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New Year Ready? Its Kitchen Makeover Time!

It’s Time for a Kitchen Inspection

Losing weight is not just about what you put in your mouth, how many calories you burn at the gym or how much willpower you have. In fact, losing weight is heavily impacted by your environment, which has very little to do with willpower!

Your environment is full of cues that can trigger snacking, overeating or consuming of foods that can challenge your weight loss efforts, e.g. those cookies left on the kitchen bench. Constantly having to say ‘no’ to the cookies becomes exhausting. Indeed, it is increasingly being recognised that resisting repeated temptation takes mental effort, and eventually you give in when your mind fatigues. 

To combat this, take control of your environment to make it work for you. By reducing your exposure to unhealthy food, you will soon see those extra kilos coming off! Let’s start with your home environment. Here are some quick tips to help your take control at home to avoid succumbing to temptation:

  • Remove all ‘temptation’ foods from your cupboard, fridge and freezer. I mean – right now! Stop reading, put them in a bag, and then pass them on – that is, give them to neighbors, friends or family.
  • If you live with housemates or family members that insist these foods must stay, remove them from sight (place in the cupboard) and put reminder notes on ‘tempting’ foods to discourage eating them – e.g. place a post-it note on the ice cream container saying ‘am I really hungry?’ or ‘you can achieve your goals, don’t eat me!’
  • Unless you are preparing a meal, stay out of the kitchen.
  • Have healthy snacks at your disposal, such as small pieces of fruit, vegetable sticks, raw nuts/seeds, boiled eggs, etc. Ensure they are suitable for your eating plan.

You also need to take control of your ‘work kitchen’ aka your desk drawer:

  • Do not eat at your desk or keep tempting snacks at your desk. Throw them out, or pass them on, yes…now!
  • Pre-prepare healthy snacks but keep them away from your desk so you are not tempted to eat them just because they are within arm’s reach.
  • During your breaks, go for a walk instead of snacking.
  • If you work around food, plan in advance what you will be eating for the day, bring your own meals.
  • Before you reach for a snack, drink a glass of water. Often, we think we are hungry when we are actually dehydrated.
  • Do not work through mealtimes, this may lead to overeating, or poor food choices later in the day.

You will be (pleasantly) surprised at just how effective implementing these simple changes can be and they can really make all the difference when it comes to shedding those unwanted kilos.

Cindi Young is a leading Gold Coast Naturopath specialising in the use of the ketogenic diet. With a special interest in women’s hormones, thyroid, adrenal and weight management, Cindi provides a personalised ketogenic diet to assist with weight loss and hormone balance.

Available for consultations at The Cycle of Life, Gold Coast, Mullumbimby NSW and online appointments Australia wide. Cindi regularly runs workshops in her Gold Coast clinic as well as regular webinars. Book your session for a personalised approach.