Almost everywhere you go these days you are bombarded with food and the food we are bombarded with is mostly unhealthy food. This means our will power is constantly challenged and it can be tough to stay on track because of this (our local sport centre now has a burger van right outside its main door!).
The last thing you need therefore is a kitchen full of tempting food that you are trying to avoid eating to make this battle continue when you get home.
So I thought I would put together a list of things to get out of your kitchen today to make your life much easier. These foods bring no nutritional value and will often be your go to foods when you have cravings or feel you need a treat after a hard day.
Put simply if they are not there you cannot eat them. Ok you might end up like we did last week when the poor workman had no coffee or biscuits and thought we must be a real poor house. But this is a small price to pay for having a healthy kitchen that has no temptations working on me everyday!
By getting these foods out our house you will see a big change in your eating habits and over time IT will seem normal to you.
1. Bread
First of bread should be viewed as an occasional food not a daily food. If you buy a loaf of bread I can guarantee that either for quickness or as a nice comfort food you will work your way through that loaf within the week no problem. By not having it in the house you force yourself to finds alternatives.
2. Fizzy Drinks
I hope you managed to see the program on fizzy drinks last week on the BBC. If you didn’t they showed that some fizzy drinks contain almost 4 times the daily allowance for sugar. The diet versions have also been shown to cause people to eat more sugar and calories later in the day as the body is expecting sugar with the diet drink that is not forthcoming so the brain sends signals to eat more. These are empty calories, again if it is not there you will get into the habit of quenching your thirst with water and herbal teas quicker.
3. Sweets, chocolates crisps and treats
Having sweets and chocolates in the house in my opinion is unnecessarily torturing yourself. These foods are designed to taste great, so why would you put yourself through the hell of battling not to reach for them when you are in the kitchen. If I had a pound for every time I heard someone said “if I know they are there I will want to eat them” I would be a very rich man! Make life easier for yourself, if you have agreed with yourself that you are only going to have one treat per week, only buy one serving of the treat. Do not buy multipacks or big tubs as like the bread they will be very unlikely to make it through the week!
4. Ready meals
Often people buy these in as a’ back- up’ for when they are pushed for time. However there are better options to have for quick meals than the ready meals. It takes minutes to throw a salad or an omelette together, but these nourish the body whereas the ready meals are full of all kind of nasty’s!
5. Alcohol
Many people after a hard day will reach for a glass of wine almost automatically. However if there was no wine to hand they may choose something else to unwind; perhaps going for a bath; listening to music or reading a book.
I am not saying you must be tee total but don’t stock pile booze as again you will end up drinking more than you should.
Even though I am really committed to being healthy and have a decent level of will power I still find myself being tempted by these things when my wife sneaks these into the house. If I come home from work hungry and there is a bar of chocolate looking out at me from the fridge there is a chance I may succumb to it. However if it is not there I will happily grab a nice healthy snack, this is a habit created over many years.
