8 Kitchen Hacks for Effective Weight Loss
Kitchen is considered the heart of home as it emanates warmth and symbolizes the love of the entire family. Your eating habits are greatly influenced by what you have in your kitchen. So, here are 10 kitchen hacks that can help you maintain healthier eating habits and assist in weight loss.
Make Fruits and Veggies Accessible
Munching on unhealthy items like chips can add extra calories and inches to your body. So, instead of that bag of potato chips, make your veggies and fruits more accessible. Prepare small containers containing cleaned and cut fresh produce like cucumbers, carrots, grapes, oranges, melon, kiwi, strawberries, cherries and berries, peppers, and celery that you can easily grab and go.
Prepare and Store a Container of Salad
Including salad with your meals is a great idea as it helps you curb the need to eat more of the heavier dinner. By preparing a large container before the week starts saves you time and prevents you from procrastinating about preparing salad every night. However, make sure you go for healthier dressings like vinaigrette, and enjoy.
Have Measuring Cups and Spoons on the Counter:
Most of the people put on weight because they don’t have any idea about the portion sizes. By measuring your food will help you monitor your portions and prevent you from consuming extra calories. Presence of measuring cups and spoons in the kitchen can give you a visual reminder.
Prepare Snacks and Trail Mixes
Never eat anything out of a bag, as you will end up binging on it. Instead, pack small portions of your favourite snacks like nuts, popcorn, cheese, veggie sticks, and fresh fruits in Ziploc bags. This is not only very practical but also helps you keep a check on your calorie count. You can also prepare your own custom trail mix with seeds and nuts.
Freeze the Prepared Food and Produce
Another way to make it easy for you to access healthy food is by using your freezer. Just go for the bigger bags of fresh fruits and veggies and store smaller portions in the freezer for easy usage. You can also make larger batches of soups, and other dishes that can be heated up and have your homemade ready-to-eat meals at hand. You can also freeze vegetable and fruit purees in small Ziploc bags or ice-cube trays to add to soups and smoothies or oatmeal, and dips etc.
Freeze Smoothies in Bags:
If you want to enjoy a healthy drink everyday but don’t get time to make a smoothie of your choice, then prepare a number of fruit and vegetable smoothies and store them in Ziploc bags. When needed, just throw in the contents of a bag into the blender and viola! Your smoothie is ready.
Get rid of Unhealthy Foods from Your Kitchen
An occasional indulgence for soda, cookies and chocolate may not be that bad for you, the kids and your hubby. However, don’t make them easily accessible. Remember, out of sight means out of mind and it definitely works for the unhealthy choices.
Put Away Half of Your Meal
Once your meal is ready, remember to use smaller tableware and also take half the food and store it for another meal. Just freeze it or refrigerate it. In this way, you will be able to eat less without feeling deprived and would be able to manage your calorie count as well.