Five Simple Tricks to Eat Healthy by Design

With life changes, you gotta start small.  Yes the old adage rings true, “Rome was not built in a day.” Lasting change is super hard, so that is why we break it up into tiny bite sized nuggets of change (that’s why they call those little candy bars fun sized). It took me a long time to learn this shit, but I’m gonna impart this hard earned wisdom with you! There are some very simple things you can do to trick yourself into eating healthier. It’s all about making health eating more accessible and inviting by design. 

As a designer by trade, I never thought design and weight loss were linked. But they are, in fact there is design in just about anything! 

By design I’m talking about your environment and your experience in your home with food. Lots of this is common sense when it’s explained. In fact you’ll be thinking will l this really make a difference? It’s so simple… But that’s the freaking beauty of it! 

Small actionable steps, just try them. Most are super easy to implement and can be done so within a day.

1. Keep fruit on the counter (starting you in the face)! 

The simplest of all simple tips! Put your fruit in the place that you’re always reminded to eat it and incorporate it into your daily diet and routine. Duh, right?! But how many of you are currently doing this? Are you eating as much fruit as you’d like? Probably not.

Out of sight or of mind… Works is the opposite. In sight, always on your mind! Not just that, but fruit is quite beautiful as a centerpiece and it elevates this simple food as something of beauty and pleasure! 

Not all fruit can be kept on the counter, some will need to be refrigerated, but many can be kept out for your viewing and eating pleasure! So get a nice bowl and sweet then on the table it counter now! 

2. Save the crisper drawer for Beer!

We all have those drawers in our refrigerator and we are taught and told to put your fruits or vegetables in them… Yeah hide that shit, great idea!! 

So here’s what I do, even is it may not be best for the veggies (do those drawers even work?). I reserve that drawer for my beers. This way the beer is not the very first thing that I see when I peek in my fridge. 

Yes I LOVE my beer, but I love my health more, so I keep my consumption under control and contained to one section of the fridge I have to reach down into. It’s worth the extra effort ;)

3. Put your cookies in the tall place or nominate a cookie gatekeeper!

I’m short, so this works for me. I actually used to go a step further and have my husband hide the cookies where I wouldn’t know where they were. I would have to ask for the exact amount. He was the cookie gatekeeper. 

This required me to really think about how many cookies I wanted to eat and then I would savor those few cookies since I didn’t have immediate access to any more.

4. Keep veggies front and center!

When you open your fridge, the very first thing you should see is your vegetables and your healthy food. It should be all up in your grill! Make sure it’s in transparent containers so that you can see it right away.

The point, there should be NO barriers to healthy eating. We’re making this shit idiot proof, post-drinking haze proof and life proof. 

You got cake? Well put that way in the back of the fridge and make sure it’s in a opaque container so you need to physically open it to see it. 

Now we all know what would happen if you saw cake as the first thing in your fridge, at least I do… down the hatch. Oh shit did I just do that? Yuuuuup.

So that is why we are putting those healthy foods front and center.

PRO TIP- You should always make sure your fruits and veggies are properly cleaned and ready to eat for the next day or next few days! 

5. De-Clutter Your Kitchen

This tip will take the longest to implement, you will need a weekend to do what I did last year. I did some crazy work into my kitchen organization and it has really helped! I got rid of duplicate items and some of the thousand coffee mugs we have. On top of that I re-arranged where I keep everything into zones where it made more sense for this stuff to be. ie. Spices and baking supplies above the counter where I cook and bake.

Go here to see the post on my kitchen organization.

This was so helpful to me as organization and clutter is something I struggle with.