A shopping list is linked to being a contributing factor for people who want a healthier diet. Researchers at RAND Corporation found that people who used a shopping list are more likely to make quality food choices.
A recent study conducted in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area found a link between people who used a shopping list and a healthy diet.
Lead study author, Tamara Dubowitz, spoke with Reuters and explained what researchers discovered after surveying 1,300 predominately overweight and obese residents in two poor neighborhoods.
“We don’t know whether people who are healthier pay more attention to what they eat and pay more attention to their weight and are also people who do more planning, or if people who do more planning are more able to avoid impulse purchases and the less healthy options presented to them at the supermarket.”
Tamara explained that two main factors contribute to people being overweight or obese – the lack of quality grocery stores close to home and poverty.
Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, chair of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, sent an email to Reuters briefly explaining the struggles unemployed or low income shoppers in poor communities go through.
“Shoppers don’t have control over the availability of healthy produce or their pricing; those problems will require structural interventions to fix them such as attracting grocery stores to move into food deserts.”
Dubowitz and her team of researcher surveyed African-American residents in communities’ void of healthy food outlets. Eighty- percent of the people surveyed had a yearly income of less than $20,000. A little over thirty-percent were employed.
However, both groups of survey participants lived in areas known as food deserts, areas with limited access to healthy food products.
A little less than one-third of the participants admitted to “always” using a shopping list. Whereas, 17 percent confirmed they used a shopping list often.
People who incorporated the habit of using a shopping list all the time where prone to be older and typically females. They were also noted to be concerned about their calorie intake, and less likely to be employed.
High-risk adults who used a shopping list in this survey were found to have a slightly lower BMI than those who did not use a list.
Experts suggest that having a shopping list also helps in controlling or eliminating impulse buying.
Kawachi noted additional advantages of using a shopping list.
“The typical supermarket these days is carefully engineered so that they are constantly tempting customers to make impulse purchases and unwise food choices (e.g. placing candies at the checkout). Having a plan and sticking to it is a good start to pre-committing yourself to a healthy purchase pattern.”
Researchers published their findings of the healthy benefits of a shopping list on May 7, in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
[Featured image via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]
Shopping List Helps In Guiding People To A Healthier Diet is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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