If you want to eat healthily, clear out your kitchen and start again

Your kitchen really is the first place you should look at if you’re thinking of embarking on a healthier lifestyle.  It starts at home – that’s the saying I use every single day of my working life…It’s what I tell people who are starting any kind of new phase, new regime or even a change of circumstances.  Where else would you start?

Give your self the best chance to make a healthy new lifestyle work for you, the best opportunity to succeed and an organised surrounding which you’ll need (and want to have) in order to ensure you never have the excuses that so easily roll off the tongue.  Don’t give yourself the opportunity to fail before you’ve even started.

Getting organised in your kitchen is rewarding. 

You need to have a place for everything, you need to know where to find anything you bring into your kitchen and you need a wonderfully simple and achievable routine for this space without interference from clutter.

Photograph by Annie Spratt. 

A clutter free, organised kitchen means headspace and clear thinking for you to start practicing the healthy lifestyle you crave.  It’s totally achievable and with a little sacrifice (when I say sacrifice I actually mean the deep fat fryer and the candy floss machine that have been taking up space and gathering dust for the last three years on your work surface!!!) you’ll have the room to not only breathe but to start being a little more creative with your thinking.

Getting organised in your kitchen is rewarding.  It’s satisfying, and if you’re doubting you need to do this believe me when I say that it’s vital to achieving your goals.

Why?

• Because you want space to cook, space to create and you want your kitchen to be as easy as possible to tidy when you’ve finished.  Who wants to cook or prepare in a messy kitchen?

• Because the items on the counter should be the ones you use daily and if they’re tucked away in a cupboard, or hard to get to, you’ll see this as what I call a ‘block’.

• Because everything you want to use daily should be easy to find and put away.

• Because your lifestyle is changing for the better, so your space should too.

• Because if you see what you have, you’re more likely to use it. We need visual stimulation.

Here’s what you need to do

1. Pull out anything from your kitchen that you only use occasionally that takes up space (dinner party ware, bbq equipment, giant pots and pans that only come out at Christmas).
2. Store these items elsewhere – a garage, a higher up cupboard you don’t use every day, an under-stairs cupboard.  Label them and store them neatly in boxes. They should still be accessible.
3. Bring out anything you wish you used every day and put it on your counter top – your juicer, your food mixer etc. 
4. Go through your cupboards.  Get rid of anything out of date, and any things that are in date and sealed but you know you’ll never eat.  These can go straight to your local food-bank (no point them living there until they go out of date!).
5. Keep food in cupboards neatly organised so you can always see exactly what you have and don’t over buy.  Too much choice and too much clutter are bad for the mind and we naturally steer clear, or even stop seeing, areas of disarray and chaos.
6. Store all healthy food at eye level. This is the first thing we want to see when we open a cupboard or fridge.
7. If you shop online, the next time you do it, remove all items from your favourites list you don’t want to be eating anymore.
8. I never use the tray at the bottom of my fridge to store fruit or vegetables.  Out of sight usually means you forget they’re there and if you’ve had a busy day, convenience often wins. 

Vicky Silverthorn is your Better in 30 Professional Organiser.  Vicky will declutter your home and your mind so you can stick to your New Year’s resolutions.  Vicky is the author of ‘Start with your Sock Drawer’ and Founder of You Need a Vicky, a professional organisation company.  She’s helped to streamline the homes of A-list clients from Suki Waterhouse, Ayda and Robbie Williams to Jamie Dornan and Jonathan Ross.  Now she’s here to help you.