(RxWiki News) Our eating habits are influenced by our envirnoment - including our pantry. Improve your ability to choose healthier foods by reorganizing your pantry in five steps. Here is how you can get started.
1. Move items around.
The main objective is to organize your pantry to have the healthier foods where you can see them and your unhealthier foods in harder to reach places.
- Store unhealthy food options such as candy, cookies, and sweets on higher cabinets and shelves. One other tip is to store these treats in opaque containers. Think "Out of sight, out of mind!"
- Place healthier options front and center. Next time you are searching for a snack, seeing and having these options within arm's reach may make you more likely to choose these healthier options.
2. Go one step further.
For those unhealthy options, in addition to storing them high up or behind healthy items, can you go one step further? Store unhealthy items like cookies in a opaque container, in a bag with a tie, or anything else that will make it a little harder to get to. We as humans will do whatever is easier. So if you make the habit harder to do, the chances you eat that unhealthy snack, are less likely.
3. Stock up on healthy staples.
Think whole grain pastas, cans of beans, lentils and other legumes, brown rice. These items stay fresh and don't go bad. Most of these can be great options when you are low on time and need to whip up a healthy side dish. If you have options, the less likely you will choose fast food options that seem to be faster and more convenient.
4. Stock your pantry with healthy snacks.
When you are reaching for a snack mid afternoon or after dinner, having nutritious healthy snack available, makes the decision easier.
Good "Go-To" healthy snacks include anything taht is high in protein and/or fiber and is low on salt, sugar and fat.
Some staples include:
- nuts (almonds, cashews, etc)
- seeds
- nut butter
- non perishable single hummus packs
- dried seaweed
5. Pre-package snacks.
When snacking, sometimes it can be hard to eat only one serving, especially when we are distracted. A quick tip is to pre-package snacks in small bags or containers. This makes it an easy to grab, on-the-go snack that is healthy. Plus, by pre-portioning your snacks out ahead of time, you prevent yourself from overeating.
