You might not be aware that the way you organize your kitchen, the food you store in visible places, the lighting and even the choice of appliances can all affect your lifestyle in regards to health. Luckily, you don’t need to introduce some huge changes and pause everything just to get your kitchen in order. Just a couple of smart tricks can make a big difference and promote healthy living in your kitchen and eating area.
Start with a thorough declutter
Before anything else, it’s important to get rid of clutter in your kitchen. This will help you relieve the mental pressure associated with mess and clutter and it will also make more room for true kitchen essentials. That said, get rid of everything that you don’t use. This includes old packs of products in your pantry as well as all of the cooking utensils, cutlery, pots, pans, etc. that you just never seem to reach for. Just like with other rooms in your home, items that you have in your kitchen should be useful and spark joy.
Invest in convenient cooking appliances
Thanks to the technological boost in this day and age, there are plenty of different kitchen appliances at your disposal. Investing in the right choice of these appliances is only logical if you want to make cooking and food prep easier for yourself, thus not having to put extra effort into preparing healthier meals. For instance, KitchenAid food processors and stand mixers are undoubtedly the right choice for every versatile, functional and health-conscious kitchen. In the same vein, you might want to equip your kitchen with useful gadgets such as a spiralizer for zucchini noodles, a good-quality set of knives, a proper-size cutting board, etc.
Deal with lighting and décor
It’s true that you might not make a conscious link between healthy eating and a properly lit and decorated kitchen, but the fact of the matter is that a dark eating and food prepping area, as well as décor that you simply dislike, will only deter you from spending time in the said kitchen. Therefore, if you can’t install more lighting fixtures, at least opt for a convenient task lighting solution in the form of self-adhesive LED light strips. Furthermore, while you don’t need clutter, you can always add wall art that you enjoy, plant your own herb garden in the windowsill, use decorative table clothes and the mentioned fruit bowls, and so on.
Strategically place healthier options
If you don’t put a water pitcher or a fruit bowl somewhere where you can easily see them and reach for them when you enter the kitchen, the chances are that you won’t even bother with taking additional steps to get these items. Likewise, if you keep your cookies or other types of sweets and junk food snacks on the table and other easily reachable surfaces, chances are that you’re going to reach for those rather than their healthy alternatives. That said, one of the smart tricks for promoting health in your kitchen is to place nice water pitchers and decorative fruit bowls at a very visible and easily reachable area of your kitchen.
Put healthy recipes on your fridge and cupboards
Taping the recipes with healthy yet very delicious meals is also a great way to add a personal touch to your kitchen but make yourself more eager to prepare these healthy meals, too. These are especially useful when you have no idea what to cook, which is often a formula for a quick, unhealthy sandwich or ordering junk food.
With the right incentives and meal planning, you can successfully reorganize your kitchen so that you don’t mind spending more time in it and preparing the healthier meal options. In the end, cooking the right kind of food doesn’t have to take you more time or effort than what you might be used to.
