Kitchen Makeover

Week 1 of my challenge groups is always - prep time. I love to talk about how to get everything ready, from clean eating, organising your kitchen in a way you won't be tempted with some of your favourite treats.

This week I've been posting and talking about meal prep, eating healthy in my Back2School Challenge Group. This group is such a wonderful group of challengers who may all be doing different program or have different goals but the one thing they have in common is they are working together in becoming a better version of themselves and live a healthy life.

So you must be asking yourself when do you get ready to set some goals and make changes - where do you begin?  Everything starts in the kitchen! Most time we eat mindlessly, we are in a social setting or at home, we eat because its right in front of us and not because you are hungry. Next time you are in the situation - take a minute and ask yourself “are you truly hungry?”

First step: Clean your kitchen

You need to start by cleaning your kitchen. What do I mean by ''cleaning'' your kitchen? I want you to go through your fridge, pantry and cupboard and keep all the food that are healthy, not overly processed (if you can't read the ingredients - its considered process). You want to eat foods that are the closest to their natural state. A good rule to get in the habit is looking at the labels.  Stay away from forms of sugar such as high fructose corn syrup as well as hydrogenated oil, fractioned oil, and preservatives.  Instead of throwing out food why not donate? I think it’s best to get rid of all the sugary treats or anything that may tempt you to make a bad choice. Remember ''Out of sight, out of mind!''

To control the portion of food you eat - try to portion them out once you come home from grocery shopping. When you come home from grocery shopping take some time to portion out your food.  A good example is almonds.  Put 12 of them in some sandwich or snack bags.  It’s nice to have it ready and especially when you need a snack on the go.

Second step: Eye level concept

When we stand in front of the fridge, we grab whatever foods takes the least amount of time to prepare.  So we need healthy items waiting for us as when we open the fridge for a "quick" grab.  So after going grocery shopping, clean your fruits and veggies and place them at eye level so it’s easy to grab.  If you don't want to spent the time cutting up the veggies buy them pre-cut. Arrange your Greek yogurt by the berries, place your hummus and veggies together.

Third step: Healthy swaps


When you go through your refrigerator and panty - is there anything in there that you see you could swap for something better or healthier?

For example, one of my personal favourite peanut butter.  Do you have any in your pantry?  You should be switching to the all-natural peanut butter.  Always check the label to see if it says for ingredients only - peanuts.

Another great example is yogurt. I use to eat vanilla low fat yogurt, but when I started my first challenge group and clean eating - I was told plain Greek yogurt was best. I did not like the taste of the plain Greek yogurt so I started adding some frozen fruits and flaxseed. After a week I got use to it and now I love it.

Cheese is another easy swap.  String cheese is already portioned out and easy to grab.  Once you start eating clean you will notice even your taste buds will change, food taste differently.

Also think about your regular condiments.  Most condiments, including ketchup and Dijon mustard come in a cleaner version that do not include high fructose corn syrup (for the ketchup) and no added sugar (for the mustard).  Another big, yet easy, change that I made was using butter.  I actually can't tell you the last time I bought butter at the store! When cooking, I use coconut cooking spray or olive oil.

When you are in the grocery store and need help on what brand is better than another use the app Fooducate which allows you to scan the bar code of two different products and pick the better choice between the two.  Each item is given a score based on the nutritional content.

Lastly:

For the most part, I stock the same items and put them in the same place so the family knows where to go to get those items.  I keep the same list and if something runs out I replace it.  No mystery! My husband comes home from work and opens up the cupboards and will always find the same items.  Boring!! Yep!!! But hey it works and the entire family eats better because of this system.  Let’s face it, we eat only to fuel our body and by that we need to eat foods that don't stick around long in our system.  In and out!  Yep! If the items can sit on your shelf for months then it’s not something you want to be eating often.


 Here are some things that you can do RIGHT NOW to help you get started:

1. Check out your refrigerator and pantry to see if there are foods that you frequently consume that you are willing to swap out by a lower fat, lower, sugar, or reduced calorie alternative. Once you do that, go add those to your grocery list NOW so you don't forget!
2. Remove high fat, high sugar, and any other temptations that you have in your kitchen and make room on the shelves for the fresh food that you will be getting soon!
3. Be sure that you have the basic tools you will need (noted above) so that this process truly is easier than what you do now.
4. Stock up on plastic baggies or containers that you can store in your refrigerator, so that you are ready to portion everything out come prep day.

 I hope this helped you to get started and if you have questions please reach out by email or Facebook!