Prepare for Your Success!
Stock Your Kitchen Pantry

Kitchen Pantry
Prepare for success by having healthy foods on hand in your kitchen pantry. Having good food choices available makes it easier for you to stick with your eating plan and to continue with your success (feeling good about your choices makes you more likely to keep making them).

Is your main food cupboard extra deep or high? If you need a step ladder to reach the top shelf, you’re likely to forget what’s up there and end up buying it again. And often the lower shelves get awfully crowded and messy as we try to stuff too many items within easy reach. To fix this problem, tape an index card to the inside of the door listing what you have inside the cupboard and group like items together (with lesser used items furthest away). Saves time and allows you to quickly see what you have. Simple but it works!

Yes, ideally, we want to focus on greens, veggies, and fruits - fresh WHOLE foods, but storing some essentials in your cupboard gives you flexibility when you haven’t shopped recently enough. A well-stocked kitchen pantry may keep you from falling off the wagon. It’s better to eat something so-so in a pinch than to break down and get too hungry and go get fattening, sugary, salty, high-calorie, addicting takeout food. By being prepared you arm yourself with good options. Obviously, NEVER stock up on any of your trigger foods

Some basics in my kitchen pantry include sundried tomatoes, homemade dehydrated veggie crackers, almonds, and some basic cereal options (puffed rice, shredded coconut, raisins, dried persimmons, dehydrated buckwheat groats). Even though I try to minimize eating processed foods, I even keep some low-sodium canned soup options for emergencies.

Refrigerator
Shop for a variety of healthy greens and other perishables. Put the most delicate perishables (like leafy lettuce and berries) in the front so they don't get bruised and so you use them up quickly. When you restock your groceries, make a few quick notes about what you bought and need to use up in the next few days. Make salad, use up English cucumber. Eat berries before Wednesday. You'll waste less food and will eat the food sooner, therefore getting more of those valued nutrients in your body! (Fresh foods lose nutrients as they age.)

Keep fruit on the counter to give you easy access to colorful healthy snacks. You'll be less likely to dig in the cupboards for less-than-healthy processed foods.

Purse and Car
Keep healthy snacks with you when you're on the move. Not only do you have food there for when you need it, you know that you have the choice about what you eat – and there is at least one good option for you to choose from. No need to have to stop somewhere with possibly poor selection that will undermine all of your efforts. At the very least, it can take the edge off your hunger so that you are in the right mind frame to make a healthier choice for your next meal. Have a little snack BEFORE you get ravenous enough to eat anything. Remember you are in control of your diet — set yourself up to succeed so you can make the lifestyle changes to meet your goals and break free of food addictions.

Best snack ideas on the go? Besides fresh fruit, nuts or fruit leather are ideal. I'm also infatuated with my seasoned dehydrated seaweed healthy snacks — they're great in a pinch when I'm on the road and hunger hits. Keeping snacks in small bags (ideally not plastic) makes them fit in the car console and controls portions. Find out what works for you. And remember, sometimes even something as small as a piece of gum or a big glass of water can tide you over until you get to eat something healthy.

Being prepared with your kitchen pantry gives you a strong edge when working to change old habits, and it gives you more choices so you're happier with your diet. The happier you are, the longer you stick with and make it a lifestyle shift. And those shifts put you that much closer to reaching your goals.

The good habits you build now will pay off for years to come!

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