You walk into your favorite grocery store, grab a cart that doesn't have wobbly wheels and head down the aisle to restock your bodybuilder's kitchen. Although some of these stores encompass many hundreds of square feet, there's a very simple rule you can apply to supermarkets large and small to quickly and easily come away with quality proteins and carbs: Stick to the walls and shop the perimeter.
Why avoid the center aisles? That's typically where the packaged goods are stocked. If it comes in a box, the food is likely to contain fewer quality nutrients along with a lot more fat and sugar. There are exceptions to this rule, like canned tuna, but there's a good chance better options are waiting in the refrigerated sections of the store, which are usually positioned near wall outlets.
What you want are whole foods. This doesn't mean choosing only 'organic' certified foods, although there's nothing wrong with going that route. Whole foods are sold in as close to their natural state as possible. Think raw sweet potatoes, a bunch of bananas, carrots with the stalk attached and fresh cuts of meat.
These items typically require some level of refrigeration or regular shots of moisture from a misting system to stay fresh, so they're found around the perimeter of the store where plumbing and electrical service are readily available. Apply this simple rule to your next shopping adventure and you're likely to come away with high-quality nutrient dense foods to fuel your physique goals.
Natural Mr. Olympia
John Hansen
