Look On Aisle 5

Have you ever stopped to calculate how much time you spend in each section of the supermarket?

Apart from the non-food areas of drug store supplies, rubber goods, and diapers, most stores have about 10 distinct food areas: produce, dairy, meat, ethnic foods and pasta, canned foods, prepared foods, drinks, frozen foods, snacks, and deli.

The areas where most of our intake should focus, if we are watching our weight and our health, are always on the edges, against the wall: produce, meat, dairy. We can easily navigate through 80 or 90 percent of the store without bumping into them.

Next week, I'll get vegetables, we promise, as we wade into the packaged and frozen foods that fit so much more neatly into our time-starved, rat-race lives. It is so much less time and trouble to microwave a plate than slow simmer or steam something, plus there's all that cutting and chopping time we just can't spare.

The frozen stuff doesn't taste as good but luckily the manufacturers figured that out and added butter sauce or cheese sauce to give it more flavor, a few nuts or other crispy additions to add some snap ? nothing is plain any more.

We stock up on packages loaded with chemicals we can't even pronounce. We pick up bags of quick snacks with nary a nutrient in the bunch. We throw fluffy breads and crackers into our cart, knowing they are merely edible plates.

Ten years ago, I lived in a Korean neighborhood. I couldn't read half of the market's signs and ingredients but shopped there anyway because of the atmosphere, dominated by an enormous variety of produce that took up at least half the store's space. Trying totally new, strange-looking roots and fruits was exciting: sometimes marvelous, occasionally vile.

We have taken our markets into the age of the superstores where everything is available but nothing is natural. What are we doing to our poor bodies? We feed them junk and then spend a fortune on trying to acquire the "natural" look. Fat chance (pun intentional)!

Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, "Diet with an Attitude" which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://dietwithanattitude.blogspot.com

---

Weight Loss and Diet Programs - The Real Skinny on What Works Best!

Have you ever wondered with all the weight loss programs... Read More

Top Thirty Weight Loss Tips and Tricks

Here are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started,... Read More

What is the Glycemic Index?

Over the last 30 years, research into food and blood... Read More

Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #13

Life is great, isn't it? Stop and just look around... Read More

Pediatric Obesity and Vitamin Deficiency - Developments to Fight Future Disease

Obesity, especially in children, is a matter of rapidly growing... Read More

Who Said Low Carb Diets Ever Meant No-Carb?

A little information if often a dangerous thing... and many... Read More

Calculate Your BMI - Do You Need to Lose Weight?

There are a few different ways to determine if you... Read More

The Neuro-Science Of Losing The Weight You Hate

Are you one of the 90 million Americans who are... Read More

Fat Loss Exercise Strategies

How many calories you consume has a big impact on... Read More

The Health Effects of Being Overweight

Both men and women around the world are becoming fatter... Read More

Atkins Diet Plan ? What?s it All About?

A typical breakfast consists of 3 or 4 strips of... Read More

3 Easy Dieting Success Tips

1. Drink 8-10 glasses of water each dayOkay, for many... Read More

Easy Steps To Weight Loss

It can be intimidating to follow a weight loss plan,... Read More

The Jiggle Effect on Faster Weight Loss

Exercise Physiologists who study the effects of exercise on weight... Read More

Weight Loss and Water: The Unknown Secret

Weight Loss and Water: A Way to Make Your Body... Read More

Is There a New Fat Loss Miracle on the Horizon?

For the past several years one subject has been coming... Read More

How To Cop An Attitude With An Overzealous Hostess

We all encounter those hosts and hostesses who feel it... Read More

Seven Pitfalls That Cripple Weight Loss

Do you struggle to maintain or lose weight? If so,... Read More

Ten Important Things to Know Before You Join a Weight Loss Program

1. What is my BMI and how do I calculate... Read More

Do You Make These South Beach Diet Mistakes?

The South Beach Diet works, for most people. Its low... Read More

Carnitine Weight Loss Revealed: Why L-Carnitine Should Be The #1 Weight Loss Drug

Carnitine is simply the safest and healthiest supplement you can... Read More

Does Ephedra Really Shed the Pounds Like It Promises? I Decided to Put It to the Test!

Since the reintroduction of Ephedra based products on about April... Read More

What is Your Healthy Body Weight

Everywhere we look in the western world we are inundated... Read More

Diet Pills, Products, and Dieting Supplements - Can They Help You Lose Weight Quickly?

Fighting obesity has become one of the most important issues... Read More

Record Your Meals To Lose Weight

Are you one of the many people who feel frustrated... Read More

Weight Loss Problems ? Or is it a Self Image Problem?

Some of you will not like what I have to... Read More

Diet Pills and Consumer Fraud

Diet pills have met with many different fates, and come... Read More

The Miraculous Claims of the Zone Diet

One way of recognizing a fad diet is... Read More

Understanding Weight Loss

A pound of fat represents approximately 3500 calories of stored... Read More

Fun, Fun, Fun: The Best Exercises for Quick Weight Loss

The best exercises for quick weight loss in my opinion... Read More

Walking: A Key to Weight Loss

Doctors prescribe Walking as the best medicine for weight loss.We... Read More

11 Steps to Guarantee Weight Loss and Fitness Success

1. Persistence!Violate this step and you'll never achieve permanent results.... Read More

Why Most Diets Dont Work

Ever thought of, known someone, or gone on a diet?... Read More