The Atkins Diet

Fat or Fiction?

Temples of seduction

• Sarah Marks
• The Guardian, Saturday 30 April 2005
• Article history

Supermarkets are temples of seduction, cunningly designed to make consumers spend more money than they intended to - and feel happy about it afterwards.

Simon Threadcurl, design director at retail design agency Fitch says: "Supermarkets are learning from fashion retailers which have up to 16 seasons a year.

"They know there are prime selling points, like just before a school holiday so that's when they will be putting out the bikinis."

According to Mr Threadcurl supermarket psychology is all about making us feel good about being there. He adds: "There are a series of tricks, or techniques you do in a supermarket that all help create the right spending environment."

The first is careful positioning of products. Shoppers walk into the fruit and vegetable department and everything is fresh and green and makes them feel good and healthy. Then come highly profitable ready meals. Low margin items, such as flour and dried goods, will be tucked away on Aisle 35.

At all times, the supermarket wants you to fill your basket with high margin items in favour of low ones. Taste The Difference products will be placed at eye level while basic ranges are on the bottom shelf.

Supermarkets also group disparate products in the same way that a fashion store might display accessories round a dress. Mr Threadcurl says: "At the first Sainsbury's Local we bundled products on to a gondolier end, themed round a take-home curry.

"We added a couple of DVDs, a bottle of red wine, a four pack of Stella - a £4 spend quickly becomes a £15 spend very easily and for a time that was the most profitable part of the store."

Supermarkets also use smells and lighting to sell to us subliminally.

Lighting in the fresh produce area is designed to enhance greenness, while lights are dimmed in the wines and spirits section, to suggest relaxing in the evening with a drink.

Along with familiar bread and coffee smells (incidentally, these are all supplied by a company called BOC Gases which sells canisters of smells to pump through the air-conditioning), Mr Threadcurl has recently detected an artificial talcum-powder smell in the toiletries area, designed to mimic the perfumed smell of an upmarket department store's cosmetic hall.

That bikini, those DVDs, that Tesco Finest lemon tart with a tub of extra-thick cream may feel like accidental purchases to you, but in fact nothing has been left to chance.

LOW- FAT FOODS:

Usually when the fat is removed manufacturers add sugar to give the product taste which makes them more unhealthy than the full fat version.

Also, not all fat is unhealthy; it is the type of fat that is important.

Dietary fats: Know which types to choose

Below are the best food sources of these healthy fats:

Type of healthy fat	Food source
Monounsaturated fat	Olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and seeds
Polyunsaturated fat	Vegetable oils (such as safflower, corn, sunflower, soy and cottonseed oils), nuts and seeds
Omega-3 fatty acids	Fatty, cold-water fish (such as salmon, mackerel and herring), flaxseeds, flax oil and walnuts

Below are common food sources of harmful fats:

Type of harmful fat	Food source
Saturated fat	Animal products (such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, lard and butter), and coconut, palm and other tropical oils
Trans fat	Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, commercial baked goods (such as crackers, cookies and cakes), fried foods (such as doughnuts and french fries), shortening and margarine
Dietary cholesterol	Animal products (such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, lard and butter)