2 Steps You Can Take Now to Power Your Kitchen

A successful transition to a inspired diet begins with making the kitchen one of the coziest, most inviting rooms in your home. Turn the kitchen into a sacred space, because if you adore your kitchen, you’ll spend valuable time there. Preparing meals and experimenting with new culinary ideas will become an effortless, stress-relieving, and enjoyable way to spend time if you’re in a happy, inspiring space that reflects who you are and what you want to become.

Here are 2 of my favorite steps for creating a kitchen that not only respects your goals, but will nurture your wellness journey for the long-haul:

1. Clean It Out
Remove anything from the kitchen that will tempt, frustrate, and otherwise hinder progress. This includes junky or expired foodstuffs but also broken appliances, wonky tools, and those dishes, serving ware, and utensils you never use.

Have a giveaway party, invite pals over to help unload, and celebrate new goals. Donate goods to someone who can fix or make use of them. Maybe even set out a healthy snack you made. See what happens.

Get the tempting S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) foods out of the house — they’re kryptonite — and if they’re not there, we can’t eat them. We instantly set ourselves up for success if we junk-proof the kitchen all around. Don’t forget about the counters, fridge, pantry, and freezer.
Make room for the good stuff.

2. Rearrange & Organize
Keep handy the appliances and tools that you’ll be using often. Bring them to the front of the cabinets or countertop. Utilize quirky jars and vessels for items like rubber bands and cheesecloths (which you’ll end up using more than you think). Make it easy on yourself.

To ensure that I eat a variety of foods, I personally need to see all my options. So my pantry items and spices are out of the cabinets and stacked on open shelves. I’m much more likely to use the green lentils or the mustard seeds if they aren’t collecting dust in the back of the pantry where I can’t see them. Label them if you need to and group items for easy locating — flours, spices, grains, nuts, seeds, teas, etc. Store bulk pantry items in airtight glass containers — recycle glass jars from tomato sauce, nut butters, or other store-bought items. You’ll use them over and over to store homemade goods.

Every six months, repeat these steps so your kitchen remains a space that inspires and motivates, versus stagnates. Hope it helps.

~Thanks to Heather Crosby