Preparing Your Home For Healthy Eating
The first step to eating healthy is to decide to do so, but the second (and perhaps most important) step is to prepare your house for success.
Foods to toss out:
- Chips & crackers
- Chocolates or candy
- Soda/pop/sweetened drinks
- Alcohol, especially flavored/sweetened mixed drinks
- Instant foods like cake mixes and mashed potatoes
- Margarine and other processed fats
- Frozen dinners
- take-out or restaurant leftovers
- Bowls of candy or other snacks sitting around
- Sweetened yogurt and frozen yogurt
- Breads and bagels
- Other baked goods
- Breakfast cereals
- Crackers
- Fruit, cereal, and/or granola bars
- Regular peanut butter
- Fruit juice
- Condiments such as BBQ sauce and other sweetened sauces
- Sweetened relishes, mustards, and ketchup (sugar or high fructose corn syrup in the top 3 ingredients)
- Salad dressings
- Bread crumbs, croutons, and other dried bread products
- Processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, and deli meats
- Spreads such as Cheez Whiz or sweetened cream cheeses
When I tell most of my client’s this, their immediate reaction is “but what will I eat?!” ….
As long as we have the foods we are addicted to around, you will never eat the good stuff- this is a fact. Throw all of it out, NOW…. I’ll wait….
OK, did you toss everything into the dumpster?……
Now that your pantry is empty, here is a list of staples to have on hand in your pantry & refrigerator:
Foods to Restock:
- Vegetables (preferably green & leafy ex: spinach, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, etc.)
- Fruits (preferably low sugar ex: small apple, pear, frozen or fresh berries)
- Lean proteins (egg whites, boneless skinless chicken or turkey breast, 90% lean ground turkey or beef, fish, beef or pork tenderloin, whey protein, plain Greek yogurt, low fat cottage cheese)
- Nuts/seeds (almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, brazil nuts, fresh almond or peanut butter, etc.)
- Starchy Carbs (red potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa, wild rice, brown rice, sprouted grain breads, corn, etc.
Food Preparation Tips:
- Choose 1-2 days per week (ex: Sun & Wed) to prepare for next next 3-4 days (make life easier & choose 1 item to cook per meal. This saves time, money & energy)
- Pick a day of the week to shop & cook (~4 hours needed)
- Make 3-4 servings of each meal, put it in a container & store it
- At the end of each day, clean your dishes & portion your meals for the next day
I would love to hear your feedback and questions in the comments section below. If you have found this information to be useful, I would be so appreciative if you would consider sharing it with your friends and subscribing to my email list. Thanks for reading!