September 8, 2011 (Updated March 21, 2023)

Never Go Grocery Shopping on an Empty Stomach

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

14 comments

Hello friends!

I hope you’re having a fantastic (ahem, fANNEtastic) day so far. We have gorgeous weather here today — finally, the humidity has left us! At least for now 🙂

My friend Elle and I celebrated with an early morning run. We’re proud of ourselves — this is our third week in a row that we’ve met for Thursday a.m. runs! I love them — a good workout AND some fun social time combined 🙂

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This is how we really felt this morning, though:

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Heh.

As always though, once we started moving I woke right up! I actually felt great this morning — best run I’ve had in awhile, probably due to the lack of heat/humidity! It was so nice and cool.

We did our standard super hilly loop — 4.34 miles in 40:16, average pace: 9:17.

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Splits:

  • Mile 1: 9:07
  • Mile 2: 9:47 (hill of death, part 1)
  • Mile 3: 9:34 (hill of death, part 2)
  • Mile 4: 8:57
  • 0.34 mile nubbin: 8:27 pace

Awesome run! That was the first time in awhile I haven’t felt like I was going to die on the hill of death. Hooray!

Post-run stretching and water drinking:

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It’s so awesome being done with your workout by 7:30 a.m. 🙂

After our run, I raced home, showered, had breakfast, and was back out the door for class, followed by a biochem quiz. I finished the quiz at lunch time and desperately needed to hit the grocery store, but knew that going grocery shopping on an empty stomach would be an epic fail, so I treated myself to lunch at the co-op grocery store salad bar first 🙂

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Yum! I LOVE their salad bar — it’s so good. I always get the most random assortment of stuff, as you can see, heh.

Once the hungry beast was tamed, I was able to grocery shop without purchasing everything in sight because I was so hungry! I mostly picked up some breakfast and snack stuff because Matt and I are headed out of town tomorrow morning for a wedding. Just needed enough to tide us over 🙂 I clearly can’t survive without fruit, milk, and spinach (for smoothies!).

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I broke into those strawberries right when I got home as a post-lunch sweet treat. Delicious!

Time to get back down to work — I have two assignments due tomorrow and a blog conference call later today, too.

Happy Thursday!

—

Have you ever gone grocery shopping while starving before? Did you buy anything super random? I usually just end up buying way more than I need because everything looks good!

- anne

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14 comments
  • There was one time I went grocery shopping on an empty stomach, and I don't think I'll ever ever do it again. I came home with SO much food and spent way too much money on things I hardly ever buy. Oops! My husband thought I was completely crazy. Haha.
    Reply
  • You're very smart to eat before shopping. Yes, I buy WAY too much food. The worst of it, is that I buy junk food!! ack! Everything that's a tasty treat, I want in my stomach now.
    Reply
  • I love to grocery shop because that means I eat out before hand. That plate looks so good. Anne, I just got back from my UMW meeting at church and the speaker was one of the lost boys from the Sudan. Our lunch consisted of Sudanese food. I must say it was very very bland. The bread they make is very spongy. I guess those poor souls are very thankful just to have that. It was a very interesting meal. I wish I could have taken a picture of it to show you.
    Reply
    • What an interesting speaker to have visit! The spongy bread sounds like what they give you with Ethiopian food, too. I prefer pita bread :)
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  • Whenever I go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, it ALWAYS turn out badly... I pretty much go there with a "buy everything in the store that I would like to eat right now" mindset, and if I'm hungry, just about anything falls in that category.
    Reply
  • Every time I go grocery shopping hungry I leave with a million things I don't need and super grumpy because I was hungry before I left and I spent like an hour looking in detail at all these foods I'd never thought to look at before I was so hungry that everything started to look good. Haha. Also, the cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread is my fav!
    Reply
  • I did the Virgina Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon this past weekend! It was SO much fun! The spectators are amazing, there were themed groups along the way (hula dancers, action heros, etc.) and the bands were great. I'm sure Vegas will be just as amazing with all the spectators there...maybe even a few will be tipsy and cheer extra loud :)
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    • Yay, that's awesome! I'm excited for Vegas :) I have a feeling more than a few people will be tipsy, lol.
      Reply
  • Haha when I'm hungry grocery shopping, I usually attack the free samples counter! Haha! I love the mix of everything salad plate, thats usually how I roll too :)
    Reply
  • Haha! I'm like you! The food just look so good whenever I go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. That's why I try to eat beforehand and/or bring a list with me.
    Reply
  • I went to the grocery store this evening for one or two things, but because I was craving Hagan Daaz sorbet (and it was on sale) I left with two pints. Whoops!
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  • I do the same thing! If I ever go grocery shopping hungry, it never fails: I will definitely come home with a box of Cheez-its and a bag of kettle-cooked chips. Somehow they just jump into my cart!
    Reply
  • What a great salad bar meal! I'm so bad about shopping hungry - luckily? I often shop with coupons so I try to stick with the items I have coupons for haha.
    Reply