What to Keep, What to Toss When Kitchen Decluttering
Everybody loves a makeover, and your kitchen cupboards are no exception. Can’t you hear them begging you? “Fill me with healthy, delicious foods! Please, please, please!” Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? Let’s give your cupboards what they're asking for (and what you need to stop sugar cravings and boost energy), let's clean out your kitchen cupboards. Here are some simple guidelines for what to keep, and what to toss.
What to Keep
Here’s the simple rule: Eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce. Easy, right? Here are some suggestions…
Whole Grains: brown rice, quinoa (ok this is a tricky one to pronounce), millet, buckwheat, oats
Beans: lentils, pinto, black, chickpea, aduki etc
Snacks: dried goji berries, dark chocolate, almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts etc
Seeds: pumpkin, sesame, flaxseed/linseeds, sunflower, chia
Canned Foods: Amy’s Organic & Eden Organic Soups & refried beans, BioNature tomatoes & beans
Condiments: Tamari, extra virgin olive oil, grape seed oil, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, dried spices, coconut oil, fresh herbs
What to Toss
Simple guidelines here, too: toss anything that has partially hydrogenated oil (be sure to read labels!), high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar (beat sugar addiction and stop sugar cravings), white flour, or an ingredient list a mile long. Not sure if a food falls into this category? Here’s a simple test –if the food in question is heavily advertised, it’s probably in the toss pile. You don’t see a lot of advertising dollars spent on broccoli and quinoa, but there are some serious bucks behind most processed foods.
To get your nutrition facts straight you have to become a label reader; it's important to know what's in your food. If it comes in a packet or tin then check the label. You can get a general idea of what the food contains, how much is in a serving, and how many calories are in a serving from the label. You can also use labels to compare two foods. Which one has more fibre? Which one has more fat? Which one has more calories per serving? You'll be surprised by the differences between brands for the same foods. Next time you are at the supermarket check different types of rice crackers or cereals as an example.
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