Saturday, September 3, 2011

Thanks, Hurricane Irene, for the Unexpected Frig Makeover!

As a health coach, one of my favorite roles is helping clients with a Frig + Pantry Makeover!

Makes sense, right? Girls love makeovers.  Every once in a while you just need one.  It is amazing what a new lipstick, fun pair of shoes, or a cute new haircut does for us. We feel better. Prettier. Lighter. Refreshed. Ready to take on the world.  Am I right, or what?

Believe it or not, the same is true for our pantries. And our refrigerators.

When you think about your kitchen, after a while, you have no idea what is in there.

You come home from work one day.  You open the pantry, peer in, look around, and say ,"I have nothing good to eat". You walk over to the refrigerator, open the door, and stand there. You close the door. You open a cabinet and grab an opened bag of Doritos and munch away. It's not what you wanted. It doesn't hit the spot. And you feel yucky and gross - and thirsty! - afterwards. It was completely unsatisfying. You suddenly realize you did the same thing yesterday…only the Dorito bag was full then! You sigh.

In the same way you need retail therapy to turn your world around sometimes, your poor little frig and pantry need help. They are crying out for it. They need a makeover. But, where, oh where, do you even begin?

Lucky for you, there are health coaches out there, people like me, who get totally jazzed about helping people with organizing, sorting, and restocking their kitchens. I know. It's scary. Most people would rather do just about anything else than clean and organize. It’s true.

I have to confess though, I love it. I find it completely gratifying to review, reduce, and restock a frig and pantry in no time at all. (Plus, it is always more fun to clean and sort and organize someone else's stuff than our own, yes?)

Most people don't have time to assess and reassess their kitchen. Life is busy. Time is short. It can feel like an overwhelming task to take on yourself. Makes total sense.

Yet, it can be an important part of setting yourself up for success in the kitchen. When your home is stocked with healthy food and treats for food prep, cooking, baking and snacking, you are positioning yourself for success around healthy eating, losing weight, having more energy...whatever your goals may be!  Right there - that is more than half the battle!

Typically, in a Frig + Pantry Makeover, a health coach helps you to: clean out the frig and cabinet clutter, figure out what foods work best for you, navigate the confusing world of label-reading, create your healthy food shopping list, and then shop away! The goal is to leave you feeling completely confident that you can stock and shop for healthy foods for yourself going forward. 

So you don't find yourself eating half-opened bags of Doritos when hunger pangs strike.

As luck would have it, thanks to Hurricane Irene, I had to do my OWN Refrigerator Makeover this week!  After 5 days without any electricity, I felt that the food in my frig was no longer safe to eat so I threw it out.

All of it.

Even the condiments.

My frig was sad and empty. 


It felt like such a waste of food, but I tried to dig deep and realize that the Universe wanted me to start over with a clean slate.  A new start.  The chance to feel better. Prettier. Lighter. Refreshed.

I scrubbed that baby down, made my healthy shopping list, and headed down to the store. 

For less than $100 , I restocked with lots of basic fruits and veggies, and some of my favorite healthy snacks like organic grapes, raw almond butter, Wholly Guacamole, and Fage greek yogurt.

Here is my new, happy, stocked frig, full of nutritious goodies!



While it was a bit dramatic for a Frig Makeover, and completely unexpected, it felt good to start fresh.

For a full list of products that I used to restock my frig, drop me a note on my Maine Healthy Life Coach Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Just so you know, in a normal situation, all of the good stuff stays in the frig and only the bad, processed, nutritionally-deprived stuff gets thrown out.  Don't worry!  Typically it is a much more manageable – and affordable - process!  Ultimately, it is the client - not the coach - who decides what foods are kept or tossed. 
 
If you would like my help with your own Frig + Pantry Makeover, in the privacy of your own kitchen, send me a private message here!
 
(By the way, my new MHLC website is now under construction and is coming soon – so stay tuned!)