Kitchen makeover

The following is a kitchen makeover project I give each person I am coaching.  Just little tricks that I have learned over the past two years that make a difference in the way my family and I eat.  Hope it helps your family too.

A Simple Kitchen Makeover

So you are lazy…

But that’s ok because we are going to base some of this kitchen makeover based on the human tendencies that we are all a bit lazy.  What does that mean when it comes to food?  Well it means that when it comes to eating we often reach for what is easy, like a bag of chips or a hot snack we can microwave in 30 seconds.  With this makeover you can be lazy it’s just that the thinking and prep are already done and you will be reaching for a healthier snack instead of junk food.

Cleaning the Refrigerator

This is the place to start. Remove all chill drawers, these are the drawers at the bottom of your fridge that probably have moldy cheese or other items you did not have room for on the shelf. These drawers are usually used or factory labeled for deli meats and cheeses, or lettuce. We now put our cheese (if we have cheese) in our garage refrigerator (see below for details.)

Prepping fresh fruit so it is easy to eat, when you buy a flat of strawberries wash them and put them in a bowel or just cut the top off the container.  The same goes for blueberries, blackberries, grapes, carrots, and celery.  Put them were they can be seen, easy to reach (bottom shelf) for the kids, and eaten at any time.  These snacks are low calorie and low in fat so you and the kids can eat them anytime. We buy most of our food from Costco, so we always have grapes, blueberries and strawberries in large quantities, we just cut the tops off the containers and wash everything and put them were the chill drawers used to be. Easy to reach and always ready to eat.

Things to put into your outside refrigerator or freezer

Many of us these days have a second refrigerator or freezer in our garage or in a storage room.  If you are fortunate to have one of these please consider starting to place your high fat foods that you should eat sparingly into a refrigerator or freezer that is not easily accessed.  Remember, this is the one time your laziness will pay off. 

Place mayo, sour cream, dressings, frozen snacks, cheese, and ice cream out into your other fridge.  Out of sight and out of mind.

Cleaning the Cupboards

This is what we have done and a good everyone. First you need to clean out your cupboards and remove all the expired items that have been there for years that you aren’t going to use EVER.

Remove all the cake and brownie mixes.  If you can’t bring yourself to donate them to a local food shelter (we suggest donation) just put them on the top shelf or in your storage pantry so they aren’t at eye level tempting you to eat that chocolate delight.

Remove all the potato chips and crackers, just through them away. Quit buying potato chips and high fat salty snacks.  And it is time to dial back the sugar.  If sugar (or a sugar type product) is listed as a top three ingredient, it’s not for you.  If it’s not in front of you and in your house it is a lot less tempting and luckily most of us are too lazy to drive to the store to get a bag.

PORTIONS, portions!

Many of the foods we eat everyday are not really that bad for us if we eat just one serving, the problem is most of us do not know what a serving is.  Learn to read the label and measure a serving.  And then just eat one.  Here is what we suggest…

Take food out of the giant Costco sized bag and put snacks into portion sized snack bags so you know how much you are eating. Digging into a Costco sized bag of anything could be extremely dangerous, but I believe it is the norm in most households.  An open bag is an empty bag because most of us can not just stop at one handful of a treat. “Let’s have some chips” the bag is put on the counter for a free for all eat-a-thon.

Package snackable items for your like granola, different types of crackers, nuts, dried fruit.

Place all approved snacks in their pre-portioned snack bags in a basket in your pantry or cupboard. 

Things you will need in your kitchen

These are items that we keep on hand and will be essential to your makeover

Measuring cups -   ¼ -1 cup

Measuring spoons - ½ teaspoon – 1 tablespoon

Blender - We use a Vita mixer, but any good blender/mixer should work

Snack size bags - These are used to put all your snacks into proper portions

Basket / Container - These are used to put pre measured snacks in.

Food Scale

Grocery list

FIRST GET SOME SHAKEOLOGY  - www.beachbodycoach.com/amycobine  Shakeology will be a huge part of the program.  It taste good and is super good for you.

Fresh fruit (organic preferred) - Grapes, Strawberries, Oranges, Blueberries, Bananas, Apples

Organic kids Cliff bars - these are great snack for everyone, and they are ½ the calories that the adult bars and almost the same size

Nuts - unsalted almonds, pistachios, these have to be premeasured (nuts are often over eaten)

PB2 powdered peanut butter - www.bellplantation.com  (put in shakes for peanut butter taste but ½ the calories and the fat

Pre-cut organic apples

Organic carrots

Celery

Steel cut oats

Turkey and organic chicken

Need easy to prepare foods for dinners on busy nights try Amy’s Organics in the freezer section

Organic egg whites for omelets

Organic eggs

String cheese (great snack and a great way to get your cheese fix)

Broccoli

Green foods (the more you eat the more you will like)

Fish (this may be hard to come by for good fresh fish, but do eat if you have a chance)

Organic Sugar

Honey

Stevia

What not to buy at your next trip

NO SODA!!! Ever, even diet soda.  Cut the sugar out of your drinks immediately.  You may have water, tea, or coffee (with no sugar). 

No alcohol (to many calories and people tend to eat more when they have been drinking, beer goggle effect works unfortunately works on food too)

Chips and crackers

Cake and brownie mixes

Pork products (I know they taste good but they are bad for you)

Juice (it is very high in sugar)

Limit Dairy products as much as you.

Nothing and I mean nothing (read every label) with high fructose corn syrup

No Trans Fats, use real butter before you use margarine

A little more about our kitchen makeover and what works for us.

Apples  -  If we buy them by the box they never get eaten and are just wasted. If we buy them precut in small packages they are gone within a week. The first few batches we bought precut I thought, wow the kids sure ate those up fast, what a waste. Then I realized when they are gone and we don’t have them that is when they start asking if they can eat chips or can I have a bowl of ice cream.   I think it is worth the little extra in cost to help make the right choice for snacks.

Carrots  -  These follow the same line as the apples, buy them in bulk and whole a month later we will have a bulk bag of slimy orange mush.  Buy the kids baby carrots in a small bag; they get eaten up like they are candy.  Both the Carrots and Apples pre packaged are great for school lunches too.