Kitchen hacks to aid weight-loss

If you are on the quest to lose weight, you may find that your kitchen is the worst place to be when trying to stick to a healthy eating plan and avoid temptation.

For many, the kitchen poses all kinds of threats to a disciplined, healthy mindset – be it the leftovers in the fridge, the biscuits in the cookie jar, or the oversized plates in the cupboard threatening to undo the good work.

So to aid your weight-loss and keep your motivation firmly in place, we have some kitchen hacks for you to try today: 

Make fruit and vegetables easily accessible

Crisps and biscuits are often snacks of choice because they are easy to grab. Making fruit and vegetables easily accessible will encourage you to make healthier choices when you fancy a snack. Wash, cut up and store carrots, strawberries, grapes and melon in reusable containers in the fridge.

Prepare snack packs 

One of our biggest dieting mistakes is to overeat, so preparing snack packs of nuts, seeds, oat biscuits or popcorn to keep in your kitchen cupboard will prevent you from polishing off the whole packet in one go. Keep your portion sizes to a handful and at around 100 calories. 

Use smaller-sized plates 

We are conditioned to finish off everything we have on our plate, so serving food on smaller plates will help you to consume fewer calories. Using bigger plates provides more space to pile on food, even though our stomachs are usually satisfied with much less.

Put food away before you eat 

If you have cooked a large dinner, serve an appropriate portion on your plate then make sure you put the rest away before you sit down to eat. If you leave it out, you are more likely to reach for seconds – or thirds! Eliminate the temptation by packaging up your food which you can freeze and then easily grab for dinner one evening.

Freeze smoothie and juices 

If you like to whizz up a smoothie or a healthy juice in the morning but often find yourself out of time, prepare your breakfast in advance and freeze the contents. Therefore, rather than skipping breakfast and opting for a high-calorie muffin on the way to work, you can grab your ready-made juice or smoothie for a healthy energy boost.