As I've matured through the years and watched the average American's waistline continue to grow, I have noted a direct relationship with waistline growth and our shopping cart size growth. During this same time period Americans have witnessed a decline in overall savings. While we may make McDonald's the villain in this story, I believe grocery stores are to blame.
As a single girl living alone, I do not need a lot of groceries. I traditionally look for a basket to do my shopping to avoid over filling my cart with things I don't need. Many American families head off the store and only stop filling their cart with purchases once the cart is full. Not everyone stops causing many items to come crashing down on the dirty linoleum, hence Heinz move the plastic bottles for their ketchup.
A few nights ago I headed to Kroger's, they basket holder was noticeably empty but there were an abundance of large carts. As a child, myself or my siblings were often placed in the grocery cart to do the weekly shopping. There was barely room for two children if you wanted to put any groceries in the cart. Now a days you could bring your 3 kids, dog, cat, and hamster and have plenty of room for the groceries. The idea is that you only bring 1.2 children and fill the rest with unhealthy high-mark up products. Later you come back to buy the more expensive "diet" products to try and repair the damage.
As I paraded through the store I had to discipline myself to only grab the items I had written out on my list. I only wanted about a basket's worth of groceries. I would not let my practically empty cart fool me that I was lacking anything. If we really want to promote better health in Americans, we need to reduce the shopping cart size. If people want to purchase as many goods, it will at least require an extra trip around the store.
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