Sis, let’s talk about a place that can feel like a full-on battlefield — and nope, not a restaurant, which is also terrifying - today we are talking about the grocery store. The fluorescent lights, the endless labels, the hundred little decisions, that low hum of anxiety the second you grab a cart. If the store has ever made you want to cry, freeze, or turn around and walk right back out, you are not broken, and you are so not alone.
Today I’m sharing my own story and a handful of tangible tools to make grocery shopping feel safer, easier, and a whole lot less scary.
My story (because I lived this):
There was a season where I’d walk into the store and just get stuck. I’d spend hours in there — not shopping, scanning. Up and down every aisle, picking things up and putting them back, flipping over every package, reading every label, doing the math in my head over and over, paralyzed by the next decision. I’d leave one of two ways: empty-handed and defeated, or clutching something I grabbed in a panic that would sit untouched in my pantry until I threw it away weeks later.
That’s what the eating disorder does — it turns a basic human errand into hours of dread. If that’s you right now, stuck scanning labels or avoiding the store altogether, I see you. I was you. And it doesn’t have to stay this way.
The reframe: The store isn’t the problem, and the labels aren’t the problem. The eating disorder has turned shopping into a test — of willpower, discipline, being “good.” But you’re not there to pass a test. You’re there to feed the woman you love — and that woman is you.
5 tangible tools to make the grocery store easier:
- Let the list be the boss. Decide what you’re buying before you walk in, in a calm headspace at home. When the list runs the trip, you’re not making a hundred anxious decisions in the aisle — you already decided, you just execute. Pre-deciding takes the disorder out of the driver’s seat right when it wants control most.
- Give yourself permission to skip the labels. If flipping over every package and reading every number sends you spiraling, that’s not information — it’s the compulsion. Challenge yourself to put one or two items in the cart without turning them over. You’re proving you can choose food without auditing it first.
- Shop the “safe enough” middle. You don’t have to jump from restriction to your scariest fear food in one trip. Pick something that’s a stretch but not a panic — one step braver than yesterday. Recovery is built on small, repeatable reps.
- Don’t shop hungry — or alone, if alone is too hard. Eat something before you go so you’re not shopping from a depleted, fear-driven place. And if the store is just too much right now, bring your person, or let a loved one go for you while you build up to it. Backup is strategy, not failure.
- Set a time boundary. Remember me scanning those aisles for hours? Give yourself a window — “I’m in, I get what’s on my list, I’m out in 20 minutes.” A time boundary stops the endless put-it-back, pick-it-up loop.
The heart of it: Every time you walk in and put nourishment in your cart — even shaking, even scared — you cast a vote for the recovered version of you. The woman who used to scan the aisles for hours and leave with an empty cart isn’t free because she got it perfect. She’s free because she kept showing up, one brave, ordinary trip at a time.
“You’re not going to the grocery store to pass a test. You’re going to feed the woman you love — and that woman is you.”
Your one thing this week: Take the list, set the timer, and go get the food your body needs. Messy, scared, imperfect — all of it counts.
You don’t have to white-knuckle recovery alone. If the grocery store — or any of this — feels too heavy to carry by yourself, that’s exactly what I’m here for.
Connect with Lindsey:
🌟 Website: www.herbestself.co 🌟 Instagram: @thelindseynichol 🌟 Free FB Community: www.herbestselfsociety.com 🌟Client Application: HBS Co. Recovery Coaching - Client Application - Google Forms
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Remember, beautiful: Your worth is not measured by how perfectly you do recovery. Healing isn't linear, progress over perfection always, and you are exactly where you need to be right now.
Her Best Self with Lindsey Nichol is a podcast for women in eating disorder recovery who are ready to break free from perfectionism, people-pleasing, and diet culture to live authentically and wholeheartedly.
*While I am a certified health coach, anorexia survivor & eating disorder recovery coach, I do not intend the use of this message to serve as medical advice. Please refer to the disclaimer here in the show & be sure to contact a licensed clinical provider if you are struggling with an eating disorder.
