery list, including alternative items, you can manage time better by placing orders at your convenience. You can arrange to have your groceries delivered or arrange for curbside pickup. Either option will decrease the number of errands you may have to run on a given day.
What will you do with that extra time not spent wandering around the grocery store? Maybe you can pick up a yoga class the local recreational center? Or join a local kickball team through the recreational league? With one less concern, you can better focus on your child’s soccer game or music recital or have some extra personal time to enjoy the latest bestseller.
You’ve still got to decide what you are going to eat. Your meal planning strategy is knowing what you already have, what other ingredients you need, and any substitutions you will accept. Some online sites may already have certain items grouped together, such as all the ingredients for “taco night” available at the click of a button.
Whenever you may be dealing with fresh produce, you may want to give further instructions regarding the ripeness of certain items to the person shopping on your behalf.
Impulse Control
While online shopping doesn’t completely eliminate impulsive food choices, you can avoid some of the pitfalls created by your local grocery store: the smell of the rotisserie chicken in the deli, end caps of the aisles filled with seasonal or sale items, the colorful pastries near the entrance, the scattering of free samples throughout the store. The sights and smells won’t come through your screen to tempt you, hungry or not.
Online grocery shopping won’t completely erase your food shopping activities. You may still want to visit the local farmer’s market to see what’s new. You may still have that local CSA subscription. You may still need to swing by the store to pick up some things you forgot and perhaps can’t live without. But online grocery shopping can help you focus on other important things in your life, particularly in meeting your weight management goals.
Talk to a weight management expert to explore how to incorporate online grocery shopping into your weight management plan that meets your nutritional needs.
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