Health Transformation Challenge: Day 30

Today's challenge is to optimize your environment and create one that promotes health and your goals.  I work with a health coach as one way of reinforcing my environment.  I know I can call on her when I struggle and she walks along side me through the struggle.  

We choose most of our environment and we can choose to make it full of health or disease.  For instance, I only buy groceries that are healthy.  If I brought candy and unhealthy food into the house, I am more likely to eat it.  When those foods aren't in the house, it makes it very difficult to eat them, right?    

When I started this program a few years ago, I went through my kitchen and created a healthy environment.  That was a step I needed to do to get started.  That doesn't just mean cleaning out the "bad" food from the cabinets, but we also did the following: 

• Put our food scale out on the counter
• Used measuring cups as serving spoons (until we were able to eye-ball the right portions)
• Kept Food on the stove and counter away from the table so that seconds weren't easy to get
• Started cooking smaller portions so that there wasn't food leftover to tempt us to eat seconds
• Turned the TV off at meal time
• Chewed gum while cooking to avoid taste-testing too much
• Painted our kitchen a cool color (blue is best, but we chose a blue-green), which studies show tends to decrease your appetite
• Started eating right under our kitchen light where it is brightest in the room (studies show you eat less in bright light)

I just took a picture of our fridge and counter and wanted to share it with you and a few of my tips:

I just went grocery shopping yesterday, but the fridge might look a little bare to you.  Well, I do that on purpose.  I found that when the fridge is packed, food goes bad before we can eat it, I tend to eat more (like I am a caveman that needs to eat what's in sight before it disappears), and we don't stick to the meal plan for the week.  I stock up on some staples (my boys love yogurt, we love our meal replacements, and we also love hummus as a healthy snack).  Besides that, I try to only buy what we need.  It keeps the grocery budget low and food waste low and we eat healthier.  

I also always have a full bowl of fresh fruit on the counter.  I wash the produce as soon as I get home from the grocery store.  It's crazy, but people are simply lazy at my house when it comes to food (myself included).  Maybe you can relate.  We will grab whatever is quick and easy and is ready to be eaten.  Seriously, that is the criteria for a "good" snack.  So, I keep ready-to-eat fruit and veggies out for the taking.  It works really well, actually.  (Plus, fruits and veggies are so budget friendly!)

As for our sleeping environment, we no longer have a TV in the bedroom.  We are working at re-doing our bedroom so that we can have an even better environment to get great sleep.  

If you need help creating a healthy environment in your home that fits you and your family, I can help you do just that.  Email me at HealthyandFitLife@gmail.com.