Woman looking inside refrigerator

Is one of your goals to be more organized? Why not start with your fridge?  Stocking your fridge with accessible, nutritious food will help you to maintain a healthy diet and limit temptation. Here’s how to get started:

  1. What you see is what you get. If you don’t buy it then you won’t eat it. It’s much simpler to avoid eating cookies if they’re not in your house. ALWAYS make a list before you go grocery shopping and stick to the list. Making a list makes it a lot less likely that you’ll go wandering down the cookie aisle. And NEVER EVER go to the grocery store hungry!

  2. Give your fridge “eye appeal”. Usually people put the fruits and veggies in the bins at the bottom. This is a bad idea because you won’t see them when you open the fridge door. It’s estimated that the average household wastes more than $10 a week on produce that has spoiled. That’s because it’s out of sight. Use the bins for meats and keep the fruits and veggies at eye level. You’re much more likely to pick a healthy snack if it’s the first thing you see. Also, give other healthy items like natural peanut butter and hummus a prominent place in your fridge.

  3. Wash it and chop it and bag it. As soon as you get home from the store, wash and prepare your fruits and vegetables. Separate food into individual portions in order to prevent overindulging. Fruits and vegetables should be washed and cut up so they’re ready to be eaten at a moment’s notice.

  4. Freeze it. Frozen bananas are great as a snack and give smoothies a nice creaminess. Frozen grapes make tasty snacks too! Kids love them as a sweet treat.

  5. Hide it. If you keep your indulgent items hidden in the drawers below you may just forget they’re even there.

The refrigerator really can be your best friend when you’re trying to lose weight. Replace high fat foods with fruits and vegetables and keep all produce at eye level. This way when hunger strikes you’ll be sure to pick something healthy.