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Give your fridge a makeover
Do you want to change the way you eat? The best way is to start with a fridge makeover
I have a theory that if I ate like my 14-month-old daughter, I would not only be gloriously slender but also incredibly healthy. Her diet is packed with organic foods, oily fish like sardines and tuna, and even unusual grains like quinoa and spelt.
But I don't eat like that. While I demand good food for my daughter, I'm more lax in what I choose for myself. As a result, my refrigerator is also crammed with Diet Coke, white flour tortillas and the occasional ready meal. The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt about the disparity.
The Nutrition Coach is an eating and well-being consultancy in London, with a service called 'Cupboard and Fridge "Detox"'. I decided to give them a call. A nutritionist visits your home and spends an hour snooping through your cupboards and poking through your fridge, then discusses how to make healthy choices that fit with your lifestyle.
The next Monday, Seki Tijani, a clinical nutritionist with the company, arrived to give my fridge a facelift. Most of the problems people have with their foods in their homes are fairly routine, she explains:
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It's a humbling moment to throw open your vegetable drawer and snack bowl to a health professional. I expected a lot of tut-tutting and head shaking. But Seki simply looked and noted, read labels and asked a few questions about how and when I shopped. She complimented me on keeping a fruit bowl - something we should all do to have fresh healthy snacks on hand. And she was agog at our stash of 50-plus spices and herbs - to add flavour to our diet.
She was even unperturbed at my shameful stash of comfort food for emergencies, such as processed cheese. She read the ingredients list, pointed out that the E-numbers and chemical components were not very healthy, then replaced the items on my shelf. (I think of this as a 12-step moment. No one else can rid me of my junk food - I must throw it out myself.)
After poking around the kitchen, Seki sat me down and explained what I was doing right, which motivated me, and what could be improved.
On the plus side, my fridge and kitchen didn't fare as badly as I thought they would. Positive points were:
- The green stuff. 'It's good to see fresh fruit and vegetables,' she says. 'You'd be surprised at how many people keep none in the house'
- The appearance of some organic produce
- A good variety of spices and seasonings
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