This is a really important step in improving your health and wellbeing. No one can be successful at hitting their health and fitness goals if they don’t do this. An example might be that we might need to set an alarm in the morning to get up and get our butt to the gym. This may be a mechanism to keep you on track. It is important that we plan ahead and start getting organised.
When we are making changes to any part of our life, many of us fall back into old paradigms quite easily. Unfortunately, we are only human and this is our most natural instinct. We form habits from a very young age that tend to stop us from doing what we know we should be doing. Some of these habits are good and some are bad for our lifestyle.
One way to overcome these habits is to get organised and make it easier to make better decisions. Examples include:-
• meal prep
• clearing out the cupboard of any unwanted foods
• planning meal for the week
• organising snacks
Whether you are choosing to go Paleo, gluten free, or clean eating there will most likely be some foods in your cupboard that need to be gone pronto. Sweet treats and processed foods are the worst and I recommend getting rid of these first. If you can’t stand the thought of throwing food away, then take some food to your local charity. Most towns have some form of charity that will take unopened dry foods.
This lifestyle change will have you focusing on real foods. I would highly recommend looking at the ingredients on your packaged goods. You will need to get rid of the following:- Sauces, biscuits, pasta, most pre-made meal, bread, sweet treats, or anything else that you can find that is processed or has lots of added sugar.
You can do this in two ways, either completely clean out the cupboard and get rid of everything processed, or work your way through the cupboard and don’t replace anything that is processed. This will depend on your household and preferences of other family members. I would recommend the first option but I also understand that this can be hard for some. Do what you can and keep working towards your goal.
There some packaged foods that you may choose to keep. You will find the following items in my cupboard:
• Herbs and spices
• Apple cider vinegar
• Nuts & Seeds
• Flours – coconut, almond, tapioca
• Sweeteners (used occasionally only) – honey & maple syrup
• Oils – olive oil, coconut oil
• Canned items – coconut milk, diced tomato etc
You will also need to check out the fridge and remove processed foods.
This is all about getting organised for you journey ahead. This is one of the most important steps in focusing on better foods in your life. When the processed foods aren’t available and you fill your fridge and cupboard with healthy items, it will be easier to keep focusing on your goal.
Let’s get organised and make this happen