Rid your fridge of bad food

If you want to shed the pounds, you’ve got wage war on the unhealthy foods in your fridge.
Nutritionist Julia Salinas Ducker advises that the best place to start your weight loss campaign is by organizing your refrigerator or pantry.

“The first step is to discard from your refrigerator or pantry all the hyper caloric food. Clean and organize those spaces. If everything is visible and easy to reach, it’s easier to create new healthy habits,” says doctor Salinas Ducker.

From now on, fruit and vegetables need to be at the front and centre of your fridge. “If they’re easy to reach, you’ll save yourself from falling into temptation,” says the nutrition expert. Try putting all your proteins — cheese, turkey and chicken breasts — in one area of the fridge. This way you can easily target what you and your body needs very quickly without getting distracted by any unhealthy treats.

Preparing food in advance is one of things that we all think about doing but never actually get around to putting into action. The benefits are that it saves having to constantly cook but just remember to add the date to any pre-cooked meals, so that you don’t poison you or your family.

“This is a very effective alternative because you will know when the food was cooked and when you arrive home tired, you just pick a portion for dinner, which saves you money and you’re aware all of the ingredients that have gone into it,” explains Salina Ducker.

The specialist also recommends using airtight containers to prevent the food from becoming moisture contaminated, plus it keeps food that bit fresher.

Health tips and tricks:

• Always stay well hydrated — water has a multitude of benefits, including detoxifying the body.

•Ducker says everybody should eat at least five times a day, and should not wait for more than four hours before eating because the body goes into energy saving mode, which makes it much more difficult to lose weight. “The secret is to eat small portions steadily to avoid activating the body’s fat reserves,” says the expert.

•Try to stay away from chemicals in sauces and condiments. These dressings stimulate the body and brain into craving food. An alternative is to consume homemade salsa or substitute sauces for natural yogurt dressing and olive oil.