7 Small Changes You Can Make For A Healthier Kitchen

When it comes to eating healthy, the first step is obviously to pick the right foods. However, since eating healthy foods requires preparing them the right way and maintaining good eating habits, it’s equally as important to have a kitchen that is conducive to healthy eating.

If your kitchen is barren and just filled with a few items in your fridge or an oven that doesn’t work, you would probably find it difficult to maintain a good diet.

In fact, studies show that people who cook at home frequently eat healthier and consume less calories than those who rarely or never cook at all. Cooking is easier when your kitchen is set up in a way to make healthy eating more successful.

If you’re looking to revamp your eating habits, consider these seven helpful tips for a healthier kitchen.

1. Purge Your Kitchen Of Unhealthy Foods

If you don’t have unhealthy food around, you’re a lot less likely to eat it. Studies show that simply seeing junk food makes you more likely to eat it, so get rid of anything unhealthy to avoid indulging in those cravings.

pantry photo
Photo by donaleen

2. Keep Healthy Building Blocks On Hand

Just as looking at junk food makes you more likely to reach for it, the same goes for healthy food. Studies show that people who keep fruit on their counter weigh less than people who don’t have fruit accessible. Stock up on healthy basics such as quinoa, vegetables, beans and whole grains so you always have something nutritious to throw together.

fruit basket photo
Photo by miss pupik

3. Get The Right Cookware

Making healthy food isn’t possible if you don’t have the right tools to do so. First invest in the essentials and get a few pots and pans and a skillet. Then consider other healthy gadgets such as a spiralizer or a blender. Keep the most important cookware in a pull-out drawer or at the front of a cabinet.

pots and pans photo
Photo by Aitor Garcia

4. Be Smart About Your Dishes

Turns out, the size and color of your bowls and plates do matter. Studies show that eating with smaller plates helps you keep portion sizes down. And perhaps more surprisingly, eating with a plate the same color as your food leads you to eat more, while eating on a dish that is a contrasting color as your food helps you eat less.

colored plates photo
Photo by Rameshng

5. Get Some Good Tupperware

For many people, a large part of eating healthy is proper meal prepping for the week. Having the right storage can make it easier for you to have healthy meals on hand that can last for multiple days. Opt for glass tupperware, as plastic contains unhealthy chemicals such as BPA.

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6. Clear Out Your Freezer

In addition to keeping a clean refrigerator, you’ll want to keep space in your freezer meal-prepped foods like healthy crock-pot recipes, premade smoothie packets and frozen vegetables (which can sometimes even be healthier than their fresher counterparts).

freezer photo
Photo by macbofisbil

7. Load Up On Spices

The key to delicious food is flavor. Herbs and spices not only tickle our tastebuds, but come with a variety of health benefits. Common herbs and spices can help protect against disease, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

spices photo
Photo by andrewmalone

Photo by kelly.sikkema

Food, Health, Home

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About the Author
Carina Wolff
Carina is a health and wellness journalist based in Los Angeles. When she’s not writing, doing yoga, or exploring mountains and beaches, she spends her time cooking and creating recipes for her healthy food blog, Kale Me Maybe. Carina is also an ongoing writer for Bustle, Reader's Digest, FabFitFun, and more.

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