Clean Your Cupboard and Get On Track!

Clean Your Cupboard and Get On Track!

Time to clean the cobwebs out of your cupboards along with the unhealthy foods that have either been hiding or are prominently displayed front and center. We are making way and preparing for your success and at the same time removing temptation! This is the easiest way to help yourself with weight loss and the transition to a healthier way of eating.

Now everyone’s cupboards are full of many things and what may be a temptation for me may not be for you. Now, if you have trigger foods around, please do yourself a favor and get rid of them, at least in the early phases. We’ll introduce them and the concept of intuitive eating just a little later once we’ve experienced some success and are a little further down our path. READ MORE...

This article is meant to address the question, “How do I get started?” So, here are a few ideas of things you may want to remove and some ideas of what you can replace them with.

BREAKFAST

-Replace sugary cereals and with whole grains like Cheerios and oatmeal.
-Remove hot chocolate and replace with tea or coffee, perhaps implement a sugar free creamer or syrup.
-Exchange whole milk for 2% milk OR 2% milk for skim milk.
-Replace white bread with whole grain breads like rye, wheat, 7-grain, etc.

LUNCH

-Remove white pastas and replace with whole-wheat brands.
-Exchange fatty lunchmeats (bologna and salami) for deli sliced turkey or chicken.
-Replace salad dressings with rice vinegar and a pinch of flax oil OR Paul Neuman low-calorie dressings
-Replace creamy soups with vegetable soups OR Campbell’s Select soups
-Replace fried chicken or fish sandwiches with soup and some fruit or salad

DINNER/SUPPER

-Replace hamburgers with grilled chicken or turkey breast
-Remove white rice for whole wheat or wild rice
-Exchange processed foods for their natural counterparts; try cooking more from scratch
-Replace French fries with boiled or baked potatoes and top with spray butter, a slice of low-fat cheese (35-50 calories) or use olive oil, onion, salt & pepper
-Replace battered fish with steamed or baked
-Do away with vegetables in fat laden sauces and eat vegetables in their natural state, either fresh or frozen. Canned vegetables are also okay, but they are high in salt and usually do not contain the same flavor as fresh or frozen.

SNACKS

-Exchange chips for 100-calorie bags of popcorn or rice cakes
-Do away with nachos and cheese and add baked corn chips and salsa
-Eat fruits and vegetables or lean meats

CONDIMENTS

-Replace butter with a dash of herb infused rice vinegar or spray butter
-Discard hydrogenated products and replace with olive oil

DESSERTS

-Exchange pie for fresh fruit
-Replace ice cream with sugar-free Popsicles or fudgesickles (35 calories)
-Throw away turnovers and enjoy applesauce with cinnamon and nutmeg
-Discard candy, chocolate and cookies for now; you really don’t need them around.

DRINKS

-Replace pop with flavored water or tea
-Exchange high sugar juices for the actual fruit or iced green tea

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Just like cleaning your closets of those unwanted clothes as you get new ones, we need to clean our cupboards and refrigerator of our old food habits to make way for new ones. And oh, the rewards are awesome!!!

You’ll feel better, be more alert, have more energy, lose weight and have a better feeling of self and well-being. Here’s to your health or, as Julia would say, Sante!

A special “thank you” to Julia Spring for her contribution to this article and the enjoyment we shared in “brainstorming” the basics.