7 Steps To Overhauling Your Pantry

You can’t understand it, your pantry is stocked with things that you have seen some or other dietician market on TV.  She told you that it is healthy and beneficial, yet you don’t feel particularly healthy after having it.

When you go to the grocery store you look for the brands that are endorsed by the various health organisations, because surely they have only your best interests at heart, right?

Wrong.

Come with me, and let’s give your pantry a make over that will have much better results for you and your family.

1.   Evaluate the nutritional value of the cereals

Do you see the shelves with the cereals?  Think a bowl of cereal is a nutritionally complete meal? Think again. A serving of cereal can deliver anything from 0% sugar to 44% sugar per serving! http://www.howmuchsugar.com/resources/Documents/atp.pdf They are mostly very low on protein and a serving size is about 30 grams on average, that relates to about 500 kilojoules. You can not sustain your energy on only carbs, a smidgen of protein and no healthy fats for four to five hours until you eat your lunch again.

If you have to have cereals, combine it with high quality protein and healthy fats, just ensure that you are choosing from the ten best list of cereals, and not the 10 worst lists of cereals.

Visit websites such as www.cleaneatingmag.com for ideas that you can customise. I know taking out a box of cereal and just pouring milk over is easier and quicker to do, but you are not doing your body any favours by doing it. Take three breakfast recipes and repeat them, alternatively, get one that you enjoy and will not get tired of for a whole week, and prep in advance if you have to. Smoothies are always a winner and these days you can build a kick-ass smoothie that meets all of the nutritional requirements.

2. Do your own yoghurt flavours

A serving size of 233gr of flavoured yoghurt can pack as much as 47 grams (nine teaspoons!) of sugar, and only 11 grams of protein. Replace it with natural potset yoghurt and add your own flavour.  Think blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and even a little drizzle of organic local honey.

3. Throw out TV Dinners and pre-prep your meals

Real, nutritional, and satisfying food is not supposed to never go off.  You must have heard and seen the evidence of these highly processed foods being left in a cupboard and still looking the
same as the day it was put there a couple of months later?

Plan your menu ahead and prep your meals either weekly or if you can, monthly.  It is kinder on your budget and alleviates the evening rush when the kids start asking whats for dinner. 

Once again, get about nine recipes that you can repeat.  Think about it, you do not eat different recipes every night. If you have a good few recipes that are family favourites, every one should be relatively happy.

 4. Diet soda

Don’t buy it.  Just don’t. In fact, do not buy soda. If a soda in a red can can clean a toilet, what will it do to your insides? Surely you have seen the photos with the little bags of sugar underneath as an indicator of how much sugar these drinks contain? If you haven’t then here is the link:
http://andykennyfitness.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/sugar-blog.jpg   Please, please, please, if there is one habit that you must kick it is the soda habit.

Drink water.  Drink copious amounts of water. You need it, and you will feel much better for it.  You can flavour your water by dropping some blueberries in you bottle, or even cucumber and lemon slices.

5. Popcorn

What?! Serious?! No… well partly.  Those easy popping bags that you pop in the microwave, get rid of those. Go for the old fashioned way or even better – airpop them.  This is not a meal on its own.  Be aware of the serving size and how it fits in to your nutrition plan.

6. Skinny is not always better

Very few of the marketers out there are really concerned about your health and fitness journey. They see you and they go ‘ka-tjing!’ A skinny desert is jam-packed with artificial ‘yumminess’ from the colouring to the flavouring to the thickening agent. If you do not get these things in nature then rather do not buy it.

There are great tasting deserts out there that will fit perfectly within a healthy and balanced eating plan. You just have to take responsibility for finding them. Your biggest tool in this journey?  Your ability to do research and empower yourself with knowledge. If you can read you can excel!

7. So-called breakfast bars

Just a compacted form of cereal, really, with about two teaspoons worth of sugar.  Takes you high and drops you fast!  Once again, you want to increase your protein intake.  You can make your own breakfast bars and add sufficient protein and fats to satisfy you and not have you crave for more.