So, I figured I would just get started with my tools. You need a successful tool kit to make healthy eating easy and something you don't have to think about during the week. It's the WORST buying tons of groceries, looking in the fridge, and STILL saying "We have nothing to eat...Let's go out!" That was said many a times by my loving mother. I still remember my mom saying that, and my dad walking to the fridge and whipping up this delicious cheese, meat, and egg concoction. My dad worked many odd jobs while my brothers and I were little. A chef was one of them. So, the mentality of no measuring and just tasting-it all comes from him. I am finding that I am able to do that a little bit, and am getting braver, but for Smartpoints sake, I still measure and weigh my food.
First things first...The best thing you can do for yourself is THROW AWAY THE JUNK!! I pretty much live by the rule that if we haven't touched a food (unless it's food storage and has a long shelf life) in over 3-6 months, it gets chucked. I clean out our treat section probably every 3 because it just gets ridiculous sometimes. I just cleaned it out 2 days ago, in fact! Found a bag of Hot Chocolate M&Ms...scanned those babies for smartpoints purposes...yeah 1/4 for 11 smartpoints?! No thanks. Go to your pantry and BE STRONG! Throw away the treats you honestly don't eat! Throw away the stuff you haven't touched in a while. I understand the, "but that's such a waste!" My friend, you HAVE to put your health first! I came from a very poor family in my younger years...everything on your plate had to be GONE and milk? Yeah, you drank ALL OF IT! So throwing away what wasn't eaten, even if the eater was full, was difficult for me to overcome. Just think of your promises to yourself, and you will make it! Eventually, you'll be able to cook in such a way that there won't be any waste, but you'll be able to have rollovers/leftovers! So, GET RID OF THE JUNK...save your treats for the times when you have a mentality about them...not using them as a fixer or filler. Decide what is worth it to you, keep it, eventually portion it, and throw everything else away! Get rid of your trigger foods...the foods you cannot help yourself but eat a ton of? You'll thank yourself later.
For my Non-Weight Watcher Friends: In a nutshell, smartpoints help the Weight Watcher user make better food choices by calculating foods with higher sugar and saturated fat content to have high points values, and foods that are low in those two areas but high in protein are assigned with LOWER points values. Fruits are 0 smartpoints, and most veggies are 0 smartpoints. Thus, without really thinking about it, you are making wiser choices by making your Daily Smartpoints stretch.
For my Weight Watcher friends and Non-Weight Watcher Friends out there, HUNGER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!! DO NOT GO HUNGRY IN A DAY'S TIME! Oh my GOSH! I remember, in my teenage years, I felt hungry ALL THE TIME! Blech...I hate that feeling. If you have resigned yourself to ALWAYS be hungry...throw that mentality away and let's get you feeling better! My friend M&M says, "If I am eating snacks like 100 calorie snack packs and fiber one bars...I will be hungry. Always. But when I choose protein based snacks I am satisfied. Every. Time." I will be writing about foods that you can find in the grocery store, snacks that will fill you, and meals that don't take any mental struggle to put together. As my mom says, putting it all together is the hardest part! I'll help you with that!
So, you've gotten rid of the junk...make your workspace your own. Have your kitchen be somewhere you WANT to be. I made a resolve this year to NEVER go to bed without the dishes being done. I always wake up to a CLEAN kitchen. I clean as I cook and I put away as I go. I HATE mess. My family rinses their dishes and I just put them in the dishwasher...I HATE touching other people's old squishy food-gives me the heebie jeebies thinking about it. So, keep it clean, and make it nice. I bought a cute little scentsy at Walmart that plugs into my wall and when it lights up, it sends different colored flowers all around...bringing color into my very colorless kitchen. I'm thinking of painting, but haven't taken the plunge...so the color shooting scentsy does it for me...for now. I also bought a brand new set of kitchen knives that are all different colors, a new toaster oven, a personal blender, blue pots and pans that I l just love to look at when I cook, and brightly colored measuring cups that hang down from my cupboard. All these things were able to be purchased through budgeting and an amazing graduation gift given to me by grandparents upon graduating and receiving my Bachelor's Degree this past December. THANK YOU GUM! My kitchen would NOT be where it is without your love! So, yes, make your kitchen a place you want to be! I love color...so it's EVERYWHERE I can have it!
This little baby was a purchase from, like, 2 weeks ago. I got it from my neighborhood grocery store for under $10. It's a chalkboard that has blank squares with the days of the week. It is technically a calendar, but I use it for my week! 5 squares for 7 days...I plan ALL my meals on Sunday for the following week. It has been a magnificent guide in my success and not falling prey to cravings. Yeah, they have chalk PENCILS and I thought it was an iffy purchase, because I LOVE dry erase...but this baby works beautifully...and totally looks cute too. Meal planning? Doesn't that take forever? Yeah, at first, but once you get the hang of it...it's something to look forward to! It saves you thinking power during the week!
Can you see my brightly colored motivators? Those are my goals. They are somewhere I can see them. They are SMART goals...Chris and Heidi Powell talk about making goals Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic and Time-sensitive. That's what I've done, and stuck them in places I'll see ALL THE TIME. There is my beautiful knife set, my inspirational message for the day, my base for my personal blender (I have a Blendtec that I love, but my Oster Personal Blender is great for a quick shake), my Black & Decker toaster oven, a teapot kettle, and my color measuring cups that hang from my cupboard for quick and easy access.
Okay, I am LOVING food prep! I buy most of my veggies in bulk, treats, and even trail mixes and beef jerky and my go-to shrimps are put in these portion bags! I always go to the store with a shopping list, I love the pre-portioned bags you can find ANYWHERE...and because I had a LOT of things to put away, I bought just the snack size bags for savings. A permanent marker is always around to write the date and smartpoints values on everything.
That beautiful rectangle is a digital scale my mother purchased for me as a Christmas gift. She purchased it at Gygi (a local restaurant-home furnishing store) and the brand is Escali. It can hold up to 15 pounds! I can also place a container and subtract the weight of the container to get the real weight of the food I want to weigh, if I don't want to get my scale dirty. I use this thing EVERY. DAY. The dish looking thing is a Weight Watchers collapsible vegetable steamer. I LOVE IT. It does my veggies PERFECTLY and is super easy clean up...Veggies are done in less than 5 minutes...every time.
My pantry is ORGANIZED. I can see everything, and at the way tip-top are all our treats in portioned bags, in tupperware with points labeled. All cereals are labeled with points value according to serving, and it just makes EVERYTHING a whole lot easier to manage. The tupperwares I found on the bottom shelf near the ziploc baggies at walmart...super cheap, and did the job perfectly.
The organizing of the pantry I did Saturday night...I was tired of the chaos! I'm so glad I did because it looks so much better and I feel so much more in control. All of these aspects of my kitchen have been a building up process. If you see something or somethings that you want to implement too, budget for them and take it one step at a time. Remember, make a small goal for yourself like "Today I will buy pre-portioned baggies and put carrot sticks in them" and then do it. Goal achieved.
So there you have it...a crash course in getting your kitchen conquered. You can do this! I believe in you! The food is coming...but think of all the prep-work as food for your soul! It will pay off in the end!
Good fuel comes from good spaces, take the time to make it that way!
Baci,
Camille
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