One of the places we hang out a lot when it comes to food is the kitchen, and very often that’s exactly where we make our choices. Often times in our mission to live a healthier life, our rate of success in the kitchen depends on the presentation of our kitchen. Sure, while trying to get into a healthy lifestyle, you can always stock up on your favorite chocolate bar and potato chips (Who doesn’t love a little treat!) but where you place it makes a difference in how fast you finish it – which can make a great impact of how much calorie you add on to your weight *gasps*. Fret not, for I’m here to save the day with five kitchen hacks to help change your kitchen environment to prep you for success!

Hack #1: Plan your kitchen for success

Planning is literally everything when you’re trying to succeed in any goals. As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, and this is very true in the kitchen story. If you’re starting out on a fresh kitchen, the first thing you really want to plan is the equipment you need to have inside your kitchen. But for most of us, it’s the food we really want to plan for.

Using a shopping list to help you out might be the best option when it comes to planning what food to buy. This gives you better control over what you want and helps you focus on getting those food only. Oh, your wallet will totally thank you for it. #nomoremindlesslyboughtgoods

Hack #2: Write out your grocery list

There’s a few ways you can actually do this, but I generally like to keep things simple, so I plan mine with vegetables, proteins, and fats. For me, I’m not too concern about buying carbs (Eg. Rice, bread, pasta, etc) because I’m not the only one doing groceries in my family and my parents tend to buy carbohydrates sources, but this can be a concern for you, especially for those looking to gain some weight, or are in endurance sports.

Decide what you (or your family) needs. Make some considerations as you plan your list. Some considerations could be

What you want to cook
The type and amount of ingredients required
How long these ingredients are meant to last
Are the ingredients balanced in terms of nutrients?
Are there enough variety to feed me throughout? Will I be bored of this combination?

If you need help getting started, click here to download a beginner shopping list template to use!

Hack #3: Plan your kitchen for times of failure

Now now! I know what you’re thinking: Why should I plan for failure when I’m trying to succeed?! It is important to understand that in human behavior, there’ll be times when we feel less motivated, more tired and just want to do less work, and that is completely okay! Rest is essential to play the long game of success.

However, this does not mean you must most definitely fail. Some ways you can prepare yourself for these times is to purchase food in advance for these moments where you just need to get the right nutrition with a little lesser preparation. There are some easy to prepare high protein, or low GI carbohydrates food to keep yourself that you can consider, such as

High protein greek yogurt
Steel cut/Rolled oats
Nuts and seeds
Salad greens
Fruits
Protein powder

Best of all? Food prep can be done in less than 5 minutes and you’re ready to eat! If the flavors are boring, you can mix them together and get yourself a nice meal.

Hack #4: Don’t invite enemies to your kitchen

Imagine your kitchen: The sanctuary. Your house. The place you find security and comfort in knowing that all your nutritional needs are fulfilled. Now, think of the food that doesn’t meet your goals as the enemy. The enemy who has come to steal, to kill and to destroy your goals. OH NO.

We term the enemy as “Danger foods”. Danger foods are not fixed – they can change as your goal changes. For some, danger foods can be candy and chocolates. For others, danger foods can be vegetables (Yes, seriously!).

But the point is that if you bring food that doesn’t help you reach your goals, there’s a good chance you did that because you wanted that particular food item. Once they’re at your house, it now becomes an option to be consumed, and most of the time, it will be consumed. For every one time you consume these danger foods, you might be one step further away from your goal. At this point, we may need to weigh the cost and benefits to see if it’s worth bringing danger foods home.

Hack #5: If you’re going bring danger foods home, hide them!

Despite sharing about how they are harmful to our goals and how we might be 10,000 steps further away from our goals, at the end of the day, The existence of food is more than just an energy unit and they should be enjoyed the way they are. Do you want chocolate? Buy them! Wait, that soda drink? Grab them! But be very mindful of when you consume them, and how much you consume in one sitting. I tend to use a 90:10 ratio where I practice mindful eating 90% of the time and stay crazy for the rest of the 10% at any given moment, whether in the measurement of days, weeks or months.

One way to reduce your chances of consuming these danger food you bought out of your temptation is to hide them. Bring the food you should eat to the front of your cupboards, shelves and fridge and hide the food you shouldn’t eat. As the saying goes,

Out of sight, out of mind

P.S: If you’re feeling guilty, I’m munching on a bar of Toberlone while typing this, and it’s totally okay to do so as long as you’re mindful.

If you have any other suggestions, feel free to add them to the comments section below. If you like this post, do share it with your friends! More viewership = more motivation for me to write awesome post for ya!