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Activity: Is it time for a pantry flip?
For some people, one of the most satisfying steps in this process is called the pantry flip. This basically means going through your entire pantry and splitting it into 3 piles.
The first is what you will keep – whole food, healthy foods and so on. If you are not sure then the list below is a reasonable start, but you can simply go on our facebook group and ask around.
Foods to keep:
- Vegetables (frozen or fresh)
- Fruits (frozen or fresh)
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Spices
- Herbs
- Seasonings – vinegars, pickles, chutney, mustard etc (minimal sugar!), peanut/cashew butters etc
- Staples – salt, pepper, tea, coffee, herbal teas, water
- Eggs
- Tofu etc
- Canned goods – beans, tuna etc
- Unprocessed Oils – olive oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil, etc (google it or ask on facebook group if you are not sure)
- Healthy meats – fish etc (google it or ask on facebook group if you are not sure)
- Whole grains – oats, brown rice, quinoa, etc (google it or ask on facebook group if you are not sure)
The next pile is food you want to donate or give away – maybe to people you know or a food bank. This is the safe and edible food that is no longer a major part of your life. That is the processed and refined food mainly including junk food, soft drinks, refined juices, energy drinks and so on. Now please remember of the principles above – that you can still have small amounts of treats every now and then and those that allow themselves this without guilt are more likely to succeed in the long term. Check out the principle videos and healthy bank account video again if you need to. So you can keep a bit of chocolate (dark is better) or whatever, but keep it as a treat, not a staple.
The third pile is food that is not safe or edible. If it is real food then you could compost it or give it to someone’s chickens. If it is highly processed or bad – bin it. Again if you are not sure – ask around.
After this – you may need to go shopping and restock that pantry with 98% great healthy whole foods and liquids and then like I said some treats is fine too. Now that you have done this – eating healthy is much easier and your exposure to temptation is much less. You are giving yourself an advantage.
Some people do this and some do not, some prefer to slowly transition from one to another, but I think it is great if you can do it. But I don’t want to create guilt if you don’t do this. If you do other things in this course, live healthily and lose weight and feel better – than that is the goal. There are many paths to the same destination.