Are YOU an All-or-Nothing Grocery Shopper?
Do you let what you buy at the grocery store define who you are? And how 'good' or 'bad' you are?
When I was stuck in diet mentality, I was either eating super "clean" during the week, OR, eating all of the "forbidden" foods on weekends that I wouldn't allow myself during the week.
The way I grocery shopped reflected this kind of thinking and behaviour. When I would find myself in the grocery store on Sunday, I would feel overly satiated because I've just spent the last 2 days eating ALL the foods that I normally forbid myself during the week.
When you have an All-or-Nothing mindset around food, you think you won't want anything sweet, fatty, or even an after dinner snack Monday-Friday. Your plan is to stick to your meals you have laid out without straying from your plan. This is very black or white approach to food, and not a sustainable one.
You just barely make it to Friday night after ignoring your hunger cues all week, drinking coffee and chewing gum to quiet your hunger. This usually results in a compulsive behaviour to run to the store & buy everything you've been denying yourself. You find yourself compulsively eating all the food, and the feelings of guilt and shame come swarming in.
If your All-or-Nothing grocery shopping & planning is primarily rooted in weight loss and diet mentality, you're most likely either, "on the wagon" or "off the wagon." When you're stuck in diet mentality you're usually preoccupied and obsessed with food. Especially the foods you try to avoid and restrict.
When you learn to connect to your hunger (physical, emotional, psychological) you will start to choose foods that nourish & satiate you. When you're in diet mentality you’re NOT connected to your body, you have "food rules" and a black or white approach to food.
The fear for lots of people in diet mentality is that if you actually put some of these "forbidden foods" in your cart, you'll eat them ALL--which reinforces that you can't trust yourself around food & therefore can't trust your body.
When really, It's NOT about the food, it’s the relationship you have with food + your body.
The ultimate goal for most people is to have a variety of foods in their cart, without being preoccupied with restricting or binging on these foods.