Fridge/Kitchen Cleaning!

What do you do when you go grocery shopping while you are hungry! Or when you go home after work and you are starving to death!!! I bet you go crazy picking out (or shall I say pigging out) chips, chocolate, candy, leftovers.....etc!

BIG MISTAKE!

This is not the right way for a healthy living!

If you are aiming for a healthy lifestyle then you are better of with a clean kitchen and a clean fridge. By clean I mean a kitchen/fridge that are not flooded with junkie items!

So how about you do this:
1. Purge your fridge of unhealthy food items. This means you must take away your fattening mayo, your high in fat salad dressings.... and the ice cream out of the fridge.

2. Open your kitchen cabinets and start taking out problematic cookies, chips, candy, chocolate bars....etc!

3. Go grocery shopping and load up on diet friendly items.... reduced fat salad dressing, low fat mayo if you must have it, salsa, spicy mustard, low sodium chicken and vegetable broth, and non-stick cooking spray!

4. When shopping for herbs and spices look for the calorie-free, no-salt herbs and seasonings. Be it basil, chives, ginger, thyme, oregano, rosemary... you name it!

5. When you eat your meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) sneak in at least one piece of vegetable or fruit. This way you make sure you are getting your daily intake of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, water, and fiber. Plus they fill you up and give you energy while knocking off some pounds!

I will give you some examples on how you can add produce to your meal...
You can have a white omelet for breakfast and sneak in some veggies to go with it.
Also... cook in some vegetables with your soup!
Dip in baby carrots and peppers into your favorite low-cal salad dressing when you feel hungry
Add in strawberries and bananas to your cereal or yogurt
You can also freeze some grapes and bananas and eat it later... what a sweet treat

6. Eat whole grain carbs. They are hearty, satisfying, and will keep you fuller longer than their white counterparts. A great whole grain carbs to have on hand include; whole wheat flour, whole grain barley, oats, corn, brown and wild rice, wheat berries, whole wheat pasta and bread... and cereal too.

7. Buy a single serving of the food products that you tend to overeat.

8. Have the courage to try new lean proteins. Think outside the box and aim for assortment of lean proteins into your menu. Its good to set a schedule to ensure you vary your menus.

For example; one day you can try it the vegetarian way and opt for beans, lentils, or tofu. Next day have a lean turkey burger, then maybe the next day shrimps, followed by lean sirloin the following day... then roasted chicken. The day after try a grilled fish.

As I always say... read the labels carefully and look at the numbers! Just make sure to avoid canned/frozen fruit, with added sugar and corn syrup, and vegetables with sauce and salt.



To read the original article "Joy's Healthy Bite" on Yahoo! Health by By Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. click here.
Or check out Joy's new book.