How a Wrong Shopping Mindset Makes You Fat and How Enjoyment Counters It

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Yesterday, my dear wife and I did a little shopping at Trinoma to buy stuff for our youngest son's graduation on Saturday. After walking around to get the best buy, naturally we were tired and hungry. So we decided to eat supper at a fast food chicken store with lesser customers. And as my natural habit, I took note of our surroundings.

You know what I noticed? Everything was belly-fat inducing--tempting chicken skin, oily chicken meat, liberal gravy servings, softdrinks, floats, white bread, mashed potatoes thick with butter and topped with more gravy sauce, and even the yogurt shake was sugar rich. Hmm, isn't anything healthy sold around here? I asked myself.

Carbs in the forms above are sure to give you more belly fat that stubbornly sticks round your tummy like rugby. And after eating, because of your exhaustion from shopping (actually from walking around looking for the lowest prices), you're apt to just go to bed and watch TV when you get home. I think nobody exercises after shopping in the evening and with a full stomach. Well, sometimes I manage a round with my chest expander after shopping like that and before bed.

Wrong Shopping Mindset

Most people think shopping around and walking for a mile or two doing so is equal to exercise. They think it does their health good and makes them burn fat. Quite the contrary. Shopping while scouting to look for a good buy with the right price is exhausting--that means you're over stressed. And over stressed makes your metabolism work super slow. And then you eat a lot of carbs because you're tired and hungry--and food high in carbs is so tempting when you're starved! And foods high in carbs are the only food offered by fast-food stores because they sell like crazy! It's like a conspiracy and you're the victim.

Just imagine--you hunt for the clothes or shoes that fit well and cost cheap--what could be more stressing? And then you try to explain to sales ladies what exactly you want--and they take several minutes going back and forth showing you samples with different sizes before they finally hit the right one (that's stressful) only to find it doesn't fit when you try it in the fitting cubicle. And then you're back on square one.

You walk around, go up and down the escalators, until your feet hurt. That's not to mention the long line you have to wait at the cashier.

All that stress doesn't equate to exercise. It's plain exhaustion and distress, nothing more, and it sets you up for more weight gain.

Right Shopping Mindset

The trick here is to relax while shopping. If you can do that (like I can) then you've solved the problem 50 percent. How do I do that? With this mindset: "So what if I don't get the right item at the right price?" And make sure you walk that talk. Sure, you do your best to scout for the right buy. But if it doesn't work, why kill yourself over it? It's just shopping. It's not the end of the world. And make sure you enjoy every part of it. And don't rush.

Next trick is to eat light. You don't have to indulge with food just because you're exhausted. You can reward yourself with simple food--and choose less oily and less "carby" ones. I often take sugarcane juice or carrot juice sweetened with sugarcane juice (Aah! What could be better-tasting?). It's tummy filling, refreshing, energizing and yet rich in fibers and other nutrients--guaranteed to take off some fat instead of add them.

Or, if there's no such thing as sugarcane juice in the mall, I opt for less servings. Yes, you may eat fried chicken or whatever is your favorite, but eat minimal. Yup, we're for no-diet slim, but with distress working in you, you have to watch out and get smart. And when you get home, do some relaxing exercises like jogging in place, some stretching, perhaps a few pushups and slow crunches while watching TV. Nothing muscle straining--just something to workout your metabolism. Then go to sleep and don't think about midnight snacks.

The next day, breakfast time, forget about diets. Just eat. Get it? (I mean, the tradition here on No-Diet Slim is that forgetting about diet means you forget about crash, rigid, or starving diets but you eat balanced).