Do-It-Yourself Kitchen Raid

If you didn’t already know from my previous blog posts there is one quote that I like when it comes to fitness and nutrition, “You cannot out train your diet.” This means that no matter how hard you work in the gym you will NEVER reach your goals if proper nutrition isn’t more important that your workouts. Some other things you may have heard me say are, “Abs are made in the kitchen” or “This months diet is next months body.” Everyone wants faster weight loss, how do you ensure that your nutrition is aligned with your workouts?

If your kitchen is packed with good food that fuels what you do in the gym you are much more likely to stay on track. Even when those late night cravings rumble your stomach, you will ONLY have holistic choice to curb the growling lion in your stomach. You probably have heard this concept before, but this blog post is mean to teach you how to do so!

What what kind of food should you be eating to properly align your nutrition with your workouts and ensure you only have the best choices in your home? Here is my self-guided kitch raid to help you sort out the good from the no-so-good.

We are going to be throwing away some not-so-good food today. Print this list out and head to the kitchen. I challenge you to bag up your unhealthy food and donate it to a local soup kitchen rather than just throwing it away. Some that do not have the luxury of the finer things in life will be fortunate enough to have your Chips-a-hoy cookies. So give back!

Your Refrigerator

The fridge is the heart of the kitchen. You will find some foods that scream “DONATE ME” on the box so get your garbage bags ready!
Your Refrigerator

• Donate this: Beverages with high fructose corn syrup or sugar. Drinking calories is one of the quickest ways to gain weight, so quickly rid your fridge of any beverage that lists HFCS or sugar on the ingredient list.Replace with: Water. It is a well-known fact that most people are partially dehydrated, a condition that is harmful to your health and wreaks havoc on your weight loss efforts. Keep plenty of cold water on hand for proper hydration.

• Donate this: Fatty meats. It is important that you be selective about the meats that you eat. I may tell you that chicken is a great source of protein, but if you take that as a license to eat fried chicken everyday then the benefit of the protein will be lost in all the extra fat calories.Replace with: Lean meats. Skinless chicken breast, lean ground turkey, white fish – there are numerous choices when it comes to lean meats.

• Donate this: Fruit-flavored yogurt. I hate to break this to you, but that cute individually packaged yogurt is going to do more harm to your waistline than you think. More than 50% of the calories in fruit-flavored yogurt come from sugar. Check out the ingredient list and you likely find both high fructose corn syrup AND sugar.Replace with: Plain low-fat yogurt, Greek yogurt, or  cottage cheese. If you love yogurt, then get the plain version. You can even chop up some fresh fruit and stir it in. Another option is to have a scoop of cottage cheese with chopped fruit on top.

Your Pantry

This may be the most painful part of your kitchen raid, since most junk food ends up here. So take a moment to give yourself a pep talk before grabbing that garbage bag and opening your pantry.

• Donate this: Sugar-filled cereal. If sugar or high fructose corn syrup are listed as ingredients on your cereal box, it’s got to go. Sugar-filled cereal is basically another form of junk food, and will only add inches to your waist.Replace with: Whole Grain Oatmeal.There is a huge difference between instant, sugar-filled oatmeal and whole grain oatmeal.

• Donate this: Chips/Crackers. While refined chips and crackers are fun to munch on, the extra calories will quickly add up. Do yourself a favor by not allowing these into your pantry.Replace with: Almonds. The key to making this snack a winner is to practice portion control. Place a handful of almonds into individual bags for pre-portioned snacks.
• Donate this: Packaged Sweets. I don’t really have to explain this one, do I? Cookies and cakes and candies shouldn’t be a regular part of your diet, so keep them out of your house. It’s one thing to enjoy a dessert once in a while, it is quite another to routinely eat processed sweets at home.Replace with: Dried Fruit. When you want to munch on something sweet, turn to a bag of dried fruit. Make sure that you purchase dried fruit that does not contained added sugars.

Now march that box of off-limit foods to your nearest food bank and don’t look back. It’s a great idea to raid your kitchen every couple of months as a way of keeping yourself on track. I will be doing a video blog post of what my kitchen looks like so you can all of the things I talked about today!

In the meantime, open up dialogue with your family members about the healthy changes that you’re making, and get everyone in on it. The best way to hold yourself accountable is to be an advocate of fitness and health. Tell everyone what you are doing!

The quickest and most permanent weight loss comes as a result of healthy eating and consistent, challenging workouts.

Remember…YOU CAN”T OUT TRAIN YOUR DIET