If you’re working towards diet wellness, you have to start off on the right foot. Unfortunately, your fridge might be working against you, so make your icebox an ally with our expert tricks.
1. Put Snack Pairings Together: Yoga instructor Kristin McGee comments, ‘I keep foods that are smart snack combos (natural almond butter and apples, or low-fat cottage cheese and celery) close to each other. This reminds me of the good snack options I have and makes it really fast to assemble them.’
2. Hydrate Your Herbs: ‘Place herbs like parsley and cilantro stems-down in a cup of H2O and cover with a plastic bag,’ instructs Kathy Kaehler, celebrity trainer and founder of healthy-eating club Sunday Set-Up. ‘The water keeps them fresh longer (just change it every few days). Seeing the herbs will make you want to cook with them—a good thing, as they add flavour but hardly any calories or sodium.’
3. Pick Minis for Trigger Foods: Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet, advises, ‘If you love avocados, say, but don’t want to overdo it, store serving-size containers of guacamole on a middle shelf. Guac is full of healthy fat and great in taco salad or for dipping veggies. You can get portion sizes of cheese and chocolate, too.’
4. Hide Your Comfort Foods: ‘Put less healthy meals, such as macaroni and cheese, in opaque containers,’ suggests author and nutrition consultant Jessica Fishman Levinson, RDN. ‘Then hide them behind your healthy stuff so they’re not as top-of-mind.’
5. Store Cooked Grains: Cynthia Sass, RD, details, ‘When I have a container of precooked grains, like barley or quinoa, I put a half-cup measuring cup inside. Grains can be difficult to eyeball, so using a measuring cup to scoop out a portion prevents me from serving more than I need.’
6. Stock Backup Vegetables: ‘Storing jarred veggies, like roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and pickled beets, on a shelf in the fridge is ideal when your week is crazy busy,’ notes New York City nutritionist Stephanie Middleberg, RD. ‘They’re perfect additions to salads and soups and don’t require any prep time.’
7. Get Spicy: David Katz, MD, director of the Yale Prevention Research Centre and author of Disease-Proof, points out, ‘All-veggie salsas are filled with flavour and nutrients but contain very few calories, and you can top more than just tacos with them—for example, turkey burgers or potatoes.’
8. Stash a Multitasking Condiment: ‘Grainy Dijon mustard is low-calorie and adds a savoury, rustic flavour,’ says Jessica Fishman Levinson, RDN, ‘Use it in salad dressings and marinades and in place of some—or all—of the mayo called for in a recipe (say, for tuna salad).’
9. Lighten Up Juice: Kelsey Nixon, author of Kitchen Confidence, advises, ‘Cut it with seltzer water to slash calories (the fizz keeps it from tasting boring). Right when you get home from the market, fill a pitcher one-third of the way with juice and two-thirds of the way with seltzer.’
10. Keep a Natural Sweetener: ‘It’s nice to have fruit-sweetened jams, which are relatively low in sugar,’ McGee notes. ‘They’re tasty with peanut butter on a brown-rice wrap, on oatmeal or drizzled on low-fat ice cream for dessert.’
11. Choose a Good Cheese: Nixon directs, ‘Buy blocks of hard cheeses, such as Parmesan and Asiago, because you have to physically shred them with a grater when you’re using them in recipes or as a garnish. This makes you very aware of just how much cheese you’re adding, which helps with portion (and calorie) control.’
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