THE SIMPLEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT EVEN TRYING is to rearrange the layout of your kitchen. Just like supermarkets display candy at the register so that we see it and buy it, we can organise our kitchen in a way that fresh groceries are temptingly on display, while naughty sweets are hidden away in cupboards, actually helping us lose weight.
The kitchen is the heart of the house.
This is how to make your heart right:
1. BUY ENOUGH VEGETABLES to have plenty available in your kitchen when you want to make something to eat. If you are afraid of them going to waste, you can also buy some fresh and some frozen vegetables such as spinach or green peas that have been frozen with a vitamin-preserving technique.
2. DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH FISH? Again, if you are not sure when you will be consuming it, you can buy some smoked wild mackerel (which stays good for about 2-3 days) or frozen wild salmon (which stays good in the freezer for 3-6 months).
IS THERE A FISH MARKET CLOSE TO YOUR HOME? Perhaps you can decide to go there once a week (or once a month, any improvement on your current consumption of fish is a good one!) and have a fish-centered meal. As an alternative (or if you really hate eating fish), you can buy fish oil (check that it is mercury-free!) and have 2 tea spoons of it each day.
3. DID YOU REMEMBER TO HIDE JUNK FOOD OUT OF SIGHT? You should! Sometimes, just the sights of junk food is enough to trigger a craving. If you don’t see it, you won’t have that trigger, and for a while you might actually forget that it’s there – true story!
4. ARE YOU MAKING IT EASY FOR YOURSELF TO EAT SMALLER PORTIONS? Consider buying/using smaller plates even for main courses. How much you eat largely depends on how much you put on your plate, and if you have a bigger plate you will put more.
THE SAME GOES FOR GLASSES AND CUPS. If it’s a big cup of green tea, that’s great, but if it’s a big glass of soda, not so much.
5. ORGANISE AND CATEGORISE YOUR KITCHEN. There are a few things you will need within handreach in order to make a healthy meal even when you don’t actually really feel like it. These things are: a cutting board, a good knife, a clutter-free part of the counter as your standard space for food preparation, and blender and/or a simple (and very cheap) lemon/orange juice squeezer.
YOU COULD EVEN SPLIT YOUR CABINETS into healthy and non-healthy foods. If you make a deal with yourself to grab things from the healthy cupboards at least more than half of the time, you’ll be surprised how much impact this can make in your diet!
6. DON’T BUY THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO EAT (OR DRINK). Stocking up on 10 bars of chocolate is not going to do anyone any good when there is a rainy day during which you end up staying inside and eating them all.
IF YOU MUST BUY SNACKS, think of awesome alternatives to satisfy your munching needs. These alternatives could be: edemame, salty popocorn, corn, dried apple chips, fruits that are simple to prepare such as blueberries, cherries and bananas, raw zucchini slices, menuja berries, goji berries, walnuts and almonds.
YOU COULD ALSO PREPARE A BIG BATCH OF SOUP in the morning on days when you will stay in, that way you can snack on small portions of healthy soup all throughout the day.
7. PLACE FRUIT IN A PRETTY BOWL AND PLACE BOWL IN VISIBLE PLACE. This is a guaranteed way to get you (or your housemates, partner, kids) to eat more fruit. Choose fruits that are easy to consume, such as mandarines, mineolas, bananas, cherries, blueberries and grapes.
Will you be trying (some of) these tips? Do let me know in the comments below! 🙂
Good luck!
Ana
Ana's Bananas 