Lee tends to laugh at “diet” programs that require you to go out and buy a bunch of groceries. It seems sort of counter-intuitive (need to lose weight? buy more food!). And I sort of agree with him . . . in theory.
The reality is that when we got home from the hospital, I needed to take some decisive actions that sort of marked a new beginning for us–to go “cold turkey,” if you will. It was a mental thing, sort of like spring cleaning, or making New Year’s resolutions.
So I did a pantry purge. I got rid of junk food (we didn’t have a whole lot, but I was ruthless), pretty much anything with added fat, all of our oils, any kind of non-skim dairy products. The nuts went, the crackers, the cookies, a whole bunch of interesting oils, all of my tasty kinds of cheese (sniff. I love cheese). It was hard. I gave what I could to the food bank, but I tossed a lot of stuff. It felt wasteful, which really bothers me, and it made me sad because I felt like I was giving all those wonderful tasty things up forever.
I wasn’t. Over time we’ve figured out which things we can let back in, and under what circumstances. I buy plenty of nuts now, but I keep them in the freezer (they keep longer, and we’re less tempted to snack on them indiscriminately). I keep good chocolate on hand, but I try to stick to the big bars that I use for baking (anything smaller is too likely to get eaten out of hand). I read labels before I buy crackers. I stick with healthy oils (olive, canola).
In the long run, I found that the first step to controlling what we eat is to control what we have in the house. And that means getting rid of the stuff that will kill us.
What you DON’T need in your kitchen:
Frozen pizza (unless it’s a low-fat version)
Frozen chicken nuggets (calculate the calories from fat and see how that makes you feel)
Processed meal-in-a-box just-add-meat kinds of things
Any dairy product that’s not skim (yes, that includes what you put in your coffee)
High-fat, no-fiber crackers
Potato chips, tortilla chips, cheesy crunchy snacky things
Store-bought dip
Cheese in a can
Anything that requires deep-frying
Start over with a clean slate (pantry). Your heart will thank you.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
i like it when you list what you shouldn’t have __ i also love suggestions for what is healthy to have in my pantry. i think you’ve done this before? but i always like specific things i can feel good about buying. love the blog….