If You Are What You Eat...

 Shopping Success

On most Saturday mornings, my husband and I pack up the re-usable bags, and we head to the grocery store. We're a pretty good team as we go through our paces up and down each aisle stocking up for the week. At 6'2", he's extremely good at the high shelves and reaching waay back inside the cooler to grab the last few cartons of the yogurt. And we try to really focus on healthy shopping: whole grains, healthy fats, low fat dairy, lots of fruits and veggies, dark chocolate. But, o this week's trip, I did some observing...

Half way down one aisle a mother and her 3 girls clogged the aisle as the selected what they wanted. As I watched, each girl carried 3 boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes and dumped them into the cart. My jaw dropped as the mom sent them back for another load. I couldn't help myself. I peeked into their cart. It was overloaded with chips, cookies, gallons of fruit drink, and Pepsi. And none looked strong, healthy or fit. It made me sad.

Two aisles later, it hit me again. That heavy, sinking feeling of sadness. One very obese man sat in his mobile cart shouted out orders to his heavy female companion. She struggled to get out of her mobile unit to stagger toward the Lays. Grabbing 4 big yellow bags, she placed them in the basket as she sat back down. Sadness.

I don't judge people by their body size. Hey, I was obese 20 years ago. The body isn't the soul. I simply feel for the mom and her kids, and that older couple. The food they chose food provides anything but nutrients to build healthy, strong bodies.

Is there a direct correlation between the food in our homes and what we eat? If you bring home foods you can't stop eating and aren't good, healthy choices, how well do you do with your weight loss plans? If you're out of fruits and vegetables, what do you eat?

And I wonder...If you are what you eat and you eat what you buy, does that make you a little Debbie Swiss Roll?