Designing Your Environment For Successful Clean Eating and More Energy
Does it sometimes feel impossible to stick to clean eating? Like everything in your day was intentionally put there to throw you off your week-long clean eating streak? To distract you from your goals of getting rid of the awful bloat, digestive pain and fatigue that’s dragging you down?
Knowing what to eat is essential, which I’ll teach you inside my 6-Week 1:1 Gut Restore Program, but intentionally designing your environment to set you up for success is a lesser thought of component to staying consistent with your nutrition. And we know that consistency = results.
Here are some of my top ways to create an environment for clean eating success!
Communicate clearly
Your relationships make up a big part of your environment. Be clear with loved ones about what you’re doing and WHY, so they can support you. In order to do this, you must be clear and honest with yourself first. Communicate your expectations and what you need from loved ones so they know how they can support you.
Assess your space
Create a kitchen environment that you actually enjoy being in. You don’t need to completely redo your kitchen! Just make some small changes to make it function more easily, look a little better and feel less overwhelming (more on this later).
My first pantry makeover using cheap glass jars.
I recently reorganized my pantry, and I love the ease of it. But when I did this initially, I used cheap glass jars and took everything out of its packaging so it looked neat and organized. I also made sure to label everything to make it quick and easy to find. This makes a WORLD of a difference in my opinion, when everything is neatly laid out so you can actually see what you have. But before you go organizing your entire pantry, make sure you read the next tip…
new pantry update
Don’t buy things you don’t want to be eating
If a food isn’t healthy, don’t buy it. It really is that simple! If you have junk food around, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Will power only gets you so far. If the temptation is there, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Remove the temptation by not buying that product and choosing a healthier option.
Examples:
Buy Zevia instead of Diet Coke.
Buy almond flour crackers instead of ritz crackers full of wheat, hydrogenated oils and sugar.
Buy a naturally sweetened ketchup instead of one filled with high fructose corn syrup or sugar.
If you struggle with knowing how to choose healthier options, or are looking for ongoing support and accountability, consider working with me!
Book a free (no-strings-attached) call with me to chat more about how my Gut Restore Program can help you reach your goals.
How to deal with family members buying unhealthy foods
If someone in the family is buying less-than-healthy foods, have a spot inside the pantry in a CLOSED box for their snacks. When things are out of sight, it truly does help them stay out of mind. This comes back to clear communication and setting some good boundaries.
Buy some good quality meal prep containers
I have had the same glass meal prep containers from Costco for years, and I love them. Having the containers on hand will make it so much easier to portion out leftovers and have healthy meals for the next few days. It makes a difference having quality containers!
Clean out your container drawer/cupboard
If you’re fighting your Tupperware drawer, you’ll never want to go in there. (Also, while you’re at it, get rid of those plastic Tupperware because they’re highly toxic and disrupt hormones and gut health!!) Get rid of old containers and stock yourself with at least a week’s worth of glass containers. Keep this space organized with a few organizing tools like bins. I currently use a cardboard box to hold all my lids and it works great!
Reduce visual clutter
Keeping kitchen counters clear can seriously make or break your ability to consistently eat clean throughout the week. If you have to do an hour of dishes before you can even begin to prep, you’ll never “have time”. Daily habits of clearing the counters can go a long way! Additionally, keep the essentials on your counters and nothing else. You don’t need 16 kitchen appliances on your counter when you only use 2 on a regular basis.
Minimize your kitchen
Most people have way to many kitchen gadgets they never use. The less stuff you have, the less you need to constantly be cleaning and dealing with, the more energy you’ll have to create healthy meals. Keep it simple! Declutter, donate and sell what you don’t actually use.
Less is more
Focus on buying quality foods and less of them. You don’t need 10 different sauces in the fridge, 3 different types of BBQ sauce and 5 different salad dressings no one eats anyway. The theme here is keep it simple, because it works. The less you have to sort through and make decisions on, the easier and more streamlined your cooking process will be.
Minimize meal decision fatigue
Have a set of meals and foods you rotate throughout the week or month. I’m not saying to eat the exact same things all the time, but have an outline or a set or recipes you love and change up some of the ingredients here and there. You may think you want/need elaborate meals, but creating a new masterpiece every night is a sure-fire way to burn out and give up on eating healthy, claiming that it’s “just too complicated to eat clean”.
What tip helped you the most? Leave a comment below and share this blog post to a friend who needs it!
Asher Kleiber
Registered Holistic Nutritionist
Book your FREE call with me today to learn more about how the Gut Restore Program can help you reduce the bloat, regulate your rhythms, restore digestion, and have more energy!
