Health

5 Tips for a Healthier Kitchen

By Pia Chakrabarti

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1. Eliminate: All flavored soda, even diet soda. Aside from the health risks associated with consuming aspartame, the fake sugar in diet sodas, I feel that regularly drinking a sugary carbonated drink makes you crave it. Flavored soda is one of the easiest things to give up, as after a few weeks without it you will realize that you don’t miss it at all.

Replace: Homemade iced teas or lemonade sweetened with stevia or raw honey. I like to make these drinks in batches and store them in the refrigerator in mason jars.

2. Eliminate: All packaged junk food – cookies, chips, muffins, etc. Again, although there are lower calorie options available for most junk food these days, these options are in no way “healthy”.
Replace: When you feel like munching on something nuts are a good option. If I’m in the mood for something salty, I’ll put some mozzarella or salsa on whole wheat crackers. If I’m craving something sweet, fresh fruit does the trick and make you feel hydrated.

3. Eliminate: Frozen dinners. Yuck. Need I say more?

Replace: I like to freeze food that I make in mason jars and warm it up on lazy days. For example, I will fill the bottom of the jar with cooked quinoa, then place 4 oz of baked salmon on top, and steamed broccoli on top of that and place it in the freezer. When I’m ready to eat it, I take the metal or plastic top off of the jar, heat it in the microwave, and then scoop everything on to a plate.

4. Eliminate: Sugary syrups and cocktail juices used as mixers in alcoholic beverages.
Replace: My choice of low cal alcoholic drink – vodka and club soda, with several limes. Squeezing the limes into the drink significantly adds to the flavor.