Supermarket Tours

Modern psychology says that our happiness is indicative of how successful we are in achieving our goals.

And modern goal achievement can be as simple as successfully navigating through a supermarket and finding the desired ingredients for a refried bean recipe.

The argument that eliminating consumer choices can hugely reduce anxiety for shoppers is explored in a book by Barry Schwartz called The Paradox of Choice. But it seems for now, our options are widening and clearly, supermarkets aren’t shrinking.

So instead of eliminating consumer choices, there’s another way to filter our choices through deciphering food labels and navigating through the aisles. No wonder there has been a meteoric demand for supermarket tours by qualified dietitians.

These tours involve a dietitian leading either small, specific groups or information-hungry individuals through a supermarket to educate – what are the good foods and what should we avoid?

“Hopefully the client would be choosing more fresh foods – vegetables, fruits and fresh meat, fish and chicken, rather than processed pre-prepared food,” explains Dr Anne Lewinsky, a diet and nutrition counsellor. “Also their choice of condiments, marinades, sauces etc will be lower in fat, sugar and salt and preservatives and colouring.”

Lewinsky talks about the way the shopping tours “demonstrate better choices”. But can an hour lesson really implement choices with long-term staying power? “To see products explained is better than just hearing about them which makes it more memorable and do-able for the client,” argues Anne.

While this niche activity attracts people wanting to lose weight or eat more healthily, there is also a market for finding suitable foods for food intolerant shoppers. Laura Mye describes her shopping tour experience when she was first diagnosed with coeliac disease. “It was all very overwhelming at the time. While I was shown how gluten appears in labelling, I found the shopping tour only really scratched the surface compared to what I’ve learnt along the way.”

Lewinsky says there are some other downsides to the tours as well. “The tours may only target the rich who are generally better informed about food to begin with.”

Interestingly, with Internet grocery shopping on the rise, the process of reading labels and choosing fruit and veg based on appearance may have become less common.

But for now, there are many Australian dietitians tapping into the appetites of their clients. Lewinsky believes the tours are becoming more and more popular because as she’s learnt, “most people are ignorant of food labelling”.

Nutrition Lab, a team of Accredited Sydney Dietitians offer supermarket tours throughout Sydney. To know more or book a supermarket tour, visit http://www.nutritionlab.com.au/shopping-nutrition.php

By Aimee Wagenheim

Photo: '99 Cent II' by Andreas Gurksy