{"id":2835,"date":"2023-10-22T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2023-10-22T08:14:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T13:14:22","slug":"your-kitchen-may-be-hurting-how-you-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/?p=2835","title":{"rendered":"Your Kitchen May be Hurting How You Eat"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Your Kitchen May be Hurting How You Eat<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tThroughout my day, much of what I eat isn\u2019t based on what my taste buds and body want.<\/b><\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tI can\u2019t remember whether the milk is still good, so I\u2019ll get my morning latte on the road. I have to get to the office, so cutting up fruit for a smoothie sounds like too much work. But that\u2019s OK, because the bright packaging of an energy bar that I don\u2019t really want catches my eye so I grab it before I run out the door.

\nEven if you want to eat intuitively \u2014 basing your food choices around what your body needs rather than outside influences and diet culture \u2014 it\u2019s hard to do that if your life isn\u2019t set up intuitively.

\n\u201cWe eat with our eyes in a lot of ways, whether that\u2019s marketers \u2026 putting eye-catching labels on things or whether we sort of market our own kitchen in a way to always have (certain foods) right top of mind,\u201d said CNN Food contributor and meal-planning coach Casey Barber.

\nHow you set up your kitchen makes a big difference in how you utilize it, said Katrina Green, an ADHD organizing specialist based in Sacramento, California.

\nIf you want it be easy to eat what you want and need rather than just what is easiest to grab, and so you don\u2019t have to buy expensive containers or label makers \u2014 you need to invest a little time and organization, said Natalie Mokari, a dietitian based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

\n How it looks impacts how you eat <\/b>

\nIt isn\u2019t necessary to buy all the beautiful matching jars for your pantry and refrigerator, but it may be helpful to think about what you see when you go to grab food.

\nBags of food, for example, can easily create a jumble of clutter for items such as baby carrots, green beans or rice that makes them hard to find, Barber said.

\n\u201cI have a vendetta against plastic bags that have the resealable tops,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if you\u2019re going to (keep food in a bag), maybe corral them in something like a shoebox type that\u2019s an open container where you could at least stack them like files if you really love your bags \u2014 because you don\u2019t want them falling off on you every single time you open up a drawer or a cabinet.\u201d

\nWhat about pasta and crackers and other foods that come in boxes? Is it better to put those in clear containers? That depends on your needs, Green said. You might want to see clearly what food you have.

\n\u201cI specifically like working with neurodivergent people,\u201d she said, and \u201ca lot of the times the comment that I hear (from them) is out of sight out of mind.\u201d

\nFor some people, it may be more helpful to look at a shelf of clear jars and see exactly what is available without all the noise of packaging, she added.\n\u201cSome people need the sort of peace and quiet of a streamlined neutral system,\u201d Barber said. But for others, seeing the label may make the connection of what meal that food can make in their brain, she added.

\n\u201cJars can be helpful if that makes you more likely to reach for it, but don\u2019t do it if opening something or putting it into something else makes you less likely to use it,\u201d Green said.

\n First thing you see may be the first you eat<\/b>

\nWhat you see first often impacts what you are likely to reach for first, Green said.

\n\u201cI really try to put those things that I know I\u2019m going to be turning to again and again on the shelves that are most accessible for me,\u201d Barber said.

\nGreen likes to think about what goes at eye level in the pantry and fridge and what can be put in harder-to-reach spaces.

\nThe food items she may be drawn to but don\u2019t satisfy her go on the top shelf, while the things that make up meals she loves and wants to eat go where she can see them immediately, she said.

\nAnd just because the drawers in the fridge are marked for fruits and vegetables doesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s where they need to go, Mokari said.

\nOften the drawers are where good produce goes to die after being forgotten, so she likes to keep her produce on a shelf and use the drawers for things that she won\u2019t forget about or don\u2019t go bad quickly, like drinks and snacks, she said.

\nWhat you make available also makes a difference.

\nMokari has a three-tier fruit bowl, and although it does house fruit, it also has things like single-serving packages of nuts or granola bars that she and her family can grab when hungry without having to look too far to get a snack.

\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re setting it up, think about, \u2018what are your goals with cooking? what are your go-to\u2019s?\u2019 Make sure that those look their best and most prominently as you can make them for your kitchen space,\u201d Barber said.

\n Prepare ahead of time<\/b>

\nA little prep time also goes a long way, Mokari said.\nIt may be worth it to take a little extra time to wash and cut your produce or portion out which ingredients are going to go with which meal over the week so that you aren\u2019t starting from scratch every time you go to eat, she said.

\nIt can also help to designate space in your pantry and refrigerator for a bin of what should be used throughout the week \u2014 whether that is for the meal plan or because its expiration is approaching, Green said.

\n Consider organization tools<\/b>

\nAlthough it isn\u2019t necessary to spend your whole paycheck on organization tools, it may be worth it to invest in the attractive container for fruits and vegetables if it makes you more likely to take it right from the fridge to the kitchen table, Barber said.

\nThere are specific cases where I feel like having the splurge for your berry container \u2026 if that\u2019s going to be the thing that really gets you to have those berries, if you\u2019re going to eat more fruit because you have that then by all means, use your food dollars in that way,\u201d she said.

\nFinally, as you are prepping your meals, it\u2019s important to think about more than just what you want to include for your health goals, Mokari said.

\n\u201cI think the most important thing is like that balance of nutrients staying power throughout the day and also something that you like,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if you have it out and it\u2019s something that you don\u2019t like, then you\u2019re not going to eat it.\u201d

\nFor me, it has made all the difference to have my blender out and fruit portioned into individual containers for the day so I can have a smoothie that both nourishes and excites me.

\nAnd yes, I do seem to eat more fruits and vegetables when they are stored in pretty bowls waiting to be set out on my counter as a ready snack.


\n\nContributor: Madeline Holcombe, CNN Health<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your Kitchen May be Hurting How You Eat Throughout my day, much of what I eat isn\u2019t based on what my taste buds and body want. I can\u2019t remember whether the milk is still good, so I\u2019ll get my morning latte on the road. I have to get to the office, so cutting up fruit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-lifestyle","category-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2835"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2839,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions\/2839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claremontcoloniccenter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}