Research is starting to show that food packing and what you see at the grocery store has a striking impact on your weight. The way products are packaged help to decide what you place in your cart and, therefore, what you’re most likely to eat when you get home. Statistics are popping up in countries around the world associating our shopping influences and our risk of obesity.
What You Eat Has the Biggest Impact on Your Weight
Statistics Canada reported that approximately one in three Canadians had obesity in 2018. Australia has reported very similar numbers, as have other countries around the globe. The United States, is facing considerably higher numbers, as more than 40 percent of the population is currently obese.
The thing is, obesity isn’t a matter of nationality. It has to do with a broad spectrum of factors that all have an impact on your weight. Among them is food packaging, grocery store displays, and the messaging we’re seeing in advertising.
This is not merely speculation. It is widely accepted that food packaging place a central role in our grocery shopping decision making. As a result, it also plays a central role in our risk of developing diet-related illnesses. Our health is suffering from where we live – not a country, but an environment that prioritizes marketing for our foods.
Grocery Stores Focus on Selling, Not Nutrition
This is not meant to villainize supermarkets or even food producers. They are functioning within a broader ecosystem in which they need to make money to survive. But from the consumer side of things, we need to remember that in a typical grocery store, there can be over 60,000 unique products. That’s a lot of competition and food marketers are pressured to do what they can to make sure they grab your attention and convince you to place their product in your cart instead of their competition’s offerings.
This makes food packaging vital to their existence, to the detriment of the messaging we receive from it. These packages use a spectrum of different strategies, including everything from colors to visuals to persuade you to leave the store having purchased that item.
Become Aware of Packaging’s Impact on Your Weight
By understanding the impact on your weight that food packaging can have, and that it can work in direct opposition to even the best diet pills, you can train yourself to avoid falling victim to bright colors and carefully crafted images.
Among your best defenses is a solid shopping list. When you look at what you have in your fridge and pantry, decide on the meals you’re likely to make in the following week, have checked flyers for opportunities to save, and have created a list, you can make your way through a supermarket with purpose.
This not only acts as a massive time-saver – particularly if you organize your list in order of the aisles that contain the products you need – but it can also save you small fortune in impulse purchases and can help you to be sure you’re only buying what you know you’ll need. You are far less likely to find yourself stopped in front of something due to the way it is packaged, since you won’t be browsing. You’ll be going directly to what you need.
