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As seen on BCTV Noon News

Spring Clean your Kitchen and you Diet

Spring is here and it is time for a clean out.  Have a look at your kitchen and while you are at it, review your diet.  What needs to go?  What should you replace, clean up or toss out?

First your diet…

1)      Toss out the trans fats in your diet. With all the attention to trans fat in the media recently, decreasing the amount of trans fats in your diet is a given for a healthier diet. Trans fats are directly linked with an increased risk of heart disease. Limit foods fried in hydrogenated oils, commercial cakes, cookies and chips, and foods that contain shortening. Some foods are now labeled as trans fat free, making it easy to pick out the trans fat culprits.

2)      Add more vegetables to your plate. Vegetables are loaded with vitamins minerals, antioxidants and fiber, and are low in fat and calories. For these reasons, they are a key addition to a healthy diet. Vegetables fill you up with few calories, helping you to cut down on your daily caloric intake, while providing you with disease fighting micronutrients. Aim to fill half you plate at lunch and dinner with delicious, colorful veggies.

3)      Eat breakfast. Since your body has not had any fuel since dinner the night before, eating in the morning is necessary to replenish your energy stores. Eating a nutritious breakfast speeds your metabolism up, and keeps it up throughout the day. Breakfast also improves mental functioning. Aim to eat a breakfast that contains three of the four food groups, making sure to include protein and a bit a fat.

4)      Brush up your whole grain consumption. Whole grains are high in fiber and minerals, which are lacking in white refined grains, like white rice and pasta. Fiber in whole grains helps you feel satisfied longer leading to consumption of fewer calories. A high fiber intake may also reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Aim to increase your fiber intake to at least 25 grams per day gradually, by substituting brown rice, whole wheat pasta and 100% whole wheat bread for the white stuff.

5)      Sweep out the refined sugars. White sugar provides calories and nothing more. The average person consumes far more sugar than needed in the diet, so reducing refined sweets will decrease caloric intake and make more room for nutrient dense foods.

Now for the kitchen…

• Clean out your refrigerator.  Check the expiry date on your salad dressings, sauces, mayonnaise and margarine.  Get rid of sauces, dips and jams you haven’t used in the last 3-6 months.
• Toss old frozen foods.  Items with freezer burn you thought you might use are ready for the trash.  Leftover dinners that are more than 1-3 months old have got to go.
• Check out expiry dates on items in your pantry too.  Soups, tomato sauces, vitamin supplements and medications.  Use the first in first our principle and be sure not to stock up on sale items you won’t use.
• Replace all your spices and herbs that are more than a year or two old.  Their potency is lost over time.  Try the bulk foods section for less expensive spices.
• Sanitize your counters, cupboards and handles with a dilute bleach solution
• Sharpen your knives
• Replace old dish towels, sponges and rags
• Top up soap dispensers
• Change your water filter 

Watch for the Eating for Energy segment every Tuesday on BCTV’s Noon News Hour!