How to set up your Kitchen for success
Updated: Dec 14, 2020
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The kitchen is the heart of health. It’s where you’re fueled, but it’s also where you can make the most mistakes. Now within weight loss, there exists this concept called the 70/30 rule and it states that 70% of your weight loss is defined by your actions in the kitchen and 30% is defined by what you do at the gym or your workouts. That’s why in this article, we’re going to be addressing how to set up your kitchen for SUCCESS!
Now whether your goal is to live healthier, become toned, or lose weight creating a kitchen environment that encourages you to reach your goals is going to save you time and headaches.
Prepping your 3 main phases: cleaning, planning, and portioning.
Let’s start off on a…clean plate *ha ha*
Begin by clearing out expired food and unhealthy snacks from your kitchen. This will create space to add healthier options. Rather than throwing away food out, donate it to a food pantry or give it to your friends in a thoughtful, “thinking of you” basket. Just get it out of your kitchen.
Now that your pantry is cleared, we can find replacements. There exist healthier alternatives to the junk food that we love. For example, you can replace Lays chips with Popcorn chips. The snack-sized bags of Popcorn chips are 60 calories less than the snack-sized Lays chips.
If you want a larger extensive list of junk food replacements, check the link in the description below.
After you’ve performed the *demonic voice* KITCHEN EXORCISM. Let’s address what you’re going to cook. One of the most effective ways of regulating your food intake is to meal prep. Meal prep a spectrum, ranging from least to most involved.
The least involved focuses just on cooking your veggies or proteins in bulk. You can decide on the rest of your meal later. For example, I keep on hand, cooked soy chorizo, and then I add it to my eggs or my salads.
Somewhat involved, is for people that like to vary their meals. In this case, you make a meal that will last for two days and then create a new menu every other day.
Do you say you’re the type of person you would rather get it all done in one day? Then just devote a day to cooking your meals for the week.
For those of you that hate cooking, simply purchase convenient meal kits like Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Freshly, or Fresh n Easy by Home Chef.
How you meal prep comes down to how much time do you want to spend on cooking.
Now that your meal is prepped, take a look at your plate. Did you know that the size of your dishware affects how much you eat? Let’s refer to Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink. He is a consumer behavior expert and he references studies that found a correlation between PLATE SIZE and FOOD CONSUMPTION! We subconsciously fill our plate with food until the plate appears full. This is our brain’s attempt to predict how much food we will require to feel satisfied. Therefore, by using smaller plates we can promote portion control. For example, say we wanted to cut back on our soda consumption. That means we should use a child’s size cup. In contrast, if we are trying to increase our water intake, then we should grab the biggest glass we can or a hydro flask bottle.
Now that you know many of our habits are driven by unconscious factors. We can use them to our advantage. NOW GO AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR KITCHEN MY LITTLE SUGAR CUBES!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to message me on Instagram or Facebook @fitnessmanifest.