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SPRING CLEAN YOUR PANTRY, SPRING CLEAN YOUR LIFE
The state of your pantry is a metaphor for the state of your life.
If you have a pantry overstocked with food and are unable to
see what is there, perhaps you often feel overburdened with life
and need to simplify. If you have a pantry with nothing in it but white pasta, canned soup, and snacks high in sugar and salt, perhaps you are not taking care of yourself!
One of the easiest things you can do (today!) to create healthier patterns in your life as well as the lives of your loved ones is clean out your pantry. I always tell my clients that the first step to eating healthily is having a well-organized, uncluttered pantry. Not only do you want to make sure that what you have in your pantry is healthy, but you also want to organize it in such a way that you can actually see the healthy food.
As a holistic health and lifestyle counselor, I help my clients clean out their pantry and then take them shopping to restock it the right way. If unhealthy food is not in the pantry, then it won’t be there to eat! And, if you have an abundance of healthy choices, then you will make better choices overall. Although it is nice to have someone help you, you don’t need me to do it for you. You can take these simple steps yourself to clean out your pantry and, thus, make major changes in your life in the process.
Step 1: Be brutal! Read labels and throw out anything with:
White (or even brown organic) sugar
Americans consume on average a staggering 142 pounds of sugar per person per year, causing a near epidemic of diabetes and obesity in this country. And, never before have we seen such diseases previously associated with adults showing up in record numbers of children. When we consume sugar, excess sugar is stored in the liver as glycogen and eventually excess amounts are returned to the bloodstream as fatty acids, which ultimately end up as fat. In addition to contributing to diabetes and obesity, consumption of refined sugar has been linked to hypoglycemia, a weakened immune system, yeast infections, hyperactivity, ADHD, mental and emotional disorders, and chemical imbalances in the brain.
Many of us are addicted to sugar and we don't even know it. Sugar addiction can create a spiral effect for your whole day that will cause you to have mood swings, crave carbohydrates and sugar-laden foods, reach for caffeine to give you a boost, and make bad food choices overall.
Sugar is lurking where you would least expect to find it. It is in cereals, crackers, bread, and, of course, candy and junk food! It is also in many pasta sauces and salad dressings. Sugar is highly addictive, and manufacturers know it, so they add it to their products so you will buy more.
And, no—organic brown sugar is not okay! Sugar is sugar is sugar. Sure, the brown sugar is a tad bit better than the white sugar, which has been stripped of all its enzymes and minerals. But, brown sugar, like white sugar, will still wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels. Either way, sugar is not good for the waistline—or your health.
High-fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is on my list as even worse than sugar! Although you might first assume by its name that high-fructose corn syrup is a natural fructose sweetener that comes from corn, nothing could be further from the truth. High-fructose corn syrup is made by milling corn to produce cornstarch, and then processing this corn into glucose, adding enzymes to it to turn some of the glucose into fructose. The end result is a very highly processed sweetener that is very far from the natural corn that it came from and which has little in common with the fructose found in fruit.
Once you read labels, you will notice that high-fructose corn syrup is sneaky and lurks where you least expect it. Manufacturers put high-fructose corn syrup in pasta sauces, jelly, Gatorade, salad dressings, cookies, and even many children’s fruit drinks and snacks. I was having breakfast at my mother’s recently when she brought out some “homemade” jam with an old-fashioned label that she received as a gift. We read the label, expecting to find sugar, but instead we found—yep—high-fructose corn syrup.
Manufacturers of high-fructose corn syrup have spent $30 million on ad campaigns trying to convince consumers that HFCS is not unhealthy and does not promote disease. What is indisputable, though, is that most foods containing HFCS are high in calories and low in nutritional value. When we regularly consume these foods, often it results in obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Trans fats (hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils) and saturated fats
Consuming foods high in trans fats such as hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils and saturated fats such as butter, margarine, shortening, corn oils and the like has been shown to contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
These unhealthy fats can be found not only in the obvious butter and oils but also in chips, cookies, cereals, breads and just about any highly processed food item. The rule of three often takes care of saturated fats and hydrogenated oils, but carefully read labels and avoid anything with hydrogenated oils and saturated fats.
A good rule of thumb is that the only oils you should have in your pantry are olive, canola and safflower oils. I also keep pumpkin seed, flaxseed, hemp seed and sesame seed oils on hand for salads and other delicious recipes. Even though coconut oil is a saturated fat, I also use it, because it is a plant-based oil and it is one of the only oils that can be safely heated at high temperatures.
White flour
Food products containing white flour, such as pastas, breads and cereals, are simple carbohydrates that do nothing to contribute to your health and, like sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, lead to elevated blood sugar levels and, therefore, weight gain. White flour starts as a whole grain flour that has been processed and literally been stripped of its vital vitamins, minerals, fiber and enzymes, leaving just starch and no redeeming nutritional value. You might as well eat straight sugar!
Consuming simple carbohydrates like white flour, bread, pastas and cereals results in weight gain and a slower metabolism, and contributes to diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
More than three unrecognizable ingredients
This is a biggie—if you read a label of a food product and do not understand what the ingredients are, it does not belong in your body! I usually operate on the rule of three. If something has more than three ingredients, do not buy it. Children absolutely love being sleuths and have so much fun with this, so make sure you include them when you are cleaning out your pantry and restocking or buying them an after-school snack.
Step 2: Take action! Go shopping and buy substitutions.
When I clean out a pantry, I literally have trash bags in one hand and a clipboard in the other. When I throw something out, I put a note indicating what we need to buy to replace that item. If you do not work on a system of replacement, I find that people feel “punished” or like they are “on a diet,” and they become paralyzed not knowing what to eat. Substitute your favorites and usual mealtime staples with healthier options and it will make a big difference in your health and your waistline. Following are some initial steps to get you started.
Throw out: |
Replace with: |
White or brown sugar |
Agave nectar, raw honey, brown rice syrup or unrefined organic cane juice |
White flour |
Unrefined whole-wheat, spelt, buckwheat, Kamut or brown rice flour |
White pasta |
Spelt, quinoa, rice or unrefined whole-wheat pasta (my favorites are Vita-Spelt, Eden’s Organics and Ancient Harvest) |
Cookies laden with sugar |
Cookies sweetened with unrefined cane juice, agave nectar or honey (in our house, we adore the Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookies; Late July, Back to Nature and Newman’s Own also have some good options) |
Regular potato chips |
Chips with whole grains (my favorites are Food Should Taste Good Multigrain chips, Guiltless Gourmet, Terra Chips, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Sea Chips, Suzie’s Spelt Rice Cake Squares and Puffed Cakes) |
Margarine and butter |
Earth Balance |
Regular cooking oils and sprays |
Olive oil spray, olive oil, coconut butter, unrefined sesame oil, sunflower or safflower oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seed oil, hemp seed oil, sesame oil |
White salt |
Sea salt |
Step 3: Practice good pantry feng shui.
Feng shui is an ancient Chinese system to improve one’s chi, or energy. Messy closet or pantry? Often, messy life. Once you have made sure you have healthy foods in your pantry, you want to make sure you can actually see all the wonderful food you have in there! If you can easily see what is in your cupboard, then you are more likely to make healthy decisions and not say, “There is nothing in the pantry; let's order in!”
A well-organized pantry is a well-used pantry. I recommend using stackable, vacuum-packed containers (can be purchased at Crate & Barrel or Williams-Sonoma) for storing grains, pastas, cereals and the like. Not only will you be able to see them, but they will keep your food fresh for longer.
I also recommend that you order your pantry according to categories. I have a section in my pantry for cereals, another for grains, and another for pasta sauces, salad dressings and other condiments. When you can see what you have, it is a lot easier to make good decisions and get inspired when you are cooking!
Step 4: You are the master of your own domain.
Take responsibility for your life and realize that you control your health and that of your family. While, yes, it may be easier to hire someone like me to come clean out your pantry and take you shopping, you can easily do it yourself. If you feel uninspired in the kitchen or open up your pantry and find chaos, make it a priority to make yourself a priority and clean out your pantry! It should take you an hour or two depending on where you are coming from, but it’s worth every minute.
Katherine Pennington is a holistic health counselor and founder of Be in Balance, which helps women and men lose weight, reduce stress and achieve more balance in their lives. Additionally, Katherine runs a cooking program for kids and their moms called Kids in the Kitch, in which she helps mothers and fathers cook healthier meals for their families as well as works one-on-one with children. Katherine is also an avid runner and marathoner and advises athletes on how to fuel for maximum performance and health.
Katherine graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition/Columbia Teachers College and is a member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. Additionally, Katherine is a founding member of Women for Family Nutrition (www.wffn.org).
Katherine resides in New York City and is the mother to two beautiful children.
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